THE WRESTLING REPORT

With Fastlane out of the way, it's full steam ahead to Wrestlemania

With Fastlane out of the way, it's full steam ahead to Wrestlemania
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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.facebook.com/nerdthugradio!

From the wreckage of Fastlane emerges the first week towards Wrestlemania, let the set up commence.

Rocking from the controversy of Fastlane, Raw kicked off with Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman making the case for either side winning the upcoming main event of Wrestlemania, Seth Rollins vs Brock Lesnar. Aleister Black and Ricochet continue their tag team exhibition tour, in yet another tag match. Overall there wasn't a ton of new ground covered on Raw although Triple H and Bautista confirmed the long overdue Wrestlemania match that was originally planned for a few years back but then Daniel Bryan happened. Kurt Angle also confirmed suspicions that at Wrestlemania he would be wrestling his farewell match, now who to fight, hmmm? The Shield basically carried the night through with Roman Reigns having a match scheduled against Baron Corbin but instead Drew Mcintyre ambushed him and Dean Ambrose took up the call to avenge the insult with a no DQ, falls count anywhere match where both Dean and Drew took some amazing bumps, finishing with a gnarly Claymore kick that literally knocked a hand rail for some stairs loose, that's pretty good.

Smackdown felt like the show most affected by Fastlane, aside from Ronda Rousey completing her heel turn on Raw, as nearly all of Smackdown was focused on the fallout from the pay per view. As everything from the Shane McMahon/Miz break up, to Kofi Kingston and his friends in The New Day getting their revenge on The Bar and Rusev and Nakamura, AJ Styles and Randy Orton started their feud right on schedule with some decent smack talk. Daniel Bryan and Rowan restomped Kevin Owens and Mustafa Ali, in a continuation of their losing ways. The biggest change coming out of Fastlane was the new intercontinental champion, Samoa Joe. Coming out of a fatal fourway featyring R Truth, Almas and Rey Mysterio Jr the title changed yet again, the intercontinental championship has really struggled to find a home this year floating from superstar to superstar with little story or reason to it. The finale was interesting set up, giving Kofi Kingston an "impossible task" is an interesting twist to this storyline, the super heel role that Vince has taken as of late opens more doors for him to continue playing a "hand of God" type role adding people to matches and swapping out stars at will, continuing the longstanding air of "who knows what can happen".

Coming out of an underwhelming Fastlane, the road to Wrestlemania is clear and they can finish setting the stage for all the matches.

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Can the Texans pull off the upset? Composite Getty Image.

The NFL playoffs are finally here, and the Texans will kick off the postseason by hosting the LA Chargers this Saturday at NRG.

And while the Texans are only 3 point underdogs, the national media is making it seem like Houston has no chance against Justin Herbert and company.

ESPN's Rex Ryan has gone as far as calling the Texans a "bye" week for the Chargers, giving the team no chance to win despite playing at home.

However, the Texans are no stranger to this situation, as they were given little chance to win against the Browns in last year's Wild Card game. And we know how that ended, with the Texans thrashing the Browns 45-14.

It's certainly fair to predict the Chargers will come away with a win this Saturday, they have been playing much better football than Houston in recent weeks.

But it's important to remember that home underdogs have performed well in the Wild Card round. In fact, home underdogs are 16-14 all-time in the Wild Card playoffs, and both home underdogs won last year (Texans, Buccaneers).

Speaking of last year, many credit the Texans defense for securing the win over Cleveland, with two pick sixes in the second half helping to seal the deal.

But the real reason Houston won the game was because of CJ Stroud and the offense. Stroud threw 3 touchdowns before halftime and the team was leading 24-14 with six minutes left in the third quarter. That's when the defense tacked on two interceptions for touchdowns and put the game out of reach. Stroud and the offense also went on to score another TD on a Devin Singletary run.

If Stroud and the offense didn't put so much pressure on Joe Flacco and the Cleveland offense to score, he may not have forced those passes that were picked off.

Now, many will point to the Chargers having the best defense (points allowed) this season, but it's worth noting the Browns had the number one defense (yards allowed) last year as well.

Bulls on Parade

Houston's defense will have its hands full against a strong rushing attack led by JK Dobbins. And Justin Herbert has been terrific this season, spreading the ball around to his top two targets, Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston.

Fortunately for the Texans, they are extremely healthy on defense this week. While Jimmy Ward and Jalen Pitre are out for the year, we'll finally get to see linebackers Azeez Al-Shaair and Christian Harris play together for the first time this season.

The defensive line is expected to be at full strength as well, keep in mind Jonathan Greenard was injured and unable to play against the Browns last year.

Outlook on offense

We should see the best possible version of the offensive line this Saturday. We're all aware how many hits Stroud has taken due to poor o-line play. But with Tytus Howard and left guard and Juice Scruggs at right guard, Stroud should have more time to get the passing game going, featuring Nico Collins.

Speaking of the receivers, it's pretty amazing that this receiver group is almost identical to last year's in the Wild Card round. Stroud didn't have Stefon Diggs (on the Bills) or Tank Dell (injured) to throw to last year, either. But he does have one big addition in Joe Mixon this year. Hopefully, they can get Mixon involved in the passing game, and the shuffling of the o-line provides Mixon with some holes to run through.

X-factor

At least there's a possibility newly acquired receiver Diontae Johnson could provide a spark to the offense. Last year John Metchie and Robert Woods were the main targets besides Collins and Dalton Schultz.

What does Vegas think?

The Chargers are favored by 3 and the total is set at 42.5 points

Don't miss the video above as the crew from Texans on Tap previews this week's big game!

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