#kevin and damian are unlikely friends

[blackcrowing]

Blackcrowing's Master Reading List

I have created a dropbox with pdfs I have gathered over the years, I have done my best to only allow access to documents which I found openly available through sites like JSTOR, Archive.org, or other educational resources with papers available for download.

That being said I ALSO recommend (I obviously have not read all of these but they are either in my library or I intend to add them)

📚 Celtic/Irish Pagan Books

The Morrighan: Meeting the Great Queens, Morgan Daimler

Raven Goddess: Going Deeper with the Morríghan, Morgan Daimler

Irish Paganism: Reconstructing Irish Polytheism, Morgan Daimler

Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom, Erynn Rowan Laurie

Celtic Cosmology and the Otherworld: Myths, Orgins, Sovereignty and Liminality, Sharon Paice MacLeod

Celtic Myth and Religion, Sharon Paice MacLeod

A Guide to Ogam Divination, Marissa Hegarty (I'm leaving this on my list because I want to support independent authors. However, if you have already read Weaving Word Wisdom this book is unlikely to further enhance your understanding of ogam in a divination capacity)

The Book of the Great Queen, Morpheus Ravenna

Litany of The Morrígna, Morpheus Ravenna

Celtic Visions, Caitlín Matthews

Harp, Club & Calderon, Edited by Lora O'Brien and Morpheus Ravenna

Celtic Cosmology: Perspectives from Ireland and Scotland, Edited by Jacqueline Borsje and others

Polytheistic Monasticism: Voices from Pagan Cloisters, Edited by Janet Munin

📚 Celtic/Irish Academic Books

Early Medieval Ireland 400-1200, Dáibhí Ó Cróinín

The Sacred Isle, Dáithi Ó hÓgáin

The Ancient Celts, Berry Cunliffe

The Celtic World, Berry Cunliffe

Irish Kingship and Seccession, Bart Jaski

Early Irish Farming, Fergus Kelly

Studies in Irish Mythology, Grigory Bondarnko

Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland, John Waddell

Archeology and Celtic Myth, John Waddell

Understanding the Celtic Religion: Revisiting the Past, Edited by Katja Ritari and Alexandria Bergholm

A Guide to Ogam, Damian McManus

Cesar's Druids: an Ancient Priesthood, Miranda Aldhouse Green

Animals in Celtic Life and Myth, Miranda Aldhouse Green

The Gods of the Celts, Miranda Green

The Celtic World, Edited by Miranda J Green

Myth and History in Celtic and Scandinavian Tradition, Edited by Emily Lyle

Ancient Irish Tales, Edited by Tom P Cross and Clark Haris Slover

Cattle Lords and Clansmen, Nerys Patterson

Celtic Heritage, Alwyn and Brinley Rees

Ireland's Immortals, Mark Williams

The Origins of the Irish, J. P. Mallory

In Search of the Irish Dreamtime, J. P. Mallory

The Táin, Thomas Kinsella translation

The Sutton Hoo Sceptre and the Roots of Celtic Kingship Theory, Michael J. Enright

Celtic Warfare, Giola Canestrelli

Pagan Celtic Ireland, Barry Raftery

The Year in Ireland, Kevin Danaher

Irish Customs and Beliefs, Kevin Danaher

Cult of the Sacred Center, Proinsais Mac Cana

Mythical Ireland: New Light on the Ancient Past, Anthony Murphy

Early Medieval Ireland AD 400-1100, Aidan O'Sullivan and others

The Festival of Lughnasa, Máire MacNeill

Curse of Ireland, Cecily Gillgan

📚 Indo-European Books (Mostly Academic and linguistic)

Dictionary of Indo-European Concepts and Society, Emily Benveniste

A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principle Indo-European Languages, Carl Darling Buck

The Horse, the Wheel and Language, David W. Anthony

Comparative Indo-European Linguistics, Robert S.P. Beekes

In Search of the Indo-Europeans, J.P. Mallory

Indo-European Mythology and Religion, Alexander Jacob

Some of these books had low print runs and therefore can be difficult to find and very expensive... SOME of those books can be found online with the help of friends... 🏴‍☠️

library genesis might be a great place to start... hint hint...

My kofi

[blowflyfag]

Pro Wrestling Illustrated: March 2024

IN DEFENSE OF TAG TEAMS

BY DAVID LaGRECA

WHEN I STARTED to fall in love with pro wrestling, tag teams were held in high regard. I grew up in the era of the Road Warriors, the Midnight Express, and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express. Those guys traveled together, had chemistry in the ring, and knew each other very, very well. TO me, those kinds of teams are automatically going to have an advantage over the other teams that are thrown together–even if they’re main-event talent.

Then, you have October 7, 2023. You have Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso, who have never tagged together, other than an eight-man match on Smackdown. Each man doesn’t know what the other is going to do in the ring, unlike two tag partners who are traveling together on a daily and nightly basis. And yet, they were able to beat Damian Priest & Finn Balor, who have been working together all year. Ricky Starks & Big Bill were also a brand-new team, and they were able to defeat one of the most seasoned duos in the game in FTR. On a psychological level–and on a work level–I feel that should never, ever be the case. 

Yes, two main-eventers should be able to beat tag guys in one-on-one singles matches. But, when it comes down to it, they should never be able to beat an established tag team. Ever.

