THE WRESTLING REPORT

Wildcard Week derails all momentum for Money in the Bank

Wildcard Week derails all momentum for Money in the Bank
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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 seemed to hit a pretty big speed bump. Raw spent the first almost 30 minutes talking and cutting promos. Including Vince McMahon stumbling through some half developed concept called the "Wildcard Rule" where now three stars from Smackdown can come to Raw and vice versa. This makes absolutely no sense considering the whole point of a brand split is to have different guys on different shows and we literally did the superstar shake up two weeks ago. One thing that was exciting was the return of Daniel Bryan but why do it on Raw considering he was Smackdown's Champion all the way up to and through WrestleMania although no official announcement was made either way. It's good to see Ricochet in singles action, although I do think he works best as part of a tag team to let him get time to recover and get his wind back from all those flips he does during a match.

Later on Becky Two Belts showed up and she doesn't even have to speak to make her presence known and I love that she didn't, just ran out and shut up Lacey Evans. Also, have they decided on a name for this Viking group yet? What are we calling them now? The Viking Experience? That's not going to work for me. Raw then rematched Roman Reigns against Drew Mcintyre and I really don't know who wanted to see more of that. Then Shane McMahon and Elias showed up and now there were five members of Smackdown on Raw, uh what? I'm glad Kofi retained the title instead of just putting it back on Daniel Bryan, and I think this shows that WWE is banking on Kofi being the champ for a while. Overall, Raw was confusing and poorly planned it felt like.

Snackdown continued the terrible idea of a wild card rule with AJ Styles kicking off the show he left literally three weeks ago. They then transitioned into an Mustafa Ali promo where he says he won't quit, that may be but he might get hurt and miss the whole thing, again. The match had a great finish though, as much as I complain about Randy Orton it is always great when he shows up and just RKOs someone out of nowhere, I really do like that. Bringing the Usos back for a title match against the newly crowned Daniel Bryan and Rowan was a weird decision to say the least, and it just lends itself to the confusion from this Wildcard week, like why are AJ Styles and Sami Zayn in a triple threat with Kofi for the title? Why not just book them on Smackdown anyway? What was the point? Like I said, this was a confusing week.

Maybe next week will be better as Money in the Bank's "go home" week comes around.

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The Jazz host the Rockets on Thursday night. Photo by David Berding/Getty Images.

The Houston Rockets, riding a three-game road winning streak, head to Salt Lake City on Thursday night to take on the Utah Jazz. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. EDT.

Team outlook

Houston (47-26) sits second in the Western Conference and has been dominant in recent weeks, winning nine of its last 10 games. The Rockets have thrived in blowout situations, going 21-9 in games decided by 10 or more points.

Utah (16-57) has endured a rough season, sitting at the bottom of the Western Conference standings. The Jazz have lost nine of their last 10 and are just 7-39 against conference opponents. Despite their struggles, they remain a strong team on the offensive glass, ranking sixth in the West with 11.9 offensive rebounds per game, led by Walker Kessler’s 4.6 per contest.

Key matchups

Kessler has been a bright spot for the Jazz, averaging 11.2 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game. Collin Sexton has also stepped up recently, averaging 14.1 points over the last 10 games.

For Houston, Alperen Sengun continues to shine with averages of 19 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 4.9 assists. Dillon Brooks has also been on a tear, hitting 3.1 three-pointers per game in his last 10 contests.

By the numbers

  • The Jazz average 113.6 points per game but give up 120.1, a troubling disparity.
  • Houston allows just 108.8 points per game in its last 10 contests, a major reason for its recent dominance.
  • Utah’s 13.9 made three-pointers per game could be a factor against a Rockets defense that allows 12.1 per contest.

Injury report

The Jazz will be without several key players, including Lauri Markkanen (illness), John Collins (ankle), Taylor Hendricks (fibula), and Jordan Clarkson (foot).

The Rockets list Amen Thompson as day-to-day (ankle), while Reed Sheppard is out with a thumb injury.

With momentum firmly on their side, the Rockets will look to keep rolling and take care of business against a short-handed Jazz squad.


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