THE WRESTLING REPORT

Clash of Champions is shaping up to be a great show.

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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. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio shows www.nerdthugradio.com!

Raw came out swinging, with an appearance from Stone Cold Steve Austin and a stunner on AJ Styles. The contract was finally signed between Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman but then the OC showed up and wrecked shop, then in the next match AJ Styles was fighting Cedric Alexander and the OC showed up again, but this time The Viking Experience saved the day. Could they finally be building up to an actual rivalry for the OC? The girls put on an amazing tag match in selling the upcoming clash of champions as all four of them looked great. Baron Corbin coming out on top of the triple threat to make it into the King of the Ring finals is an obnoxious development but hopefully he won't win it. It was great of Raw to finish with a Stone Cold toast, with him kind of crowning Seth and Brawn.

Smackdown started off a little wonky with a timing error meaning the show opened up with Undertaker already in the ring and Sami Zayn out to address him. It does end nicely though with Undertaker choke slamming the Mouth of the North. The build up to the Women's Tag Team titles hasn't been anywhere near as good, with this week finally stooping to Mandy just calling Nikki Cross ugly. The underselling continued with Rowan and Roman squaring off and then Chad Gable defeating Shane for his pathway to the finals. We're now set up for Chad Gable against Baron Corbin for the title of King of the Ring, in a true who cares less match. Shane taking Elias' place was an interesting development and they're building up for an interesting Kevin Owens vs Shane rivalry which is great except this won't be the first time it's come up.

Clash of the Champions is looking really strong overall and there is genuine uncertainty coming into the event of who will be champion when it's all said and done. This weekend is going to be a big deal simply because it's unclear what will happen next.

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With the end of the regular season in sight, the Houston Astros host the Kansas City Royals on Friday night, coming off a huge walk-off 2-1 win against the Orioles.

Two players from the finale against Baltimore really stood out for the 'Stros. Jeremy Pena, who had a clutch double late in the game, and Cristian Javier.

Javier struck out 11 batters over 5 innings surrendering only one run, which was exactly what the Astros needed in possibly the most important game of the regular season.

Both Pena and Javier were critical pieces to the Astros title in 2022, and it looks like they're rounding into form at just the right time.

Javier's struggles have caused many to question who would be the team's third starter in the postseason, behind Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander. Let's put this to bed right now, it's Javier.

This should be everything you need to know. Let's start with Hunter Brown. Brown has given up 5 earned runs or more in 4 of his last 7 starts.

How about JP France? France has surrendered 5 or more earned runs in 3 of his last 5 games.

However, Cristian Javier hasn't allowed 5 or more runs in a start since July 3. Javier may only give you 5 innings, but that's actually pretty common for starters in the playoffs. Teams typically remove their starters before the third time through the order.

Prime Time Pena

While the power hasn't been there for Pena this year, he is swinging the bat much better of late. Over his last 30 games, he's hitting .325 while slugging .453. Pena may only have 10 bombs on the year, but he's getting on base and hitting plenty of doubles.

If these two can contribute at a similar level to last postseason, the sky is the limit for the 2023 Astros.

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