At WWE Fastlane, you have Uso & Rhodes beating The Judgement Day; you have LA Knight& John Cena, teaming together for the first time, beating The Bloodline, one of the most dominant factions and families in wrestling. That same day on AEW Collision, Ricky Starks & Big Bill beat probably the best team in the business–especially now that The Usos have broken up.

The one thing I will say about FTR is they were injured. They were able to talk about their injuries and how they were going into the match less than 100%. But even then, a novice team like Starks & Bill should not beat FTR. Based on their chemistry and experience alone, Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood should overcome their injuries and win. Between that and the events of Fastlane, it was a bad weekend for tag team wrestling. 

AEW, despite having a strong tag division, has on occasion showcased makeshift teams over the more experienced ones. Over the last 10 to 12 years, WWE has probably been more guilty than any promotion of not highlighting its tag teams, even when it had groups as stellar as the New Day and The Usos. WWE had great teams that it never did enough with … until the last year or so.

The last 12 or 13 months saw WWE do some wonderful things, with The Usos main-eventing night one of WrestleMania 39 against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn. Then, the jJudgment Day pursued (and eventually won) the WWE Unified tag team championship. Reverting the championship to two singles guys felt like a step backward. 

In the case of Owens & Zayn, we again have two wrestlers who were chasing singles gold, who then came together to become tag team champions. These guys were hardly new to one another, though. They’re best friends. While they’ve had a rocky relationship, we’ve seen on TV that they know each other very well. Before WWE, they won tag titles in Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. And they lost to Cody and Jey on Monday Night Raw.

[David LaGreca is the host of Busted Open Radio on Sirius XM, a lifelong wrestling enthusiast, and a longtime reader of PWI.]

C’mon! If Cody is wrestling Sami Zayn one-on-one, I expect Cody to win. If Jey is wrestling Kevin Owens … hey, I don’t know if i can pick a winner. It’s going to be close. If Jey Uso can eke out a win over Kevin Owens, I understand. Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes together? If they’ve been teaming for six months or a year, I’ll be able to buy it. But, being thrown together like that? It’s hard for me to swallow, even with a team like Owens & Zayn.

To me, it’s about logic. We’ve seen that in singles competition, members of an established tag team will often lose. That’s not their forte. They’re part of a tag team. That’s what they specialize in.

I’m a big Cody Rhodes fan. What we want to see is the finish of his story. Michael Cole even alluded to that in an in-ring interview with Cody on Monday Night Raw. “Is this the end of the story? Are you still trying to finish the story?” Because it’s all about him getting back into the ring with Roman Reigns.

Sure enough, the title reign didn’t last long. On the October 16 edition of Raw, Rhodes & Uso lost the belts back to the Judgement Day. This begs the question: What;s next? Is Jey going to turn on Cody? Is this part of the Bloodline story? It’s almost like it's a chapter in that story instead of a real tag team championship reign.

On the Ring of Honor side, at least we’ve seen Adam Cole & MJF working as a team. But do they need to be ROH tag champions? Do they really need the belts to tell the story of them being a true team? No, probably not. And now, it’s even worse. Because Cole is hurt and you're seeing MJF in handicap matches, beating established tag teams on his own.

Over in AEW, what are Ricky Starks & Big Bill going to do as tag team champions? Maybe they do great things and this column is moot … I just don’t know if that’s going to happen.

I grew up on wrestling in the late-’70s, early-’80s. Where–and I apologize–it was real. It was real. And, in that same spirit, I look at wrestling as more of a form of entertainment than an actual sport. 

The storytelling is more important than championship titles, especially in the WWE. And we’re seeing one of the best stories ever in the Bloodline saga. Maybe all that trumps the point I’m trying to make. We will find out soon enough.

[marvinswriting]

some secrets are harder to hide

prompt: KEVIN AND/OR GRETCHEN MEETING DAMIAN- bear hell yeah, more borrower au. Gretchen POV? mhmmm. Gretchen is very aware of the reader and she just insults Janis a lot, I think you can TELL how much fun i had writing this one

I'm not stupid. A pushover? Sure. A kiss-up? You bet. A follower? Please, I invented the term. But stupid? No. 

I know Janis didn't fight off a cat by herself and manage to find food. But I'm also not one to complain when a solid food supply gets handed to me.

So I didn't question it. 

Until now.

We have a borrowing schedule. Kevin on Sunday, Janis goes Tuesday, I go Thursday and we all go Saturday for more of a lookout rather than for food. 

The schedule isn't set in stone, if we really need food, we all go together. If somebody is sick, someone else will take their day. 

Which is what was going on right now.

"Janis, you aren't actually thinking of leaving." Kevin deadpans. Its Tuesday, and I look up from where I'm sharpening my tools.

Janis was gathering her supplies, swaying on her feet. "I've got a job to do."

"And a fever. You also have a fever." I add.

Janis shrugs. "Never stopped me before."

"It was never this bad before." Kevin counters.

Janis was an unhealthy pale, to the point where she looked a little green.

"We need the food." Janis wasn't the one to budge in our roommate dynamic. Kevin thought reasonably, I was practical, and Janis was stubborn. It was not always a bad thing, but not a good thing right now as she was about to pass out. 

"Janis," Kevin took the borrowing tools away from her. "No."

 "I'm fine." Janis insisted. "I know my own limits."

