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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How Astros' mistakes proved costly against Rockies

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Houston Texans trim o-line room with trade to Los Angeles

Yordan Alvarez is back! Composite Getty Image.

The Houston Astros open a three-game set Tuesday night against the struggling Colorado Rockies, with Hunter Brown set to take the mound at Daikin Park.

Houston (72-59) enters the matchup atop the AL West despite dropping six of its last 10 games, during which the offense has sputtered to a .204 average and the pitching staff has been tagged for a 5.69 ERA. The Astros will look to steady things at home, where they’ve gone 38-27 this season, and lean on Brown, who has been one of their most consistent arms. The right-hander owns a 10-5 record, a 2.36 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 2025.

Colorado (37-94) comes in losers of four straight and carrying the worst road record in baseball at 16-49. The Rockies have struggled mightily to contain the long ball, going 17-77 in games when allowing at least one home run. Starter Tanner Gordon (4-5, 7.11 ERA) will try to buck that trend in just his 10th appearance of the season.

Yordan Alvarez will make his long-awaited return to the lineup Tuesday, starting in left field for the opener against Colorado. It will be his first game action since May 2 after being sidelined with a hand injury.

Jose Altuve continues to lead the Astros’ offense with 22 home runs and a .456 slugging percentage, while Carlos Correa has been one of Houston’s most reliable bats of late, collecting 13 hits in his last 39 at-bats. On the Rockies’ side, Hunter Goodman has piled up 52 extra-base hits this season, and Brenton Doyle enters the series swinging a hot bat with 15 hits and 11 RBIs over his past 10 games.

The matchup is the fourth meeting between the two clubs this year, with Houston heavily favored to pick up another win as it looks to build momentum in the stretch run.

Betting odds

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Astros -341, Rockies +270; over/under is 8 runs

Roster moves

RHP Shawn Dubin has been claimed by the Orioles.

Starting lineup

What stands out? With Yordan back in the lineup, manager Joe Espada has decided to deploy him in the cleanup spot, leaving the Top 3 of Pena, Correa, and Altuve (DH) unchanged.

A surprising twist

However, Alvarez playing left field is not something we were expecting.

Image via: MLB.com/Screenshot.

With Yordan hitting fourth, Christian Waker slides back to the five spot, followed by Jesus Sanchez (RF), Victor Caratini (C), Mauricio Dubon (2B), and Jacob Melton (CF).

Interesting to see Yainer Diaz with the night off. He was hit in the wrist by a pitch from Craig Kimbrel on Sunday. Perhaps he needed an extra day to recover.

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