GET READY H-TOWN!
How Houston set the stage for a milestone sports comeback
May 27, 2021, 4:23 pm
Eva Marie and the WWE are heading to Houston in July. Image via: NatalieEvaMarie/Instagram/Screenshot
It's no coincidence, at least it shouldn't be, that the WWE chose Houston to kick off its 25-city tour on July 16 … professional wrestling's return to life as normal. Well, as normal as WWE's rock'em sock'em brand of traveling circus can ever hope.
Since March of last year, WWE's superstars have been in lockdown in Florida, staging their signature television shows Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown from controlled studios in Florida with virtual fans on video screens.
Houston is a legacy wrestling town, starting back to the early 1900s, through City Auditorium, Paul Boesch and Friday Nights at the Coliseum, to WWE's current worldwide domination in Houston's largest and most glamorous venues. The all-time attendance record for the Astrodome sits at 67,925 for WrestleMania X-17 in 2001, when Stone Cold Steve Austin pinned The Rock with the help of WWE boss Vince McMahon. Sure it was against the rules for Mr. McMahon to smash The Rock over the head with a chair, but you can't say he's not committed to his craft. Let me know when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell blocks a punt during the Super Bowl.
When I moved to Houston, my first night here I unhitched the U-Haul from my car and went to the matches at the Coliseum to watch the Rock 'n' Roll Express battle the Sheepherders in a barbed wire cage match. A few months later, I faced the scariest moment of my life, courtesy of wrestler Jake "The Snake" Roberts.
I still wake up with night sweats.
WWE's stop in Houston will be a live Friday Night Smackdown show airing on Fox. Among the superstars scheduled to appear: Universal champion Roman Reigns, Edge, Smackdown women's champ Bianca Belair, Sasha Banks, tag-champs Rey and Dominik Mysterio, Bayley, the Street Profits, King Corbin and Seth Rollins. Tickets are $20-$120, available at Toyotacenter.com. Remember, Toyota Center doesn't use Ticketmaster as a ticketing outlet.
Professional wrestling without fans is like the sound of one hand slapping – not as exciting and not nearly as much fun. Nobody at WWE is more excited about returning to the road and performing in front of a live crowd than the No. 1 challenger for the Almighty Bobby Lashley's WWE title, the "Scottish Warrior" Drew McIntyre.
"I was so happy when I heard that we were going back on the road to perform in front of our fans. It felt like Christmas when we got the word," McIntyre said in an exclusive interview.
"We're starting in Houston, where I won the Royal Rumble last year (in January before the pandemic hit), in front of 40,000 people at Minute Maid Park."
Like most performers, whether sports or entertainment or, in WWE's case a combination of athleticism and theater, McIntyre and the WWE roster thrive on the crowd's energy.
"Our audience is such a big part of our show. They don't just cheer us on like other sports, they often drive the show. We're an interactive show. We go off on how they're responding. We go with the flow of the crowd and see where that takes us. Fans can make an average match good, a good match great, and a great match legendary."
McIntyre won his first WWE championship last year, defeating Brock Lesnar in WrestleMania's main event. He accomplished the feat in a pre-recorded match in an empty arena, a far cry from WrestleMania's typically packed stadiums with 75,000 screaming fans reveling in a hero giving a villain his comeuppance.
"Without fans we had to find ways to innovate and adapt. We always say that our fans are really the No. 1 superstar of WWE. Now we know it's true because of what it was like the past year without them in the building.
"I felt like I had to lead the charge and set an example for the rest of the roster. My mentality was, thanks to my 20-year career, I was prepared for being champion in a unique situation. I couldn't ask for advice from the legends, like Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker, because nothing like this had ever happened before. I was the first champion put into a pandemic environment, working without fans to play off.
"I embraced it. I decided to approach my role differently. I wasn't going to do interviews and pretend I was talking to imaginary fans in the crowd. I went out there and stared right into the camera and talked to the people at home, breaking the fourth wall. Instead of having to scream over 20,000 fans, I spoke in my regular voice and told deeper stories. If my character was going through something dramatic, I got more emotional. I thought it was a good time for superstars to develop their characters more, step up their game both in the ring and doing interviews. Now that fans are coming back, I think they'll know us more than before, and that's a good thing."