"Then," I stood up grabbing my own bag. "I'm coming with you."

"No necessary Gretchen," Janis says, yanking her bag back from Kevin. Or she tries too. It's unuseful and she stumbles back a bit, the bag still securely in Kevin's grip. It didn't even look like he was holding that tightly. 

I exchange glances with Kevin, and he reluctantly hands the bag to Janis. "Gretchen is going with you."

Janis scoffs but doesn't fight him. "Whatever, just don't slow me down."

"I get the feeling that it might be the other way around," I say, following Janis to the floor exit. 

"Stay safe." Kevin warns as we leave. 

It's hot in the walls, but the house has AC. Janis shivers, pulling her hand-sewn jacket closer around her. 

Its night, but we still stick by the walls, carefully making our way to the kitchen. 

Janis tries to muffle a cough with her jacket sleeve. Its summer, so it was odd to have such a bad cold. It was also hot out so to see Janis under so many layers was odd in itself. 

"Janis, are you sure you're okay?" I ask as Janis prepares to climb. Her cheeks are red and she's breathing heavily from just walking.

"Mhmm." She says.

"I'm serious." I turn her so she's facing me. She's so out of it she doesn't even notice what bad shape she's in. Janis giggles a bit.

"Why are you so stressed, Gretchen?"

"I don't think you can climb up without falling."

"I've done it before."

"Not in this shape."

"What do you mean, I'm in great shape." Janis strikes a pose with a crooked grin.

Yeah, no. Like hell am I letting Janis borrow tonight.

She's gonna get herself killed, or even worse- caught.

I groan, placing my head in my hands. "Let's go the other way."

I gotta get Janis back to her room without her suspicion. "We can take the route up to the counter directly." I lie.

"But we just got here!" Janis whined. I grab her wrist and drag her back to the wall. 

"It's for your safety."

We reach the living room and I shove Janis towards Kevin, who glances at us, confused. 

"She needs to go to bed. I'll go borrowing myself."

"Hey, Gretchen! You tricked me!" Janis tried to step forward, but Kevin grabs her shoulders, holding her next to him.

"And it wasn't hard. Go to bed, Janis. You'll thank me when you feel better."

"But-" Her protest was interrupted by a yawn. "Okay. Say hi to Damian for me."

"What?!"

"Huh?"

Kevin and I stare at her wide-eyed and it takes Janis a few moments before her own brain can process what she said. 

"Ohhhhh." Janis ran her fingers through her hair. "Forgot I didn't tell you that."

"Tell us what, Janis." Kevin sits her at one of the makeshift bottle cap chairs we have, pulling up two more for him and me. 

Janis shrugged. "I may or may not have been caught."

"And you're calm about this, why?" I ask.

"It's only Damian." 

I sigh. Janis clearly is too sick to see the issue and that a simple 'it's just Damian' won't make us understand anymore. 

"When did you get caught, Janis?" Kevin asks.

The girl yawns. "Remember when the cat almost killed me?"

"Janis. That was nearly four weeks ago!" Kevin cried out.

Janis shrugged again. "So? I'm not dead."

Even in her fever-induced whacked-out state, Janis made a point. A weak one, but a point. 

"Yet." Kevin countered.

And Kevin made a good point too....

I was receiving whiplash from how this conversation was going. Yeah, Janis isn't dead, but do we really know Damian? No. Every time Janis spoke, I found myself on her side. But then Kevin objects and I'm back with him again. Frankly, it's giving me a headache. 

"Guys," I lift my hand in defense, trying to defuse the argument going on. "What if we all just went tonight. Kevin and I can meet Damian and come to our own conclusions."

Janis nodded, her eyelids drooping. "Let's make it fast though. I think I might be getting sick."

"No, really?"

Kevin shakes his head. "I think this is a bad idea. He knows Janis and that's risky enough."

"Damian isn't a bad person," Janis said sitting up straighter. 

"That's for us to decide," Kevin says. "Get up, our main mission tonight is food and water, not Damian."

Janis mumbled an okay as we grabbed our bags. We actually did take the other route this time, because I wasn't kidding when I said Janis was in no climbing shape. I went in front of her with Kevin in the back as we made our way up. 

This route was in no way easier, but it was harder to fall and we were less exposed.

Janis, against all odds, made it to the exit with minimal issue. She was still swaying with each step, but Kevin pushed her along, making sure she was far away from the edge. 

 I'm not saying I doubt Janis's judgment but, I definitely doubt her judgment. I mean, Janis wasn't the sweetest little angel there was. For a human to see her snarky personality and not want to kill her probably meant they were good news. But I'm not taking her word for it. I'll see it for myself.  

Kevin pushes open the outlet and Janis tumbles out onto the counter. Literally. 

There's a bit of a jump from the outlet to the counter, small enough that we can hoist ourselves back into the walls, but far enough that you cant simply step out.

Janis lands on the marble with a soft thump and a laugh. 

She is out of it. 

Kevin and I follow Janis out, more gracefully. 

"You good?" I whisper.

She grins, wobbling up. "I might pass out."

"You sound way to gleeful to be serious." Kevin deadpans.

"No, I'm dead serious," Janis said, bringing her hand up to hold her head. "But isn't this fun!"

"No." I deadpan, watching Janis sway dangerously. "I'm no doctor but you may be dying."

"Don't listen to Gretchen." Kevin groans. "It's just a fever."

