Statement Series

By : Mike Rifkin

On Sunday the New York Mets defeated the Atlanta Braves 5-2, taking four of five in the series and pushing their lead in the National League East to 6.5 over the Braves. For the first time this season the defending World Series Champions have lost three games in a row.

In the four wins Mets pitchers racked up 51 strikeouts including 19 in Sunday’s finale. The last two games were exactly how Mets manager Buck Showalter drew it up by having his two aces close out the series and potentially drop the hammer on the Braves. Saturday Max Scherzer struck out 11 Braves in seven innings of work and on Sunday in his second start back Jacob deGrom was perfect threw five innings before a walk and a two run home run ended his day, but he still struck out 12 in 5.2 innings.

Offensively the Mets did what they do and that was grind out at bats and force Braves starters into deep pitch counts. Pete Alonso drove in seven runs in the five games giving him a National League leading 95 on the season. The guys the Mets got at the trade deadline also came through. Tyler Naquin, Darin Ruf and Daniel Vogelbach all contributed big hits in the series including Naquin with a two home run game in his Citi Field debut. 

The Mets recipe for success this season was on point during this series. Tremendous starting pitching, good defense and offensively grinding out at bats. On the flip side the Braves made five errors defensively in the series including three in game two of the doubleheader on Saturday. Buck Showalter showed the importance of this series in the first game where he asked All Star Closer Edwin Diaz to get the last six outs of the ball game. 

With the Mets lead pushed to 6.5 games in the NL East the two teams still have two series remaining head to head. The first one is a four game series next week and the other is a three game series the second to last series of the season.

Waddling Up The Pacific

By: Mike Rifkin

Last season the Anaheim Ducks finished seventh in the Pacific Division and thirteenth in the Western Conference. General Manager Pat Verbeek has been very active since the NHL trade deadline. At the deadline Verbeek traded away defenseman Josh Manson to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche for a 2023 Second round pick and prospect defenseman Drew Helleson. They then moved defenseman Hampus Lindholm to the Boston Bruins for a 2022 first round pick (C,Nathan Gaucher), Second round picks in 2023 and 2024, and defensemen Urho Vaakanainen and John Moore. Vaakanainen had two assists in 14 games with the Ducks after the trade. They also traded forward Nicolas Deslauriers to the Wild for a 2023 Third round pick. The last deadline move saw Rickard Rakell sent to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 2022 Second round pick (D,Tristan Luneau), Goalie Calle Clang, Dominik Simon and Zac Aston-Reese. Aston-Reece and Simon each put up four goals in 17 games for the Ducks. The biggest departure from the Ducks was captain Ryan Getzlaf who announced his retirement after the season. Getzlaf, a former first round pick in 2003 posted 1,019 points in 1,157 games played all with the Ducks. He also helped the Ducks win the Stanley Cup in 2007.

In his first offseason as GM Pat Verbeek has been aggressive and has added some good pieces. First he signed Frank Vatrano to a three year contract. Vatrano had 18 goals and 32 points last season for the Panthers and Rangers. Vatrano added five goals and 13 points in 20 Playoff games with the Rangers. Vatrano has a very quick release and a great shot. Dallas Eakins can play Vatrano with Trevor Zegras who had 23 goals and 61 points as a rookie. Despite what John Tortorella says Zegras was fun to watch last season (youtube the lacrosse goal) Pat Verbeek wasn’t done plucking from the Rangers as he also signed Ryan Strome to a five year 25 million dollar contract. Strome last season had 21 goals and 54 points. As a Ranger Strome had 71 goals and 195 points in parts of four seasons on Broadway. Part of Strome’s success was playing with Artemi Panarin so I am intrigued if Dallas Eakins pairs him with Troy Terry who had a career high 37 goals and 67 points last season. The Ducks also bolstered their blue line by signing former Star John Klingberg to a one year seven million dollar contract. Klingberg had six goals and 47 points last season for Dallas. In his career Klingberg has 71 goals and 374 points. Klingberg in the playoffs has seven goals and 35 points in 59 career playoff games. Klingberg will join a defense group that already has veterans Cam Fowler and Kevin Shattenkirk and a potential game changer in Jamie Drysdale. But if the Ducks are out of race by trade deadline Klingberg can be a big time rental for a playoff team.

But the best move for the Ducks might be the one they didn’t make. Before the offseason began it was reported that goaltender John Gibson was willing to waive his no trade clause if the Ducks wanted him to, but that has yet to occur. Gibson last season went 18-26-11 with a 3.19 GAA and .904 save percentage. In his career he is 166-148-51 with a 2.67 GAA and .915 save percentage and 23 shutouts. 

I really like what Pat Verbeek has done so far as GM from the trade deadline to the offseason. I don’t think the Ducks are a playoff team yet, but they can make life difficult for other Pacific Division teams this season.

