Pete

Two very good experiments and an all-time classic short (Viking Women's infamous "Home Economics Story"). "'Kachow?!' What, is Don Martin working with you guys now?"

They lost, of course. *laughs in Tungsten Arm O'Doyle*

And now they've quietly snuck into the playoff race. 2.5 games out of the WC slots, 3 back from Cincy in the Central.

Cindy thinks it's gonna be more like a decade. I don't share that level of pessimism, but this has been a brutal year for the Metropolitans after so much off-season promise.

The Mets are selling at the trade deadline and the Cubs are buying. THE CUBS. Welcome to Bizarro World.

Back in the KTMA days they shared the same studio as Mick Karch's wrestling show and even taped back-to-back IMSMR. So that's where a lot of the AWA references come from.

What have they done with Drake though? I know LA Knight gets big pops and the fans love him to death, but if previous WWE history is any indication they're just going to punish him for getting over too organically. As for "top WWE star" Rob Eckos... not only did I literally not know he was even with the company, I don't think I'd survive if you put a gun to my head and told me to pick him out of a lineup.

On one hand, that would be hideous. OTOH it night be the most amazing double turn ever. MJF's character development the past couple of months has been completely out of this world. I know they were teasing it a bit last year before he won the title, but him completely leaning into his inner babyface has been absolutely incredible. He would be insane to jump to WWE, because they'd never give an "outsider" anything this meaty to dig into.

MEANWHILE, IN SACRAMENTO:

Update: Mullin got a punctured lung from the challenge and Parkinson is not happy about that one. Lost in the hubbub: Wrexham 3-1 United.

Apparently the Red Sox coaches were wearing clown shoes to match their CC unis. WOOF.

Oh man, that Kiyomiya/Sanada finish. Watching ELP and Loa go outside for 2-3 minutes, is there any reason the ref doesn't put the count on both guys?

"CLICK HERE AND BUY MY CD, OOOOOOH YEAH!"

As of last week I'm officially "between gigs, maaaaaan" again, so I'm dipping my toes into the 70s "Cannonball" road rally/chase genre. I started with The Gumball Rally... it's shockingly good, with a lot of great car action ('natch), stupid cops and some nifty footage of mid-70s NYC. The only truly big names in it are Raul Julia, who lovingly chews the scenery as a cross between Mario Andretti and Pepe Le Pew, and Gary Busey as himself... but the lack of top stars actually helps as you get into everyone's characters without getting distracted by ones stardom. Amazingly, everyone does their own driving and stunts in this which is pretty damn impressive. At some point I'll check out Cannonball, Eat My Dust and Grand Theft Auto.

It might be a heat thing. They could be worried about losing the crowd when the face team gains the man advantage. As long as each team enters from opposite sides of the building, why not just have one man from each team come in simultaneously?

Digging the BCC character development with Mox surrendering to save Yuta, then consoling him afterwards. After all, it wasn't his fault 40% of their team abandoned them at the finish. Between that and the post-match handshake it seems an awful lot like they're going back face, which makes sense as I don't think anyone wanted to boo them in the first place. When they announced Ibushi and he didn't come out right away, I thought they were doing an angle where the BBC jumped him before the match. Then he came out and he looked so out of shape I literally thought the BCC had some other guy impersonating him as a swerve. Lord. Please, please, PLEASE call an audible on Cole/MJF and keep this team going. There's some potential for bonkers money with them as a unit... sucks that they're already sowing seeds of dissent when everyone clearly loves them to death. MJF hasn't looked this legitimately happy since he roofied that one girl at the TKE frat party at Hartwick.

Premier League Chelsea vs League Two Wrexham on ESPN. One club is sponsored by United Airlines, the other has no shirt sponsor. Guess which is which. You're wrong.

Everyone needs to watch Speedball Mike Bailey vs Yoshihiko from Game Changer "Now and Forever" this past Friday night. They literally redid Ospreay vs Omega from Forbidden Door, complete with "Don Callis" getting kicked out only to return, and it was completely fucking brilliant. Seriously the MOTN.

Everyone is sleeping on PAC yelling "YUH SHATTERED ME NOSEBONE!" at Kenny. Sweet fancy Moses I howled for that.

Here's the video. Raven didn't actually call for assistance over the house mic, but he immediately let Pee-Wee Anderson know V-4 was hurt, got down and stabilized him until the paramedics could hit the ring. https://youtu.be/eNTOyl5WzY8?t=225

Ooooooooof.

Does the game come with sportswriters? Because you know one of those douches will leave him off their HOF ballot because reasons.

My big takeaway from the Cole/MJF shenanigans is that Max is going to be an INCREDIBLE babyface down the line once his heel well inevitably runs dry. The fans already love to hate him... he has personality to burn and enough flashy offense that he could slide neatly into that role with a little prodding, plus his instincts are off the charts at reading crowds and reacting accordingly. I also love that Cole is essentially forcing MJF to wrestle clean.