"Can you die from bad fevers?" I ask.

"I dunno." Kevin shrugs. "If Janis keeps this up we may find out."

"For science!" Janis yells excitedly. Kevin and I shush her immediately. 

"If you don't keep quiet, I swear to god, Janis-" Kevin goes off in a ramble of threats he definitely won't follow through with.

A door opens from somewhere in the house and my hand is instantly covering Kevin's mouth. We're still pretty hidden and close enough to the outlet that we're in no real danger if somebody walks into the kitchen but we don't want to get caught, regardless.

"He's arrived!" Janis sings loudly.

Oh right. 

I guess we kinda do wanna get caught.

"Janis if you don't shut the fuck up-" Kevin pushes my hand away from him. 

Janis runs out from where we're in hiding- or more of ungracefully jogs, to the center of the counter.

"Janis-" Kevin calls out as I rush out after her, Kev following.

To be honest, I wasn't thinking of 'oh she's gonna go meet her giant friend, its no big deal' I was more thinking 'this fucking idiots body is gonna shut down on her at any moment and she's just chilling in plain sight'.

Which, to be fair, both were going to happen. I just wasn't ready for the first one. I freeze as a human enters the kitchen, Kevin running into me.  

I knew that we were gonna meet Damian tonight, but that didn't make me mentally prepared. 

"Janis, is that you?" The lights the kitchen flick on, and I cringe at the intrusion of brightness. 

"Damian!" Janis grinned pushing away from me and walks to the edge of the counter. 

"Are these-" Damian glances at Kevin and I. "Are these your roommates?"

"Yup!" Janis says throwing up jazz hands. "Meet Kevin and Gretchen!"

We both wave shyly under the gaze of Damian. Unlike Janis, we cared about our lives and you're not gonna catch me trusting a human right of the bat.

"Hi." Kevin says tentatively, stepping further out from the shadows, pushing me along with him.

"Hello, I'm Damian."

I'm sure Damiana already knew that we know that, but hey, at least he's polite. 

"Okay, cute, you guys all know each other. I need to get home." Janis said.

"Are you okay?" Damian stepped closer to the counter.

"No, she's not." I cut off whatever Janis was going to say. "She should be home sleeping off a bad fever, but shes instant."

Damian nodded. "I could have told you that last part."

Janis hugged her jacket closer to herself, mumbling something none of us could pick up. She was looking at the counter below her- standing unnervingly close to the edge. 

"Okay, seriously." Kevin stepped past me. "Hate to cut this short, nice to meet you, Damian. We're gonna get this one home."

Before he could reach Janis, she swayed slightly, knees buckling.

The idiot passed out.

To be fair, I told her she needed to stay home.

But nooo.

Oh! And remember how I said Janis was standing on the edge of the counter? Yeah well, when she passed out she fell off the counter.

Kevin rushed forward as I gasped. So helpful, I know. 

Damian's hand instantly shoots out, catching Janis.

"Oh my god." Kevin says softly.

"I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner." I mumble.

Janis's head shoots up from behind Damian's fingers. "What the fuck?"

"You passed out. Told you it'd happen." I call out.

"Gretchen. Not right now." Kevin says. 

Damian looks shaken up and I guess I can't blame him. Kevin and I have been betting on when Janis's body will say no more, he only just got here.

"Jesus Christ, Jan."

"I'm fine!" She protests.

"You literally just fell off the counter." 

Kevin and I watch dumbfounded at the duo in front of us begin to argue over Janis's safety. Damian seemed just as worried about Janis's health as us, maybe more so.

"So," Kevin whispers. "Damian seems trustworthy?"

"We've officially known him for like three minutes, Kev."

"And in those three minutes?"

"Yeah. He's good."

We turn out attention back to an argument Janis seems to be loosing. 

"Damian I'm-"

"Say you're fine I dare you."

"Tired. I'm tired." Janis said, admitting defeat.

Damian carefully lowered the girl onto the table. "Get her home safe. Maybe we can all talk later when Janis isn't burning up by the second."

Kevin and I nodded as I wrapped my arm around Janis, guiding her to the outlet.

"Bye, Damian. Nice meeting you." I called out behind me as Kevin helped Janis back into the wall.

I'll get double food when it's my turn to borrow.

tag list!!! @realmisspolarbear @musicallygt @smallsoysauce @sourishlemons

[jknerd]

Apex Predator AU: Janis

Name: Janis Ian

Gender: Female

Age: 16

Theme Color(s): Gray, black

Family: Mr. Ian (father), Mrs. Ian (mother), Jeremy (older brother)

Specialties: Painting, crafting, sketching

Janis is friend of Cady and Damian Leigh. She is of Lebanese heritage, comes from a two-parent family in suburbia, and has grown up in this town with her brother and the other students. Despite being Regis’s friend all the way through the eighth grade, by high school the two had fallen out. Janis took this opportunity to start expressing her set through style and the arts, which was something she was not allowed to do whilst under Regis’ Tyranny. After exiting Platinums’ inner cycle, she learned of Regis not only stole Sara from Jeremy but also spread rumor of Janis being a lesbian. This sets up the reason for revenge plot that Janis and Jeremy devised and recruited Cady who had just learned of his true colors.