TWIW – This Week In Wrestling 8/1/22 – 8/5/22

By Jeff Knapp

There have been reports that both Naomi and Sasha Banks have agreed to return to the WWE after falling out a few months ago. Whether this story is true or not, we will have this updated when it is 100% true.

Congratulations to Johnathan Gresham who earned a shot at the Progress championship when he won a 4-way match at Ric Flair’s Last Match PPV.

Speaking of that, Congratulations to Andrade and to the Nature Boy Ric Flair on their victory at that PPV when Flair pin Double J Jeff Jarrett

During this week’s Dynamite, Taz broke the news that as of that show Team Taz has officially disbanded. He wasn’t in the loops as far as Hobbs turning on Stark or Hook, challenging and winning the FTW Championship. He wished the 3 men all the best, but it’s time to move forward he says.

WWE Hall of Famer “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan revealed on Instagram that he has finished up his cancer treatment. That is amazing news. I was a huge fan of his as a kid and when I got to meet him a few years ago, I let him know how much I rooted for him. What a wonderful human being Duggan is.

Michael Cole Announced on Smackdown that the WWE will hold a tournament to crown new Women’s Tag Team Champions starting Monday

WWE – RAW

This was the 1st Raw under the Triple H regime and the biggest difference I saw was the extra 20 minutes of wrestling they had compared to the previous weeks.

There were 2 triple threat matches that night and the winners of both would face each other to see who would become the #1 contender to the US Championship currently held by the Almighty Bobby Lashley.

In the 1st match we had AJ Styles defeat The Miz and Mustafa Ali in an amazing sequence when Ali hit the 450 on Miz and when he propelled himself up from the impact, AJ caught him and connected in a Styles Clash. Great match and it was amazing to see Mustafa Ali get a chance to shine.

In the 2nd match, Ciampa defeated Dolph Ziggler and Chad Gable. I’m a fan of all 3 men, but it’s great to see Ciampa get the spotlight.

In the finals for the # 1 contendership, Ciampa defeated Styles when the Miz got involved and cause the distraction allowing TC to hit the Fairy Tale Ending and become the new # 1 Contender to the US Championship. I’m really curious how he will attack Lashley in their match next week. He’s one tough guy and was one of the greatest NXT champions of all time, but he’ll have his work cut out for him.

The rest of the show gave us some of the best matches on Raw in a long time. In my opinion, Iyo Sky gave Bianca Belair one of her toughest fights to date outside of Becky Lynch. Now that she has aligned with Bailey and Dakota Kai, this will be a very formidable trio. (Better than Toxic Attraction in nxt?)

In what has become par for the course, The Usos put on one hell of a fight when they defended their Undisputed Tag Team titles. This time they faced the Mysterios. I’m not positive how they earned the shot, but possibly based on the fact that Rey is celebrating his 20th year in the WWE.

With that said, Rey and Dominik put up one hell of a fight, but Dom gets nailed with the 1D and that’s it until the Judgment Day makes their way to the ring. Unfortunately, Edge Accidently hits Dom with a spear, but he is still able to fend off the Judgement Day.

NXT

NXT started off hot this week by having a NXT Women’s Tag team 4-way elimination match to crown the new Champions after they titles were vacated. The crowd was hot for this one as one of my favorite women’s tag teams in all of the WWE won their 1st championships. Kayden Carter & Katana Chance had every man, woman and child in the Capital Center jumping and cheer as they defeated Tatum Paxley & Ivy Nile, newcomers Yulissa Leon & Valentina Ferroz who showed some real spunk and finally knocking off Toxic Attraction’s Jacy Jayne & Gigi Dollin to become the new champions. They’ve fought hard, now we have to see them fight harder to keep the titles.

This was a hard night to figure out, we saw some good matches from Carmelo Hayes, who took on Nathan Frazer, Joe Gacy who faced Jensen. I’m a big fan of Gacy, who has the character who has the potential to be great if they just allow him to become darker, like Jim Jones.

Nothing against Alba Fyre but this match against Lash Legend was just not my cup of tea. How they think that Lash is ready for the spotlight of NXT is beyond me. She has all the athletic ability, but maybe some time in Level UP might be the best thing. I’m always looking to get emotionally invested in them, but her and Duke Hudson are 2 of those wrestlers who make me want to fast forward or use the bathroom.

It appears that Legado Del Fantasma has gone against the stipulation of their match and has broken away from the Mob. If Elektra Lopez is involved, do whatever you want. I’m hoping that Esobar takes out Tony Mamaluke once and for all. He has that face you just want to fast forward through.

