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WrestleMania's go home shows were weak at best.
Raw starts off with an announcement that the women's main even will be a winner takes all match, essentially combining the Women's Raw and Women's Smackdown titles, just a few years after their creation. The Ricochet and Aleister Black tour continued with them losing to The Raw tag team champs again The Revival and then turning on them and attacking them in a seeming heel turn. Kurt Angle had a farewell moment cut short by Baron Corbin with the WWE trying it's hardest to convince you that Baron Corbin is in fact a big enough jerk to warrant being the bad guy in this farewell match. Bautista came in and cut a great four word promo for his seemingly brutal match against Triple H, The Animal has been channeling his inner Bruce Willis by delivering a really solid angry but quietly spoken guy this time around and it's becoming more fun to watch as it builds, this may slowly be becoming my most anticipated non title match. The women's tag title match seems like it's going to be a disaster, Sasha and Bailey were way off their game and it seemed like everyone had a big case of the jitters for some reason, meaning their big match will be interesting to say the least.
Smackdown did everything in its power to try and convince you to watch WrestleMania with so much promo cutting it was crazy. AJ Styles and Randy Orton agitated each other some more, The Miz and Shane bothered each other even more, and Becky Lynch did her best work yet reminding everyone that they in fact are supposed to be rooting for her this Sunday. Daniel Bryant and Kofi Kingston did a great job with their promo at the end of Smackdown though and honestly WrestleMania does have some interesting and exciting matches booked.
There have been some really lazy moments building up to this main event, the Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey getting arrested on Raw was a lame send home moment. It doesn't make it more impressive that they are this ready to all fight each other they're fighting for two titles, they don't need to raise the stakes much more than that. The announcement that Finn Balor is returning to his Demon alter ego is great news, the Demon hasn't been seen in a long time and it tends to make for some great entertainment. Smackdown finished with basically the entire roster that isn't involved in a match coming out and wrestling in a giant battle royal that was funny but it reminds people just how many wrestlers aren't getting their moment in the sun. Think about this, all of those guys were out there and we still haven't heard from Bray Wyatt, Sami Zayn or Luke Harper. All guys who had big moments over the past few years. WrestleMania looms and afterwards there is usually a superstar shake up where some old faces swap shows, new guys show up and changes get made so who knows what's coming next.
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The Houston Texans have a big challenge in store as they look to start the season with a win against the Colts this Sunday. When these two teams met in Week 2 last year, the Colts dominated the Texans, despite losing their QB Anthony Richardson to a concussion after the first quarter.
Keeping Richardson contained on Sunday will go a long way in increasing the Texans' chances of coming home with a win. The Texans defense will have their hands full containing the Colts backs and tight ends in the passing game.
Scoring touchdowns with their wide receivers could prove difficult, as the Texans allowed the second-fewest TDs (10) to the receiver position in 2023.
Limiting running back Jonathan Taylor will also be a top priority. While the Texans had an elite defense against the run last season, they struggled with Taylor in Week 18 as he almost rushed for 200 yards.
Houston's D allowed only four carries to running backs in 2023 that went for 20 or more yards. Two of which were to Taylor in the final game of the regular season.
Finally, DeMeco Ryans and company have to find a way to get pressure on the QB. They only had one QB hit and zero sacks on Richardson and Garner Minshew the first time they faced off last year.
On offense, the Texans have two big x-factors to watch for on Sunday. The offensive line that suited up to play the Colts in Week 2 last season is completely different from this year.
The o-line was ravaged with injuries to start the 2023 campaign, so we expect a big jump in productivity in the trenches this year.
Another big addition in 2024 is the presence of running back Joe Mixon. The running game only produced 2 yards per rush in Week 2 against Indy last year, so there's clearly room for improvement.
Be sure to watch the video above for our in-depth preview of Texans-Colts!
And catch Texans on Tap (a Texans podcast) live on our SportsMapTexans YouTube channel following every game this season!