Janis is considered to be a social outcast along with Damian, but she befriended Cady, and the three skipped the class. After Cady sits with the Platinums, Janis warned Cady about Regis as unlike the laddie, she knew from the start of how promiscuous and manipulative leader of Platinums can be. After the Halloween dance when Cady leaves crying because Regis was having sex with Shana Oman and was backstabbing her, she thinks of a plan to destroy Regis. They plot together by Cady pretending the ignorance while boosting up her popularity as Queen Bee, erasing his sources of popularity. As time pass, Janis noticed a change in Regis who have seem to genuinely in love with Cady, internally commenting that Cady might be the hidden apex predator and witnessed a change in her friend. When Regis lost his popularity, Janis was unaware of the fact her older brother was bullying him. During the Trust Fall initiated by Ms. Norbury due to the Burn Book incident, Janis confessed she wanted to have Cady help her and Jeremy to ruin Regis’ life from the first place. She was seen shocked at the revelation of bus incident where Regis’ spine broke from saving Cady. Then during the Spring Fling Dance, she received a piece of crown with Damian, reconciling with Cady and convinced her brother Jeremy to let go of his grudge against Regis. Shortly after the dance, Janis began dating Kevin Gnapoor, a member of Mathletes.

[placetobenation]

When it comes to this year’s Survivor Series, things look great at the top.

We’re all excited to see just how The Undertaker will give his Final Farewell and just how will the WWE present it to us. It’s rumored that we could have guests like Kurt Angle, The Godfather to be joined by Triple H and Shawn Michaels. The Phenom deserves a proper send=off! 

Outside of the traditional 5-on-5 matches, it’s champion vs. champion across the board. Roman Reigns vs. new RAW champion Drew McIntyre has that big fight feel. Asuka vs. Sasha Banks, although we’ve seen it before on multiple times, is still very good no matter the venue. Plus, The New Day and The Street Profits looks really good on paper and actually has some history lately with Big E supporting his teammates from across the show on SmackDown. I wonder if we get a heel turn for TSP and they end up beating up Big E at some point. Not really feeling the Sami Zayn vs. Bobby Lashley match as there’s no real consequence and no real heat between the two.

As for those elimination matches, both have done nothing in the build-up to their respective matches. It’s been all about how Team RAW hates each other. What a difference a year makes as one year ago, we were all excited about how Team NXT would fare across the board against RAW and SmackdDown. This year, do we really care which side wins? Not me folks. All of the bickering has left me disinterested as I’m sure the WWE will try to force some kind of Lana survives angle only to be dropped through a table again.

We’ll have predictions later, but for now, here’s the updated card:

The Undertaker’s Final Farewell

WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Universal Champion Roman Reigns

RAW Women’s Champion Asuka vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks

RAW Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits

United States Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn

5-on-5 Women’s Survivor Series Elimination Match (RAW – Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Lacey Evans, Peyton Royce, Lana vs. Ruby Riott, Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Bayley, Natalya)

5-on-5 Men’s Survivor Series Elimination Match (Keith Lee, Sheamus, Braun Strowman, AJ Styles, Riddle vs. Kevin Owens, Jey Uso, King Corbin, Seth Rollins, Otis)

Dual Brand Battle Royale (Kick-off Show)

"I'm nobody's joke."

#WWENXT @LEONRUFF_ @RealKingRegal @ArcherOfInfamy pic.twitter.com/oD0UqkJRe7

— WWE (@WWE) November 19, 2020

Star of the Week:

Leon Ruff – Why not?! In the past two weeks, Ruff’s won two matches over Johnny Gargano and the North American Championship to boot! He’s stood up to Damian Priest and shown he’s more than just a jobber. Well done Leon!

RAW

RESULTS

Asuska, Dana Brooke, Mandy Rose defeated Shayna Baszler, Nia Jax & Lana

RAW Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day defeated Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin to retain titles

RETRIBUTION defeated Braun Strowman, Riddle, Sheamus & Keith Lee

Bray Wyatt defeated The Miz

WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre defeated Randy Orton to win title

HE DID IT!!!!!@DMcIntyreWWE is once again #WWEChampion! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/XtVtVSGeZG

— WWE (@WWE) November 17, 2020

Monday Night RAW was all about the main event folks. Putting the title back on Drew McIntyre, as we’ve said before, is a good move. Randy Orton earned his win at Hell in the Cell, but Orton vs. Reigns had no feel for it. In just 5 seconds last Friday night, McIntyre and Reigns already felt like a heavyweight fight. They have history in the Royal Rumble. And they have the look of two big behemoths battling for one night and one night only (for now). I ilke it. I love it. I want some more of it. Good move for Survivor Series and for Monday nights beyond. Now, where does this leave Orton for Survivor Series? Also, I am digging the McIntyre/Sheamus vibe with their backstage vignettes. I wonder if Sheamus is lulling his old friend to sleep only to turn on him for a title show?

WHAT A MATCH!#WWERaw #TagTitles @TrueKofi @AustinCreedWins pic.twitter.com/zAeN1DdFxb

— WWE (@WWE) November 17, 2020

Now, outside of The New Day’s title defense of the RAW Tag Team Titles, the rest of RAW wasn’t really that good.