In the main event we saw Solo Sikoa defeat Von Wagner in a falls count anywhere match in what was really entertaining. Solo has the bloodline to be amazing, but I want to give it up to Von Wagner. This was his best match to date and the fact that they paired him with Robert Stone was the best thing they could have done for him. If gives him a mouthpiece to get him over, once again proving my point that managers are needed more in the world of pro wrestling.

AEW – DYNAMITE

In what was seen as a surprise to some but not to others, Jay Lethal won clean over Orange Cassidy when he connected with his Lethal Injection finisher with little interference from Satnam Singh and Sonjay Dutt.

The Elite came to the ring, which consisted of The Young Bucks, reDRagon and Adam Cole Bay Bay. Cole talks about how he isn’t cleared to wrestle, and neither is Kyle. He talks about loyalty and that although he and Kyle can’t compete for the newly made Trios Titles, neither can the Young Bucks. This prompts reDRagon to Pearl Harbor job the Bucks also allowing Cole to get in a few kicks until Hangman Adam Page runs down and makes the save. I have seen something like this in the shadows when The Bucks seemed to have wanted to patch things up with Page, but just couldn’t get the alone time with him to talk things out. When the time is right, will we see those 6 men fight it out until an eventual returning Kenny Omega comes to straighten things out?

ThunderStorm (Thunder Rosa & Toni Storm) took on the team of Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter, with Rebel. Britt and Jamie have been a team a lot longer and it shows when it’s time to get on the same page. Storm is also the #1 contender to Rosa’s Women’s championship, so at some point this will have to boil over. When that match does happen, I see nothing less than a barn burner that Thunder Rosa will come out on top on. This time around we see Hayter picking up the pinfall over Toni Storm

This week we also saw Ricky Starks unsuccessfully try to get some type of revenge on Powerhouse Hobbs, but Hobbs is just way too strong.

Christian Cage also defeated Matt Hardy with the Killswitch and Daniel Garcia claims he’s now the Dragon Slayer by defeating the American Dragon, Bryan Danielson. That was a short but very effective promo.

Finally in the Main event with his title shot on the line, Chris Jericho submitted Wheeler Yuta with the Lion Tamer submission.

Before I wrap up Dynamite, the internet was buzzing with the rap from Max Caster when he mentioned Vince McMahon’s retirement in his diss rap to the Ass Boys and Billy Gunn.

As of this writing, it’s been a nice change of pace to have both Raw and Dynamite have both quality shows, usually it’s just the one having it where I don’t feel the need to fast forward.

IMPACT

The night started off with 2 former champions, Deonna Purrazzo who took on the leader of Decay, Rosemary who was joined by Taya Valkyrie and Jessicka, who was once Havok but creative pulled a horrible another personality gimmick with her like they did with Su Yung…twice. Deonna picked up the victory after Jessicka somehow accidently distracted the ref.

We also saw Brian Meyers get what could be called a questionable win when he pinned Black Tarus, but Taurs’s feet were on the bottom rope. After yet another ref blunder, Marsha Slamovich devastated Gisele Shaw with a Snow Plow.

Back to tag team action where we saw the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) get a pinfall victory over Violent By Design’s Deaner &Joe Doering) I have to give it to VBD. Although they lost tonight, they have made tremendous strides in the Impact tag team division over the past year. 

Our main event is just around the corner, but 1st we have a very upset Sami Callihan in the ring dismantle Raj Singh with his Cactus Driver 97. The reason he is so upset is because of his frustrations with not being able to get his hands on Moose and Steve Maclin. After the match he gets his wish as Moose comes from behind and attacks Callihan. But is able to fight back until Maclin shows up and reverses the Cactus Driver 97 and groin shots Callihan, Moose then hits a spear followed by a DDT from Maclin.

We are now at the main event and this week we get The Bullet Club’s Doc Gallows facing PCO of HNM in a street fight. This is a wild match that goes all over the place. PCO takes the ring apart and at one point gets chokeslammed through the exposed wood by Gallows only to come back. In the end, with Gallows on the mat, PCO puts on a glove and loads it up with thumb tacks and leaps off the top onto Gallows who rolls into the sunken part of the ring and is then pinned by PCO for the win. How many times will PCO have to prove that he’s not the weak link in HNM?

WWE – SMACKDOWN

In what was a great show we started off right away with Pat Mcafee having me rolling with his breakdown of his match with Corbin at Summerslam. His use of the teleprompter just added to the hilarity of the entire segment.

Corbin, after being tired of being laughed at, challenges Ricochet to a match.

The match was one of Ricochet’s best matches on television in quite some time and proves that he needs to be in the conversation when it comes to not only high profile matches but in title contention when the opportunity comes his way.

Corbin had many chances tonight but had his mind more focused on Pat than on Ricochet and because of that got nailed with a perfect looking Shooting Star Press for the win.

