THE WRESTLING REPORT
Another Pay Per View is coming this weekend from WWE. Again
Jul 10, 2019, 6:55 am
THE WRESTLING REPORT
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. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio shows www.nerdthugradio.com!
If it feels like we're sprinting into another pay per view almost on top of the last one, it's because we basically are. Extreme Rules is this coming Sunday only three weeks after Stomping Grounds. The seeming break neck speed of event after event after event is annoying and honestly seems to be designed to force people to pick up the WWE network. If they just bought the occasional pay per view there is no longer an incentive to spend the $40 bucks for one because well for $10 a month you get one a month and every few months there will be a second one snuck into the long months, so the value is in your favor. It's annoying for fans though because suddenly wrestlers are cutting promos from event to event and sometimes yelling at a guy about a fight in three weeks while they have a fight with someone else that weekend. Say what?
This past week Raw had a few interesting bits, perhaps most interesting was the behind the scenes moves of putting Paul Heyman mostly in charge of Raw and him upping the shock factor up a level or two. As that continued you saw the rise of The AJ Styles and his boys Gallows and Anderson, I'm not big fans of them but it's fun for those guys to get back together and a heel turn is in an interesting choice for AJ Styles, because I'm not sure it was needed. The other big thing is the Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch mixed tag match against Corbin and Evans for both their titles is a cool match idea and these two matches should be exciting at Extreme Rules.
Smackdown delivered what was a rather underwhelming go home show for Extreme Rules, although Otis of Heavy Machinery looked great in the three-way match, that guy is just incredibly impressive physically for such an oddly shaped athlete. The Kevin Owens face turn continues as he seemed to go "off script" but it was probably a bit and it's trying to set him up as an antihero, the problem with that is that his buddy Samy is in the middle of a great heel run. The Roman Reigns/Undertaker tag match has built up to exciting levels as Shane McMahon has continued his rise to top villain in the WWE and deserving of a beating from the Deadman and the Big Dog. He's assembling a nice collection of B players to help push his agenda as good muscle and as a result they're elevating themselves as well. This match may either save or finally end Undertaker's part time career and the Extreme Rules event overall.
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. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
Angel Martínez hit a grand slam off closer Josh Hader with two outs in the 10th inning to lift the Cleveland Guardians to a 10-6 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.
José Ramírez and Brayan Rocchio also homered to help the Guardians beat the Astros for a second straight night after entering the series on a 10-game skid.
Out for a second inning after throwing a scoreless ninth and with a runner on starting on second, Hader (5-2) intentionally walked Ramírez before walking Carlos Santana to load the bases. Hader struck out pinch-hitter Johnathan Rodríguez before Martínez sent a sinker 344 feet, into the first row of the seats in left field to put the Guardians on top.
Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase struck out one in a scoreless 10th to end it after Jakob Junis (2-1) struck out two in the ninth to earn the win.
Houston scored two runs in the eighth inning, with an RBI single from Jose Altuve, to tie it.
Altuve had two hits and drove in four runs, and rookie Cam Smith added three hits.
Houston starter Hunter Brown, who entered with an MLB-leading 1.82 ERA, yielded six hits and a season-high six runs in six innings.
There was one on with one out in the first when Ramírez homered for a second consecutive game, giving the Guardians a 2-0 lead.
The Astros cut the lead to 2-1 when Isaac Paredes scored on a sacrifice fly by Altuve in the bottom of the inning.
Rocchio doubled to start the third before scoring on a one-out double by Nolan Jones, making it 3-1. A two-out single by Daniel Schneemann scored two more, extending the lead to 5-1.
Altuve’s two-run double cut the lead to 6-3 with no outs in the fifth. Houston got within 6-4 when he scored on a sacrifice fly by Victor Caratini.
Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo allowed five hits and three runs with seven strikeouts in four-plus innings.
The grand slam by Martínez into the Crawford Boxes.
It’s the first time Cleveland has won back-to-back games since beating the Athletics June 21-22.
Houston LHP Brandon Walter (1-1, 4.15 ERA) opposes RHP Slade Cecconi (3-4, 3.56) when the series concludes Wednesday.