RETRIBUTION vs. Team RAW was just a waste of time and I’ll be ecstatic that we don’t have to hear about captains and who doesn’t like each other between Keith Lee, Sheamus, Riddle, AJ Styles and Braun Strowman any more. I have no rooting interest in any of it. The same can be said on the women’s side of Team RAW as well. Enough of Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler against Lana. YAWN! And now they drop Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose for Lacey Evans & Peyton Royce. Does nothing for me either way, although Evans is an upgrade, not that they’ll do anything with it, though.

.@LaceyEvansWWE and @PeytonRoyceWWE have been added to #TeamRaw at #SurvivorSeries.https://t.co/2FCVGuwtUM

— WWE (@WWE) November 17, 2020

Another Angel Garza vignette. Why?! Ditto for Jeff Hardy and Elias dredging up the whole car angle again. It wasn’t believable then. It’s not believable now. Move on!

NIGHT NIGHT!#WWERaw @WWEBrayWyatt @mikethemiz pic.twitter.com/WhpvW2D5UR

— WWE (@WWE) November 17, 2020

Bray Wyatt vs. The Miz was kind of just there. How quickly we forget that The Miz hated Wyatt/The Fiend for being in his daughter’s room, right? If nothing else, we got a really cool Alexa Bliss flip over John Morrison. Speaking of Bliss, I guess we finally have the kick-off of the Bliss/Nikki Cross feud.

NXT

RESULTS

NXT North American Championship Match: Leon Ruff defeated Johnny Gargano by DQ to retain title

Blindfold Match: Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes went to no-contest

Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell defeated Kayden Carter & Kacy Catanzaro

KUSHIDA defeated Arturo Ruas

Ember Moon & Toni Storm defeated Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez

Timothy Thatcher defeated August Grey

NXT Women’s Championship Match: Io Shirai defeated Rhea Ripley

Ladies Night. War Games. OMG! NXT worked on every level this week.

W A R G A M E S !

#WWENXT #NXTTakeOver #WeAreNXT pic.twitter.com/dZE1HXpAo1

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) November 19, 2020

THIS IS AWESOME

,

,

x INFINITY #WWENXT #NXTWomensTitle @shirai_io @RheaRipley_WWE pic.twitter.com/ktlfcwFtIj

— WWE (@WWE) November 19, 2020

Wednesday night was on fire at Capitol Wrestling Center. Kudos to the women’s division that stole the night! Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley absolutely ripped it apart in the main event in another NXT classic championship match where both ladies come out strong and Shirai looks unstoppable at the top. Adding to that, we got the announcement from Shotzi Blackheart that War Games is coming December 6th. It looks like we’ll get Candice LeRae, Indi Hartwell, Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai against Blackheart, Ember Moon, Toni Storm and TBD in what is shaping up to be an amazing match. BTW: Moon and Storm are everything Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose whould be on RAW. I can see them being future tag champs if the WWE wanted to go down that route. They are that damn good! Another good showing too for Kayden Carter & Kacy Catanzaro. Losing to LeRae & Hartwell is nothing to be ashamed of as they’re getting better each week.

Toni Storm & @WWEEmberMoon working together. We love to see it.

#WWENXT @RaquelWWE pic.twitter.com/Scf4U1gYw9

— WWE (@WWE) November 19, 2020

The cat, @FinnBalor, is BACK… and LOOK who he dragged in with him. BOOM.

#WWENXT @AdamColePro @theBobbyFish @KORcombat @roderickstrong pic.twitter.com/wRMsEMBpsC

— WWE (@WWE) November 19, 2020

On the men’s side of War Games, NXT Champion Finn Balor returned to close the show. But, when Baor was challenged to bow down his title to Pat McAfee and his new crew – The Kings of NXT, Balor brought out the returning Adam Cole and the rest of The Undisputed Era. Chaos closes the show as McAfee takes a wicked stiff shot to the face from Cole to end the night. TUE are veterans of War Games and it should be interesting to see how McAfee, Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch and Pete Dunn fare in their debut in the cages! It’ll also be interesting to see if McAfee actually gets into the match or if there’s a fourth member coming to join The Kings of NXT.

Elsewhere, good for Leon Ruff! Good to see him standing up to both Johnny Gargano and Damien Priest as he hangs on to this title when Priest clocks him to give him the DQ win, a DQ finish that actually works for the storyline, unlike so many of the DQ finishes on RAW and SmackDown.

We all could’ve done without the Blindfold Match between Dexter Lumis and Cameron Grimes. But then again, we told you that was coming last week and we’re glad it’s over!

KUSHIDA still rocks. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Timothy Thatcher will be a physical beating for both men.

Finally, who is the “she” that is coming according to BOA?

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

The New Day & The Street Profits defeated Sami Zayn, King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode

Last chance Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Natalya defeated Tamina

Murphy defeated Seth Rollins

Daniel Bryan defeated Jey Uso

Good to see The New Day and The Street Profits playing nice before their Survivor Series match. No shortage of bravado on either side, but they put it aside for an opening 8-man tag team victory over Sami Zayn, King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. Good match to kick things off, but they continue to misfire with Big E. Otis gets the nod to join Team SmackDown. Meh. Would’ve rather seen Big E get the nod. Looks like he’ll be limited to have some type of invovlement in the tag team match.

