THE WRESTLING REPORT

Money in the Bank is looking weak

Cory De La Guardia
May 15, 2019, 6:37 am
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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!

This week was another really awful week of WWE "entertainment." In what was supposed to be the "go home" week for Money in the Bank, where WWE typically tries to end on awesome high notes and get everyone pumped for the event. That didn't exactly happen this time around. WWE is on their European tour still and basically it felt like there's only four important matches at Money in the Bank. Becky Lynch's two matches and she did a double contract signing with Charlotte Flair and Lacey Evans and then it devolved into a fight but at least it had some great promos, and The Miz and Shane McMahon in the cage match and Roman Reigns fighting Elias. That's all that seems to matter for this event; Alexa Bliss didn't even fight in the Raw Women's promo match and Baron Corben and Drew Mcintyre helped get Braun Strowman out of the men's ladder match.

Smackdown again stayed focus on Shane McMahon and his two foes Roman Reigns and The Miz. They did do a fun thing where The Usos showed up to help and Rowan and Daniel Bryan being in the pocket of Shane is kind of an interesting thing. The idea of a new Authority or Corporation or whatever they want to be called would be cool. They could do a better job and all have their own angles but still helping McMahon. The Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville team is cruising for a clear rivalry match at some point in the very near future, which means to me that Mandy Rose is now one of my favorites for the money in the bank. She wins the contract and then Sonya chases her for it, boom entertainment! I don't really understand the excitement around Lars Sullivan, he cuts awful promos, he doesn't seem to be able to move and honestly he isn't that large of a guy in the scheme of WWE athletes. Somehow the Kevin Owens and Kofi Kingston match suddenly feels like a far less important match than Kofi has been in since winning the title, which is disappointing although they did manage to end Smackdown strongly which was a surprise considering how bad the week was overall.

Hopefully a balance will be found before the coming move to Fox or Smackdown will struggle to find the new audience it feels like WWE is searching for. All of these changes and scrambling feels like WWE is genuinely fearing the upcoming AEW events and inevitable premiere on television and is trying to make as many people happy as possible but all of this craziness is going the other way it feels like, possibly turning fans off instead of bringing new fans on, only time will tell.

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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Houston can win series on Sunday

Timely hitting helps Astros edge out D-backs to even series

Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images

The Astros had two losses over the last 24 hours; one a game against the Diamondbacks in the series opener on Friday night, the other the news that their recovering ace, Justin Verlander, announced Saturday afternoon that he is opting to undergo Tommy John surgery. The decision and surgery will likely sideline Verlander through 2021 when his current contract with Houston ends.

With that, the Astros headwinds continued to increase, meaning a win to even the series with Arizona on Saturday would be a much-needed pick-me-up. Here's how they did:

Final Score: Astros 3, Diamondbacks 2.

Record: 26-26, second in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Enoli Paredes (3-2, 2.84 ERA).

Losing pitcher: Luke Weaver (1-8, 6.51 ERA).

D-backs score two on Javier who is pulled early

Kole Calhoun, who drove in four runs, including a home run in Friday's game, would start the scoring on Saturday with a solo home run off of Cristian Javier in the top of the second, giving Arizona an early 1-0 lead. Javier allowed another run in the top of the third, giving up a leadoff single that would move to third on a groundout then score on a sac fly, doubling the lead to 2-0.

Javier finished the third and tossed a 1-2-3 fourth, but whether it be due to a pre-determined pitch count or other situation, he would not go any further, ending his night there on just 77 pitches. His final line: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, 77 P.

Astros grab a lead in the sixth

The Astros were able to cut the lead in half in the bottom of the third, getting a leadoff single by Josh Reddick, who would move to third after a walk and fielder's choice before scoring on an RBI-groundout by Jose Altuve, making it 2-1. Enoli Paredes was first out of Houston's bullpen, taking over for Javier in the top of the fifth and retiring six straight batters for two perfect frames.

Houston would get to Luke Weaver in the bottom of the sixth, getting a leadoff single by George Springer, who would score from first on an RBI-double by Altuve to tie the game. Altuve would come around as the go-ahead run later in the inning on an RBI-single by Kyle Tucker, knocking Weaver out of the game as the Astros took their first lead of the game, 3-2.

Houston evens the series and moves back up to .500

Josh James was the next reliever for Houston in the top of the seventh, and despite getting into a jam by issuing a one-out walk and hitting the next batter, he was able to get out of it. It was thanks to a great play by Michael Brantley, who started a double play by catching a lineout and throwing a runner out at second to end the inning.

Brooks Raley had the eighth and erased a one-out walk by retiring the next two batters to maintain the one-run lead. After a scoreless bottom of the eighth, the Astros turned to closer Ryan Pressly to get another save and finish the one-run game. Pressly would do so, as Houston would move back up to .500 and even the series 1-1 heading into the rubber game on Sunday.

Up Next: The finale of this series between Houston and Arizona, and Houston's last regular-season home game of 2020, will get underway at 1:10 PM Central on Sunday. Madison Bumgarner (0-4, 8.53) ERA will be on the mound for the D-backs, while Jose Urquidy (1-1, 2.70 ERA) will start for the Astros.

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