THE WRESTLING REPORT

The Wrestling Report: Potential dissension in the ranks of AEW?

The Wrestling Report: Potential dissension in the ranks of AEW?

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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!

The first cracks are starting to appear in AEW's seemingly unified front against the WWE natural monopoly in the world of wrestling. Joey Janela, the bad boy of Indy wrestling, has since deleted a tweet that announced he wasn't getting on his flight to make his next booking with All Elite Wrestling because they weren't explaining to his satisfaction his elimination from a match the previous week and that he felt that he was losing his momentum that comes from fourteen years of independent wrestling. This was always going to be the issue, every match isn't marquee and every competitor can't be a winner and so you have to have great performers that are OK with losing. That's a hard thing to find among a bunch of guys who have always been me first, like traditional Indy wrestlers are seen as. So what exactly is the solution? Tough to say but it's a good sign that he deleted the tweet, hinting that maybe he got the conversations he was looking for or maybe AEW flexed a little contract muscle, it's hard to say.

AEW is also very obviously in the head of WWE as Britt Baker, one of the top female wrestlers of AEW is the girlfriend of current NXT champion Adam Cole and she was in attendance for his match during Takeover and they put the camera on her during the match. There's nothing like a little free publicity.

Survivor Series is over thankfully and apparently the rumor mill is saying Vince McMahon wasn't even happy with the main event. The triple threat women's match, Becky Lynch, Bayley and NXT's Baszler was just not the end of the show pop they were looking for and most odd was all of these triple threats had a lot of NXT winners, they actually won a majority of the matches, I suppose trying to make them look equal to their counterparts. That's dumb though, we know they aren't. This is one of those mistakes that comes from having a third show and especially having it be the "minor league" of your talent development, the fans know what it is, so when these guys are beating Smackdown and Raw guys, if you're Fox or USA the question should be, well why aren't they on the main roster then? Overall I think this attempt at elevating the NXT brand may further hurt WWE's credibility and leave people looking across the street on Wednesday's to AEW's Dynamite on TNT.

Feel free to check out my brand-new comic book Another Day at the Office email me for details or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.

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The Texans are the class of the division. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

The Houston Texans received a lot of praise for their moves in free agency across various outlets. And for good reason, most people believe the team got significantly better with the additions of Danielle Hunter, Azeez Al-Shaair, and Denico Autry among others.

But there's another factor to consider this offseason. How much have the other teams in the AFC South improved?

When looking at the PFF grades in free agency, the Colts received a B-minus. Most of the Colts moves this offseason involved spending a lot of money re-signing their own players. Which is great in theory, but it's hard to improve the overall quality of your roster when you're bringing back players that were already there to begin with. A lot will be riding on player development for the Colts to see a big jump this season. A healthy quarterback wouldn't hurt either.

The Jaguars have made some big additions financially this offseason by signing receiver Gabe Davis and defensive tackle Arik Armstead. They also lost the top receiver on the market, Calvin Ridley, to the Titans. Gabe Davis wasn't able to establish himself as a reliable No. 2 receiver with Josh Allen throwing him the ball in Buffalo. So it's hard to believe he'll take the next step in Jacksonville. Their best move of the offseason might have been retaining edge rusher Josh Allen by using the franchise tag on him. So what did PFF think of Jacksonville's offseason? They received a B-minus, just like the Colts.

The Titans have a lot of turnover heading into the 2024 season, and not just on the roster. They have a new head coach in Brian Callahan, who's looking to revamp Tennessee's offense. Early in free agency, they agreed to terms with former Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, signing him to a 3-year deal at $8 million per season. Which is more money than the Ravens are paying for Derrick Henry, who left the Titans in free agency. Calvin Ridley was the most notable addition to the squad, he received a 4-year, $92 million deal. And while this could be viewed as an overpay, at least he gives the Titans' offense some upside. Their receiving corps looks a lot more dangerous with Ridley added to DeAndre Hopkins and Treylon Burks.

They also spent big at the center position, adding Lloyd Cushenberry on a 4-year, $50 million contract.

Because the Titans spent a lot of money on some highly coveted players, PFF gave them a B.

Now that brings us to the Texans. The Texans re-signed some of their own players like Dalton Schultz and Noah Brown. But they also made some big splashes with Hunter, Autry, Al-Shaair, and Joe Mixon. But the Texans spent their money in a more conservative way by not handing out many contracts over two years in length.

The Texans managed to add the best pass rusher in free agency with Hunter, but it's only a two-year deal. The overall talent level is going up on this roster, and GM Nick Caserio isn't having to sign players to long contracts that could come back and haunt him.

That's why we're seeing post-free agency power rankings coming out with Houston in the Top 10. And that's also why PFF gave the Texans an A for their moves in free agency.

Be sure to check out the video above as Craig from Sports Talk Extra takes an in-depth look at PFF's grades for the AFC South, and much more!

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