#TeamSmackDown is STACKED!#SmackDown #SurvivorSeries @itsBayleyWWE @RubyRiottWWE @YaOnlyLivvOnce @NatbyNature @BiancaBelairWWE pic.twitter.com/KeETofOmM0

— WWE (@WWE) November 21, 2020

Nice to see Bayley trying to unite the SmackDown Survivor Series women’s team now that it’s complete with herself and Natalya being added Friday night. I agree with Corey Graves. The SmackDown team looks stacked in comparison to Team RAW. Natalya’s match with Tamina was a snoozer though.

"@DMcIntyreWWE you will always be my favorite #2."@WWERomanReigns has been on

tonight.#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/qE2cIFdcvn

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) November 21, 2020

Less continues to be more when it comes to Roman Reigns. Perfect placement of course with Roman at the head of the contract table. Even when faced with a challenge from another show, WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, it’s still the same message. Reigns is THE CHAMPION and your tribal chief – the head of the table. All the arrogance continues to flow with a line of love. “You will always be my favorite #2” will live in WWE history as a great line from Reigns to McIntyre. It’s going to be a war come Sunday night between these two! Now, that’s good business for everyone.

Murphy vs. Seth Rollins put forth a good final chapter as Buddy finally gets the better of his former mentor, the Messiah. Murphy’s Law says Rollins is in for some time off after Survivor Series to welcome the birth of his child with Becky Lynch. It’s a good time for a break and to see what’s next for Murphy, Aalyan and the rest of the Mysterio family. I did think the celebration was cut short, maybe due to time constraints.

"I told you to watch your back, Banks! I just checked, and Boss Time is OVER." – @CarmellaWWE

@WWEAsuka isn't the only Superstar @SashaBanksWWE should be worried about. #SmackDown #SurvivorSeries pic.twitter.com/0kXjNFKkl4

— WWE (@WWE) November 21, 2020

SmackDown had a little too much talking this week, but it did get all of the main stars together from both shows to hype the PPV, which, at the end of the day, is the main job of the go-home show – give me a reason to want to watch the PPV. In that vein, it worked. It was kind of odd having Asuka just watch as Carmella beat Banks down in front of her though. Doesn’t help Asuka to help her and it moves forward Carmella’s story to take Banks out for a title shot after Survivor Series. So, for that reason, it worked on both fronts.

Jey @WWEUsos sends @WWEDanielBryan through the announce table!! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/YVpMrjOwzH

— WWE (@WWE) November 21, 2020

Daniel Bryan is a national treasure! Returning to face Jey Uso in a hard-hitting main event, Bryan again saw himself going through a table. Uso tried to make Bryan see there was nothing personal, but of course it’s all personal with family business. But, in true babyface form, Bryan gets his revenge with a sweet rollup for the victory. Could we get Bryan vs. Reigns up next for the title when Uso couldn’t get the job done? Sign me up!

Parting Shots:

So, will we really get The Rock vs. Roman Reigns at the Main Event of WrestleMania 37? The only way it happens is 1)it has to fit into The Rock’s schedule 2)there has to be fans. We would all love to see the fight for who’s truly at the head of the tribal table and just watching to see Reigns believe he is on The Rock’s level would be interesting. But, no fans = no match. No need to waste it with no in-person reaction.

It’ll be interesting to see how the WWE changes the look of ThunderDome when it moves from the Amway Center in Orlando to the spacious Tropicana Dome in Tampa. Going from a 20,000 arena to a indoor stadium will create different opportunities visual and could lead to letting in fans if the COVID-19 pandemic allows.

Survivor Series Predictions:

WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Universal Champion Roman Reigns has a funky finish. Either it goes to a no-contest or Reigns wins via DQ with Randy Orton and The Fiend involved.

SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks defeats RAW Women’s Champion Asuka

RAW Tag Team Champions The New Day defeat SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits

United States Champion Bobby Lashley defeats Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn

5-on-5 Women’s Survivor Series Elimination Match – Team Smackdown (Ruby Riott, Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Bayley, Natalya) defeats Team RAW (RAW – Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Lacey Evans, Peyton Royce, Lana) with Bianca Belair surviving

5-on-5 Men’s Survivor Series Elimination Match –  Team Raw (Keith Lee, Sheamus, Braun Strowman, AJ Styles, Riddle) defeats Team SmackDown (Kevin Owens, Jey Uso, King Corbin, Seth Rollins, Otis)

Coming up this week:

RAW: Survivor Series fallout

NXT: The Road to WarGames continues Kevin Owens guest commentator

SmackDown: Survivor Series fallout

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND

[ofcdove]

             𝓻𝓪𝓺'𝓼 ( 𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 )  𝓹𝓵𝓸𝓽 𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽 𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 001

hey y’all  it’s  me,  lowering the bar  for  us  all.  here’s  the  plot  list  i’ve  been  promising  but  have  yet  to  do.  hopefully  this  one  turns  out  way  more  organized  and  aesthetically  pleasing  than  the  trash bin  that  was  my  other  one.  you’re  more  than  welcome  to  snatch  up  something  that’s  open (  just  shoot  me  a  dm ) ooooooor , lmk  if  i  missed  any  plots  because  spoilers  i  definitely  will so  no  i  didn’t  drop  plots,  i’m  just  a  forgetful  idiot!! you’ll  also  find  all  the  resources  to  everything  you’ll  ever  need  to  know  about  my  muses below  as  well. see something  you  don’t  vibe  with  anymore?  tell  me  lets  change  things  up.  alright,  yee?  yee. 

