WRESTLING REPORT
Wrestlemania is starting to look a little crowded
Mar 27, 2019, 7:22 am
WRESTLING REPORT
Wrestlemania gets crowded as we get closer to go April 7th.
Raw lost a little momentum as everything was about Wrestlemania and everyone tried to get a piece of it. The addition of Colin Jost and Michael Che into the Andre the Giant Memorial Royal Rumble takes two actual wrestler's spots but considering some of the odd bookings going on lately, that may not be an issue. I'm starting to suspect that either WWE writing is purposefully keeping a lot of people on the bench for some reason or a lot of people aren't able to go right now and that's why guys like Aleister Black, Ricochet and Apollo Crews are getting so much air time. The women's tag titles match just went from a showcase singles match, which honestly the team of Natalya Hart and Beth Phoenix wasn't a great choice for an opponent, into likely a large group tag match with probably the Iconics and Nia Jax and Tamina getting into the match, maybe a four way tag battle? Finn Balor gets his title match, Seth Rollins and Triple H both cut some solid promos and Dean Ambrose and Drew Mcintyre had a fantastic last man standing match. Kurt Angle's farewell tour continued with a painful looking match versus Samoa Joe, I respect Kurt Angle for holding out and not wanting to end his career yet but seriously how is he still standing at this point?
Smackdown continues its theme of who knows what's going to happen, with another crazy game of "who did what now?" The women's triple threat match at Wrestlemania got even more confusing with Charlotte Flair winning the Smackdown women's title, just one day after coming in third place in a beat the clock match on Raw. With three people it's fairly obvious that someone would have come in third place, but Charlotte Flair's problem in this whole booking is that she's felt like the middle child in the storyline constantly having to remind people she's in it. Also, beating Asuka really kind of puts Asuka in a weird place, from undefeated phenom into short term title holder very quickly, this all leaves Asuka struggling for direction coming into Wrestlemania where the Smackdown women's title didn't even have a match. The New Day winning Kofi's way seemingly into the title match against Daniel Bryan is a great payoff for the storyline building up to Wrestlemania but with one more week between then and now, is it going to end that way? I guess we'll have to wait and see, which is smart programming on WWE's part.
One thing I do want to take a second to comment on though is how awesome it is for the women's triple threat match to be the main event at Wrestlemania. The journey from bra and panty matches to being THE MAIN EVENT, has been a long crazy one and all of these girls deserve a piece of the credit, from Sasha, Bailey, Alexa, Becky, Chyna, Sable and everyone in between the evolution from eye candy to time fillers to genuine impressive athletic entertainment is unmistakable and worthy of comment and reward.
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!