THE WRESTLING REPORT

AEW seems to have WWE on the ropes

AEW seems to have WWE on the ropes
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Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio, Sports and Wrestling. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio shows www.nerdthugradio.com!

If you're looking at a calendar you can't tell but this is actually a really important week in wrestling, we are now living in a post All Elite Wrestling world. They had their event this Sunday and all indications are that it went amazing. The biggest criticism people seem to have so far is that most of the "big names" are former WWE superstars including the big surprise reveal of the event that John Moxley, formerly Dean Ambrose, has come to AEW. That's a fair point but there was plenty of small time made big talent as well such as friend of Nerd Thug Radio Kylie Rae and others. So with All Elite Wrestling landing such a big flag then the expectation is that WWE would come out swinging this week on Raw and Smackdown, right? They have their controversial return to Saudi Arabia coming up and they should be looking for some opportunity to regain ground and try and stop some losses somewhere.

Raw essentially did the opposite though, while it was Memorial Day and they ran a gorgeous video package in honor of those who served and gave all for our freedoms, they didn't get into an actual real match until about an hour and half in and honestly it never picked up from there. There was a Becky Lynch appearance but it was in a tag match, there was a fatal four way but it was hurt by the absence of one of WWE's biggest current stars AJ Styles who is now out with injury, another unfortunate side effect of the new double usage for the top portion of the WWE roster. The Brock Lesnar bit where he didn't know he had an entire year to cash in his money in the bank contract was odd, it doesn't make any sense, hasn't he been on the roster for roughly a decade? He never knew about the Money in the Bank contract before? That doesn't even make sense.

Smackdown didn't get much better, with Kevin Owens cutting a weird promo before he fights Kofi Kingston again that he hopes Dolph Ziggler beats Kofi Kingston so that Dolph then gives Kevin a title shot. What? Why wouldn't Kevin just beat Kofi on Smackdown for the title? Then Shane McMahon does some more anti Roman Reigns stuff, I guess tabling the Miz rivalry for a week. Also another injury, Finn Balor, adding up to WWE needing to start bringing up more guys and giving screen time to more people. The 24/7 title is still a joke and I worry it will never not be, which sort of makes me wonder what's the point?

So with the Saudi Arabia event coming up and several key guys saying they aren't going to be there and with injuries piling up from over usage and AEW putting on an amazing event and announcing a TNT television deal for later this year, this isn't the kind of foot I expected WWE to put forward.

Feel free to check out my digital short story The Wilson House or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help fight cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio or support our Patreon Page. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.

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Cam Akers is going back to Minnesota. Composite Getty Image.

The Minnesota Vikings have acquired running back Cam Akers in a trade for the second straight year, agreeing Tuesday to send a late draft pick to the Houston Texans for more depth at the position.

The deal, which was contingent on Akers passing a physical exam, has the Vikings sending a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2026 draft to the Texans for Akers and a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2026 draft.

Akers, who was a second-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Rams in 2020 when current Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell was the offensive coordinator there, came to the Vikings in a deal with the Rams on Sept. 20, 2023. He had 138 rushing yards and 70 receiving yards in six games before suffering a season-ending Achilles tendon tear.

Akers signed with the Texans this year after considering a return to the Vikings. He had 147 rushing yards and 16 receiving yards in five games, helping fill in for the injured Joe Mixon.

Akers has 1,728 rushing yards and 336 receiving yards in five NFL seasons. He led the league with 67 rushing attempts during the 2021 postseason while helping the Rams to a Super Bowl title.

The Vikings could be without starting running back Aaron Jones Sr. this week after he hurt his hip in the previous game. Ty Chandler is next in line.

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