WRESTLING REPORT
The WWE strengthens its programming while shadow boxing with AEW
Jan 23, 2019, 6:00 am
FINN BALOR SOURCE: WWE IMAGES
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 and the sister show Ball Control. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio shows at www.nerdthugradio.com or www.facebook.com/nerdthugradio!
This week some interesting information came out in the form of rumors. Rumor one, the WWE offered the Young Bucks a top money deal along the lines of WWE Smackdown headliner AJ Styles with a penalty free exit clause in the first six months – which is unheard of in the industry, the purpose of a contract is control - trying to cripple the All Elite Wrestling deal before it ever happened. Obviously they declined the offer. The other big rumor is that the WWE has shifted strategy and is trying to give pushes to their unhappier stars in an effort to convince them that there's no need to find greener pastures. Already All Elite Wrestling is having an effect on WWE with wrestlers even taking their gimmick names off their twitter accounts and making veiled comments about where they'll be in the future.
RAW continues its trend of putting forth strong programming although Vince McMahon's lack of faith in Finn Balor is as subtle as a sledgehammer as they build up to what is likely a Brock Lesnar title loss at Royal Rumble this coming Sunday. The Revival, one of those allegedly unhappy WWE acts, received some solid programming and also found a way to give Curt Hawkins a good push as a special guest referee- this is the kind of creativity WWE needs to harness in this coming wrestling "talent" war. Ronda Rousey still shows her amateurish nature by having one or two botched spots in her matches, having an odd beat with Bailey during the Sasha/Bailey vs Natasha/Ronda tag team match. The announcement of Alexa Bliss entering The Women's Royal Rumble was a pleasant surprise, as her mic skills are amazing and she is a great heel for the women's division and her absence has been felt.
Smackdown lead again with Becky Lynch, being The Man has it's perks. The build up for Asuka vs Becky has been great and this is the future of women in the WWE, it's a main event worthy match and the screen time has been amazing. If you assume that you lead your programming with your strongest draw, it's intriguing that the women's title and not Daniel Bryan's championship programming is what they lead with. Naomi and Mandy Rose finally fought and the payoff was terrible, hopefully they are done with this storyline and they an use Jimmy Uso and Naomi somewhere else. The Miz and Cesaro are steady superstars and their match saved the momentum of Smackdown in the middle half of the show, giving some hope to the Shane/Miz vs The Bar tag match at Royal Rumble, especially with the post match action ending with The Miz and Shane going through the announcer's table. The entire second half of Smackdown featured another annoying Daniel Bryan promo, a terrible Samoa Joe vs Mustafa Ali match, and an uninspiring Rey Mysterio vs Cian Almas match, with not one but two surprise interruptions, cue the eye roll. Essentially if your power was out the last hour of Smackdown, you didn't miss anything but a decent New Day promo.
Over the next few months in the build up to All Elite Wrestling's event in Vegas, the rumors will continue to swirl and the WWE has to struggle with a threat that sort of doesn't exist, because just the promise of AEW's success will force WWE's hand in programming and handling of talent. All of this pressure will hopefully cause stronger programming over that time.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.