In a match that had IC Championship ramifications, Shinsuke Nakamura faced Ludwig Kaiser with the stipulation being that if Nakamura wins, he will be the #1 contender to Gunther’s IC title. Although Kaiser had many opportunities even hitting a hard hitting European uppercut and wrist-clutch suplex, he was no match for the Kinshasa that Shinsuke eventually hit Ludwig with for the win.

There was an awkward moment tonight for Liv Morgan. I don’t think she was prepared to handle the audibly noticeable amount of boos she received talking about how she tapped out only after she pinned Ronda Rousey. This led to Sonya Deville to come out and chastise her. 

This led to the gauntlet match that would determine the #1 contender who will face her at the next PPV.

The gauntlet match went as following:

Sonya Deville defeated Aliyah

Raquel Rodriguez powerbombed Sonya for the win

Raquel then defeats Shotzi, Xi Li and then Natayla making it 4 wins in a row.

After facing all those competitors, she finally fell victim to Shayna Baszler, who rolled her up for the win but not before locking in a few submission attempts. Raquel has a bright future, but personally I’d love to see Shanya have a long run with the title. 

Lastly, we were greeted in the ring by Roman Reigns who talks about Drew McIntyre challenging him, which brings out Drew. 

Drew doesn’t want to wait and just as he’s ready to enter the ring, new music hits and there is a strange figure in the entrance way and was attacked from behind from….Karrion Kross !!! Kross is back with Scarlett Bordeaux. 

After he takes out Drew, Scarlett leaves a hour glass in the ring for Roman and is told tic toc. 

Is Roman’s time going to run out at the hands of Kross? We can only hope for that match.

Banking On Health

By : Mike Rifkin

With the MLB trade deadline passing my biggest takeaway on the New York Mets is that they are banking on the guys currently injured to have big returns. 

The Mets at the trade deadline added Darin Ruf from the Giants for JD Davis and three prospects. Ruf will DH when the team faces a left handed pitcher. Nine of Ruf’s eleven home runs and has a slash line of .252/.364/.523  against lefties. Ruf will DH vs lefties while Daniel Vogelbach will DH against right handed pitchers. The Mets also acquired reliever Mychal Givens from the Cubs. Givens was 6-2 with a 2.66 ERA and had 51 strikeouts in 40.2 innings pitched. Givens pitched for Mets manager Buck Showalter in Baltimore.

Trevor May who is likely to be activated before today’s game in Washington, James McCann who is likely to be back some time this weekend ,Drew Smith and Tylor Megill. May who has been out since April with a stress reaction in his right humerus had a 8.64 ERA before going on the IL. Drew Smith who is currently on the IL with a back issue got off to a tremendous start including 13.1 consecutive scoreless innings to start the season. Tylor Megill who started for the Mets on opening day has been on the IL with shoulder issues. Megill was 4-2 with a ERA over 5 and has 47 strikeouts in 41.1 innings pitched.James McCann who is currently on a rehab assignment for the second time following an oblique injury. McCann on the season is hitting .183 with two home runs and 11 RBI. Following his first IL stint with a broken hamate bone McCann was looking to get more comfortable at the plate. But even with the lack of offense from McCann so far this season he is very good at calling games and throwing out potential base stealers. But the most important return was in last night’s game where Mets ace Jacob deGrom returned after more than a year on the shelf. DeGrom went five innings giving up a run on three hits and striking out six. If the Mets rotation stays healthy with DeGrom and Scherzer at the top it is formidable.

Mets GM Billy Eppler said they were close to adding a catcher and a left handed reliever and just couldn’t come to terms on a deal. Most fans are unsatisfied with what happened especially after seeing what division rivals Phillies and Braves did, but the Mets are banking on the guys coming back from injury as insurance instead of making a big deal. It’s not always the big deal that wins you a pennant every year.

Why WWE RAW’s best show in years took place in the wrong city.

By: Noah Trombley

The Triple H era of WWE truly began this week as the game’s influence on the Monday Night Raw program was very clear from the get go. This episode of the Monday night staple was such a breath of fresh air as many of the annoying habits and booking decisions that Vince had used throughout his many years running the ship seem to be non-existent. Storylines seemed to be treated with care and given reasons to exist, champions were made to look like a huge deal, and most importantly there was plenty of wrestling on the show. That seems weird to say out loud but one of the most prevalent criticisms of Vince McMahon’s WWE, especially on a weekly programming front, was that there wasn’t enough wrestling on the shows. This week had no such issues as we had 6 matches on this week’s show that all went over at least 12 mins. In the case of the Bianca Belair vs Iyo Sky match, they put on a 20 minute banger of a match while lower on the card we got another amazing match consisting of Seth Rollins vs Montez Ford. This was such an amazing turn around from just a week ago, we actually had a 3 hour wrestling show where wrestling was the focus of the show. 