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Astros keep doing this, and it’s getting hard to ignore
Jun 25, 2025, 10:01 pm
While the rolling Astros have a week of possible World Series preview matchups against the Phillies and Cubs, it’s the Rockets who made the biggest local sports headline with their acquisition of Kevin Durant. What a move! Of course there is risk involved in trading for a guy soon to turn 37 years old and who carries an injury history, but balancing risk vs. reward is a part of the game. This is a fabulous move for the Rockets. It’s understood that there are dissenters to this view. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, including people with the wrong opinion! Let’s dig in.
The Rockets had a wonderful season in winning 52 games before their disappointing first-round playoff loss to the Warriors, but like everyone else in the Western Conference, they were nowhere close to Oklahoma City’s caliber. While they finished second in the West, the Rockets only finished four games ahead of the play-in. That letting the stew simmer with further growth among their young players would yield true championship contention was no given for 2025-26 or beyond.
Kevin Durant is one of the 10 greatest offensive players the NBA has ever seen. Among his current contemporaries only Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic make that list. For instance, Durant offensively has clearly been better than the late and legendary Kobe Bryant. To view it from a Houston perspective, Durant has been an indisputably greater offensive force than the amazing Hakeem Olajuwon. But this is not a nostalgia trip in which the Rockets are trading for a guy based on what he used to be. While Durant could hit the wall at any point, living in fear that it’s about to happen is no way to live because KD, approaching his 18th NBA season, is still an elite offensive player.
As to the durability concern, Durant played more games (62) this past season than did Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith, and Tari Eason. The season before he played more games (75) than did VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Alperen Sengun. In each of the last two seasons Durant averaged more minutes per game (36.9) than any Rocket. That was stupid and/or desperate of the Suns, the Rockets will be smarter. Not that the workload eroded Durant’s production or efficiency. Over the two seasons he averaged almost 27 points per game while shooting 52 percent from the floor, 42 percent from behind the three-point line, and 85 percent from the free throw line. Awesomeness. The Rockets made the leap to being a very good team despite a frankly crummy half-court offense. The Rockets ranked 21st among the 30 NBA teams in three-point percentage, and dead last in free throw percentage. Amen Thompson has an array of skills and looks poised to be a unique star. Alas, Thompson has no credible jump shot. VanVleet is not a creator, Smith has limited handle. Adding Durant directly addresses the Rockets’ most glaring weakness.
The price the Rockets paid was in the big picture, minimal, unless you think Jalen Green is going to become a bonafide star. Green is still just 23 years old and spectacular athletically, but nothing he has done over four pro seasons suggests he’s on the cusp of greatness. In no season has Green even shot the league average from the floor or from three. His defense has never been as good as it should be given his athleticism. Compared to some other two-guards who made the NBA move one year removed from high school, four seasons into his career Green is waaaaaay behind where Shae Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, and Devin Booker were four seasons in, and now well behind his draft classmate Cade Cunningham. Dillon Brooks was a solid pro in two seasons here and shot a career-best from three in 2024-2025, but he’s being replaced by Kevin Durant! In terms of the draft pick capital sent to Phoenix, five second round picks are essentially meaningless. The Rockets have multiple extra first round picks in the coming years. As for the sole first-rounder dealt away, whichever player the Rockets would have taken 10th Wednesday night would have been rather unlikely to crack the playing rotation.
VanVleet signs extension
Re-signing Fred VanVleet to a two-year, 50 million dollar guarantee is sensible. In a vacuum, VanVleet was substantially overpaid at the over 40 mil he made per season the last two. He’s a middle-of-the-pack starting point guard. But his professionalism and headiness brought major value to the Rockets’ kiddie corps while their payroll was otherwise very low. Ideally, Reed Sheppard makes a leap to look like an NBA lead guard in his second season, after a pretty much zippo of a rookie campaign. Sheppard is supposed to be a lights-out shooter. For the Rockets to max out, they need two sharpshooters on the court to balance Thompson’s presence.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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