With that being said however there was one thing that happened, or didn’t happen, during this week’s Raw which brought the whole show down. Raw this week emanated from the Toyota Center in Houston Texas, and let’s just say WWE should not return to the Houston area for a while. The entire show had amazing matches, amazing promos from the likes of Edge, and the continuation of some of the year’s best storylines. However, this Houston crowd seemed like they couldn’t care less about what was going on in the ring or backstage. No matter what the performers did the crowd remained deadly quiet throughout the entire night. The near falls that Bianca and Iyo were getting on each other barely received any kind of reaction, you could’ve put crickets in this crowd and they would have been louder than the people in the arena. This just baffles me as why would you pay your hard earned money to go to a show like WWE, where crowd participation is almost as important as the performers themselves, and just sit on your hands all night. There were entire sections of the crowd just sitting there motionless while the main event of the Usos vs the Mysterios for the Undisputed Tag Team Championships raged on. This took so much out of the show as watching it on TV you couldn’t help but notice how the crowd seemed to not care at all with wah

This crowd seemed to not respect these performers working their butts off to give them an amazing show with some amazing action. It seriously was a show of disrespect by this crowd. WWE should not put up with this lack of crowd participation. If this show was in Chicago, New York, Atlanta, anywhere else the crowd would’ve gone nuts at the action on display this night. Compare the reactions on Raw to the opening match of last week’s Smackdown which saw Drew Mcintyre vs Sheamus for a shot at the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship and you will see just how disappointing this Houston crowd was. WWE should seriously send a message to the city of Houston and not return for a while to show that if they want another show again they are going to have to show up and be a raucous crowd and appreciate what these performers are giving them.

Deshaun Watson Suspended

By: Mike Rifkin

Monday morning Judge Sue Robinson handed a six game suspension to Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson and did not fine him for violating the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy stemming from multiple accusations of sexual misconduct.  

In her decision Judge Robinson said “ Mr. Watson is hereby suspended for six (6) regular-season games without pay. Although this is the most significant punishment ever imposed on an NFL player for allegations of non-violent sexual conduct,  Mr. Watson’s pattern of conduct is more egregious than any before reviewed by the NFL.” Six games is not enough for this kind of behavior and the NFL, who has three days to appeal this, absolutely should appeal this. The decision also said the NFL wanted Watson suspended for the season and with reinstatement for 2023 hinging on specific conditions. The League says its request is unprecedented, because his conduct was unprecedented. Yes the league has suspended players for sexual assault and misconduct before, but not to this extent. Watson will miss games against the Panthers, Jets, Steelers, Falcons, Chargers and Patriots. 

The NFL needs to make a statement saying this kind of behavior will not be tolerated. They made that stance on Tom Brady with deflategate and with Calvin Ridley this offseason suspending him for the season for gambling. But this behavior is much worse and Roger Goodell needs to appeal this. Even if Watson and his team want to take this to court the NFL needs to make the right call.

The NFL as a whole has a massive cultural issue whether it be players or owners. Deshaun Watson is the latest example of part of the problem along with what is going on with Commanders Owner Daniel Snyder, if Roger Goodell wants to show the fans what he truly believes both reports have to be released. At the end of the day six games for Watson’s behavior is not enough for me and I hope the NFL appeals the suspension and give Watson a much lengthier suspension

TWIW – This Week In Wrestling  7/25 – 7/29

By Jeff Knapp

Although this was the biggest news of the week, this might be the biggest news in over 40 years. Vince McMahon has retired from the WWE. I’m not going to go into what caused him to retire, but he has been at the forefront of wrestling since 1984 when he brought us WrestleMania. It appears that his daughter Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan will be CO-CEOs while Triple H has not only taken over talent relations but has taken over creative. If he is truly gone and will have no input into the WWE, then this is an end of an era. When Triple H took over NXT we saw what he was capable of doing. At one point it was the better of the 3 shows that the WWE put out and when Vince took that away, we saw what happened.

It appears that Tully Blanchard is no longer with AEW/ROH, but there isn’t much out there as to why, so I will not speculate on anything.

Speaking of no longer in AEW/ROH, it appears that former ROH Champion Jonathan Gresham has asked for his release. Once again, until there is anything said by either AEW/ROH and/or Jonathan Gresham himself, I will not go into why he asked, but many sites are stating it was because he lost the ROH Championship and a few other reasons. I am huge fan of him and hope to see him back on TV once again soon. If things don’t work out, then could we see him show up on Impact or even the NWA?

Over the weekend, ROH held their 2nd Tony Khan owned PPV, Death Before Dishonor, which was main evented by FTR vs The Briscoes in a 2 out of 3 falls match. I thought they couldn’t top their 1st encounter, but I was mistaken. This was just as good and possibly better. FTR retained the Tag Team Titles, but with The Briscoes signing a contract, you never know what could happen.

Speaking of DFD, congratulations to Claudio Castagnoli in winning his 1st major wrestling world heavyweight championship when he defeated Jonathan Gresham for the ROH World Title.

The 2 sleeper matches from the PPV were the Wheeler Yuta vs Daniel Garcia for the Pure championship and Mercedes Martinez vs Serena Deeb for the ROH Women’s championship. Top to bottom this was a solid PPV and worth the money spent.

This week AEW announced that on Sept 4th at the All Out PPV they will crown the 1st AEW Trios Tag Team Champions.

Speaking of Championships, there was an announcement made by STARDOM and NJPW at the recent 2022 STARDOM Strategy Meeting that an IWGP Women’s Championship Title will be introduced at the NJPW x Stardom Event on Sunday, November 20th at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan and that the inaugural IWGP Women’s Champion will be crowned during that event. It was also announced that the IWGP Women’s Championship will eventually be defended on NJPW’s Events all over Japan as well as in the United States.

WWE – RAW

Roman Reigns, The Usos and Paul Heyman come out. Roman has the Garden to acknowledge him then says that he doesn’t feel like talking anymore and hands the microphone to Paul Heyman. He talks about how Brock likes to piss on everyone’s parade, from ruining Randy Couture’s party, ending the Undertaker’s streak, sending John Cena to suplex city. This eventually leads to Theory coming out and talking trash, but Roman tells him that he appreciate what Theory’s trying to do but he has no clue what he’s doing with that briefcase, Roman says that Theory’s daddy isn’t here anymore, Roman says that if Theory keeps messing up he’s going to be his daddy, Roman says that he runs the Garden now, Jey then slaps Theory on the back of the head, Theory then hits Jey twice with the briefcase, Roman remains calm as The Bloodline walks up the ramp.

That was one of the best openings in a while on Raw.

In what was supposed to be Drew McIntyre vs Theory turned in to Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley vs Theory and Sheamus after Drew is attacked from behind.

In the end Ziggler comes out and distracts Theory which gets him put into the Hurt Lock and then taps out. After the match, Theory walks up the ramp to then be super kicked by the Usos.

Not sure where this is going, but I’m sure Dominik will eventually turn on his father, but in the meantime, Rhea Ripley returns and along with the rest of Judgement Day attack and destroy Rey Mysterio

In a tag team heavy match night in which we saw AJ Styles and Ziggler defeat Otis and Chad Gable… Shoosh !!! (How amazing that he got a simple Shoosh and thank you over?) The main event saw The Street Profits and Riddle face The Bloodline where Roman was dominate and speared Riddle for the victory. He is looking strong and confident going into SummerSlam.

After the match Rollins came out to an already defeated Riddle and curb stomped him onto the steel steps which injured him and not may not compete at SummerSlam.

NXT

This one was hard to get excited about. This program is feeling the effects of what Vince and Kevin Dunn did to it. The opening match was Wes Lee vs Grayson Waller and it was not bad, but I just don’t know the direction of either character.

Thankfully the show was saved by 2 really good matches. The 1st one being Andre Chase vs Giovanni Vinci and then the main event was Diamond Mine vs Tony D’Angelo where Roderick accidently kneed Julius Creed allowing Tony to hit his finisher for the win.

I’m 100% positive this will lead to some type of match in the near future, but how the Creeds are not the center of the tag division is beyond me.

We also found out that there will be a 4 team women’s tag for the vacant tag titles. The teams will be  Feroz & Valentina vs Chance & Carter vs Ivy Nile & Tatum Paxley  vs Toxic Attraction. If I’m the booker the titles would go on Chance & Carter.

AEW – Dynamite

The show starts off with Interim AEW World Champion Jon Moxley defend his title against 2x ROH Champion RUSH (pronounced rooosh). 2 different styles that gave us an amazing match. Moxley ends up getting RUSH to tap out to the Bulldog Choke. After the match Jericho comes out and challenges Jon for the title, in which Moxley accepts but he wants to face the Lion Heart Chris Jericho and not one of his daily new titles like the wizard or something. Great segment

Ricky Starks put his FTW championship on the line against Danhausen and easily wins, but after that he says he’s ready to put it on the line again right now. This brings out Hook, the son of Taz, the man who invented that title. Hook ends up locking in Redrum and becoming the NEW FTW world champion.

The 2 men show a sign of respect to each other and then Ricky starts to talk about moving onto other titles but is laid out by his partner Powerhouse Hobbs. The crowd is shocked.

During the Shane “Swerve” Strickland vs. Tony Nese & “Smart” Mark Sterling match, Keith Lee is attached from behind by former ROH pure champion Josh Woods. I’m guessing Woods has aligned himself with Nese and Sterling.

In another successful title defense, AEW Women’s champion Thunder Rosa defeated Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling superstar Miyu Yamashita by way of pinfall after hitting her Thunder Driver.

In the amazing main event Bryan Danielson made his return and faced off against Daniel Garcia. When we though Danielson was going to win, he was grabbed by a mystery person under the ring, who ended up being Jake Hager, which allowed Garcia to lock in a sharpshooter and Bryan passes out and never taps.

IMPACT

The show starts off with 2 of the best that Impact has to offer, Eddie Edwards of Honor No More and Ace Austin of the Bullet Club. Eddie has been solid his entire time in Impact and Ace is leaps and bounds better than he was when he 1st arrived at Impact. This was hard fought and could have gone either way with both Kenny King and Chris Bey getting involved, but EE ends up connecting with the Die Hard Driver for the win.

The HNW and Bullet Club rivalry has become one of the top feuds in all of American pro wrestling over the past few months, so let’s see where this goes.

Although Tiffany Nieves defeated Jada Stone, nobody won after the match because we welcome back the returning beautiful, talented and hard-hitting Killer Kelly who takes out both ladies. I’m sure the Knockouts championship will be in her sites soon, but who will be the 1st woman in her path?

The one thing I can’t understand is that you have your world champion on the show wrestling, and this isn’t the main event. The Kushida vs Rich Swann match which was another solid match and had me the entire time and it was great to see Kushida back to his winning ways with a Hoverboard Lock submission on Swann, but how is your champion not in the main event? Alexander made Shera look as great as anybody could make him.

Before the Kushida vs Swann match we go to the truck where we see Honor No More. Scott D’Amore comes in and says they have gone too far but Mike Bennett is tired for being blamed for everything and that they deserve the tag team title shot. In response, D’Amore makes a match for Emergence in which it will be Honor No More vs. Bullet Club. The stipulation is that if they win, they get their title shot but if they lose, then they’ll have to disband forever.

WWE – SMACKDOWN

Smackdown starts off the way we need WWE shows to start off, and that’s with a hard hitting, exciting match. The fans got that this week with a no dq match between Sheamus and Drew for opportunity at the WWE World title in the UK at “Clash at the Castle” against whomever is the champion after SummerSlam.

Although Butch and Ridge all got involved, Drew was able to put Sheamus through a table and then connect with the Claymore to become #1 contender. 

This type of physicality reminds me of the 80s when 2 big hosses would battle it out.

Tonight was the go home show for SummerSlam and most of the night were promos that set up everything for Saturday night.

The Usos brawled with the Street Profits and ended up accidentally super kicking Jeff Jarrett

I love Baron Corbin. He’s such an annoying pain in the neck and he’s great at getting the crowd really mad at him and that’s what I love about what he does with his character…or is it a character?

Aliyah vs Shotzi seemed like it came about for no real reason except that Lacey Evans couldn’t compete. I’ll admit that when I see Shotzi get any type of tv time and pick up a win, I’m a happy man. She is too talented to not be showcased on tv more often. She did pick up the win with the “never wake up” suplex cradle ddt or at least that’s what it looked like.

AEW – RAMPAGE

I love Orange Cassidy. A fan offered him his french fries and he accepts. Love his new theme, it just works. 

It was also nice to see “All Ego” Ethan Page pick up a win

In what was the biggest news of the night, Jericho was goated into a match against Wheeler Yuta next week on Dynamite and Jericho was so sure he can beat Yuta that he is putting his AEW championship match against Jon Moxley on the line and if Yuta wins, he can take Jericho’s place.

In the main event Anna Jay put up one hell of a fight against a battle tested Ruby Soho and picked up the submission victory when she used her cast underneath the neck of ruby unbeknownst to the referee.

Kings Of Queens

By: Mike Rifkin

On Wednesday Starling Marte got the walk-off hit as the Mets defeated the Yankees 3-2 completing a sweep in the first installment of the Subway Series. The Mets have now won six of the last eight meetings against their in state rivals. 

A big difference in the series was hitting with runners in scoring position. The Yankees in the two games went 0-15 with runners in scoring position while the Mets went 6-20. The new Mets also played a pivotal role in the series Starling Marte in the two games against the Yankees hit .444 with a home run and two RBIS. Pete Alonso hit .667 with a home run and two RBIS. Eduardo Escobar had big hits in both games as well, a two run home run to give the Mets the lead in the first game and the double to get the ninth inning started on Wednesday. 

The Mets pitching was very good in this series as well. Taijuan Walker didn’t have his best stuff but gave the Mets six solid innings on Tuesday and Edwin Diaz did what he has done all year got four huge outs all via the strikeout. On his 38th birthday Max Scherzer threw seven scoreless innings striking out six including three of AL MVP candidate Aaron Judge. Seth Lugo threw an 1.2 innings striking out three. 

This was a big series for the Mets especially after what happened in the four games against the Houston Astros. This was a statement series for the New York Mets. The two teams will play again August 22nd and 23rd at Yankee Stadium.

Vote Of Confidence?

By: Mike Rifkin

Tuesday in Oxnard California the Dallas Cowboys opened up training camp. Which meant team Owner, President, and General Manager Jerry Jones spoke to the media. During his press conference Jones said on Head Coach Mike McCarthy “ I want to be real clear: He wouldn’t be sitting here today if I didn’t believe he was the man to lead this team to a Super Bowl. And I have choices.” McCarthy is entering his third year as the Cowboys coach with a record of 18-15. 

Last year the Cowboys won the NFC East for the fourth time in seven years. But once again the Cowboys lost in the Wild Card round to the San Francisco 49ers. The end of the game had people talking about McCarthy’s usage of time management . But Jones’s comments to some might seem like a vote of confidence, but to me it’s more of an ultimatum .

And Jerry will have choices to be the next head coach if McCarthy cannot get the job done. The Cowboys were able to retain both coordinators Kellen Moore and Dan Quinn, both of which did interview for head coaching vacancies this offseason. And Quinn did lead the Atlanta Falcons to a Super Bowl appearance. Then there is Sean Payton the former Saints head coach who stepped down this offseason. Payton was an assistant coach/Quarterbacks coach under Bill Parcells in Dallas prior to becoming the Saints head coach. As Saints head coach Payton went 152-89 in the regular season and led them to a Super Bowl victory. If McCarthy cannot get the job done this year I would think these three names will top Jerry’s wish list for the next head coach. 

Jerry will see his team get tested early on this season as three of their first five games are against three of the four teams that played on Championship Sunday as the Cowboys will host the Buccaneers and the Bengals the first two weeks of the season and travel to Los Angeles to play the defending Super Bowl Champion Rams in week five. They will play six teams who made the playoffs in 2021 including two meetings with division rival Philadelphia Eagles who seem to be the biggest threat to the Cowboys winning the NFC East again. Jerry clearly believes this team is good enough to get to the Super Bowl and if McCarthy doesn’t get it done he will be gone. 

Subway Series Preview

By : Mike Rifkin

Tuesday night at Citi Field will be the first installment of the Subway Series 2022 with both the Mets and the Yankees sitting in first place in their respective divisions. Both teams made changes after disappointing seasons.  Last season the Mets won four of six meetings, but overall the Yankees lead the Subway Series 76-58.

The Yankees currently hold the best record in all of baseball at 66-31 and are running away with the American League East. The Yankees pitching staff is third in ERA (3.15) and fourth in strikeouts. Offensively the Yankees live up to the moniker Bronx Bombers as they lead baseball with 165 home runs. They are led by AL MVP front runner Aaron Judge who has 37 home runs which leads all of Baseball and is second in Baseball with 81 RBI with a slash line of .294/.376/.650. Judge in his career against the Mets has seven home runs in seventeen games. Former Marlin Giancarlo Stanton has 37 home runs and 87 RBI in 119 games and Anthony Rizzo has 16 home runs and 38 RBI career against the Mets. 

The Mets currently own the second best record in the National League at 59-37 and are 1.5 games ahead of the Braves in the National League East. The Mets have the sixth best ERA in baseball at 3.60. Mets starting pitching has not given up more than two runs in 14 straight games which is a franchise record. Since July 7th the Mets starters have a 1.58 ERA.  The Mets starters have done all of this without Jacob deGrom who could be back shortly. Offensively the Mets are nineteenth in home runs, so they have relied more on timely hitting. The offense is led by NL MVP candidate  Pete Alonso who leads baseball with 82 RBI one ahead of Judge. Alonso is fifth in baseball with 25 home runs and has a slash line of .274/.349/.534. Alonso has five home runs in 16 games vs the cross town Yankees. The Mets other star Francisco Lindor has had a nice bounce back season after struggling last season. Lindor already has more RBI than he did all of last season and is on pace to have more home runs. Lindor in his career vs the Yankees is hitting .317 with 10 home runs three of which came in a single game last season. 

The pitching matchups are scheduled to be Jordan Montgomery vs Taijuan Walker on Tuesday and Domingo German vs Max Scherzer on Wednesday. It is possible that this could be a World Series preview. But whether it’s the World Series or regular season you know that New York will be rocking for the first installment of the SUBWAY SERIES.