last  updated :  4/1/2020

𝔻𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝔻𝕒𝕣𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘  /  23 

  normani. cis-female. she/her.  ／  dove darling just pulled up blasting pressing me by rico nasty — that song is so them ! you know, for a twenty three year old actress/musician, i’ve heard they’re really stubborn, but that they make up for it by being so vivacious . if i had to choose three things to describe them, i’d probably say early 2000s r&b playlists, princess cut diamonds, and shiny lipgloss over perfectly lined lips . here’s to hoping they don’t cause too much trouble !

intro here. 

pinterest tba. 

vc:  doja  cat  &  normani 

she’s  a  hollywood  starlite  but  also  kinda  a  meme.  daughter  of  an  actor  and  a  socialite  --  dove  comes  from  bunches  of  money.  she’s  a  bit  spoiled,  but  that  doesn’t  really  make  her  any  less  friendly.  tends  to  expect  people  to  like  her  cause  she’s  so  good  at  pretending.  still,  she  balances  that  with  being  genuine.  often  described  as  surprisingly  quirky in  the  media  dove  is   honestly  too  fucking  silly  for  her  own  good.   probably  anime  trash  on  the  low.  your pr  team’s  wet  dream  thanks  to  her  squeaky  clean  public  reputation .   just  because  she’s  never  been  caught  doing  something  bad --  definitely  does  not  mean  she’s   an  angel  by  any  means.  

current connections: 

best / close  friends:  nathalia,  kaia ,  maeve,  adore, valentina, parker, heather, jack, allie, ashley , korday

current  pr boyfriend :  brodie 

ex childhood best friend: milena

enemies; becca ,  zar,  &  cassie?  i  guess. 

ex on good terms:  rhett  

exes on bad terms: ricki 

 fwb:  damian 

flirtationship:  logan 

party friends: xavi 

ex fiance: harris

wanted connections:

 party friends aka people dove really only hangs with in passing,  usually  after  a  few  drinks . 

ex on bad terms  there  probably  aren’t  many  of  these !  but,  give  her  one  that  just  really doesn’t  like  her  bc  they  dated  after  her  engagement  was  called  off and she  was  more  emotionally  unavailable  than  ever. 

ex pr relationships:  self  explaintory  but,  i’d  like  to  see maybe  one where they  fell for  her  and  she’s  like “lmao this is fake... relax.” 

enemies ! the more the better to balence out how many friends she has skajafs

anything else! 

ℕ𝕠𝕖𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕦𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕥 / 22

―   chance perdomo. he/him. cismale.  ／  noel laurent  just pulled up blasting a boy is a gun by tyler, the creator  — that song is so them ! you know, for a(n) twenty-two year old rapper, i’ve heard they’re really reckless, but that they make up for it by being so altruistic. if i had to choose three things to describe them, i’d probably say rolled up sleeves on an oversized sweater, missed 2am calls, messy notebooks filled with lyrics. here’s to hoping they don’t cause too much trouble !

intro here 

pinterest tba 

vc: kevin abstract

aka   gay   panic .  my mother  trucking  baby.  period.  too  kind  to  ever  really  stand  up  for  himself.  my  one  muse  that  is  definitely  a  pacifist  and  avoids  confrontation  at  all  costs  -- unless you’re  coming  for  someone  he  loves. ( but tbh even  then  he  doesn’t  really  want  smoke sgkads)   literally  just  a  sweet  boy. super  soft  inside  and  out,  loyal  to  a  fault,  and  overall  well meaning.   nurturer /  dad  friend .  will  often  ignore  his  own  problems  simply  for  what  he  thinks  is  the  greater  good  of  his  friends.  selfless  to  a  fault.   tendency  to  fall  into  bad  situations  thanks  to  his  reckless  nature  and  inability  to  say  no.

current  connections: 

best  /  close  friends:  xavi ,  future  iridescence  boys,  valentina,  milena,  brodie,  maeve, nathalia, 

ex on bad terms: ricki 

neighbor /  light  meaningless  admiration : harris 

past  fwb:   zar,  heather 

he’s  scared  of  them:  parker lmao

past  hookups: valentina 

friendzoned  friends :  kaia

flirtationship: adore 

people he produces for: lavender, korday

 wanted  connections: 

his sister..  listed  on  the  main  but  lmk  if  you  ever  want  more  info  on  that! 

more  of  the  irridesence  boys  ( deadass  the  next  person  who  brings  one  of  them  will  get  free  dash  icons  from  me.  any  style.  i’m  begging.  bribery?  it  works !  )

unlikely  friends ! 

exes  on  bad  terms  and  good   terms. 

people  he  produces  for . 

anything  else  your  sweet  lil  head  desires !  

𝕊𝕔𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕪 𝕊𝕥.𝕁𝕒𝕞𝕖𝕤 / 23

luke hemmings. cismale. he/him. ／  scotty  st.james  just pulled up blasting despicable by grandson — that song is so them ! you know, for a(n) twenty-three year old musician, i’ve heard they’re really  detached ,but that they make up for it by being so venturesome . if i had to choose three things to describe them, i’d probably say old guitars, the smell of cigarettes and bourbon, and hundred dollar bills thrown in the air . here’s to hoping they don’t cause too much trouble ! ( it’s me! the raq )

intro

pinterest here 

vc: 5sos /  luke hemmings

a  hot.... mess  tbh.  scott’s   been  through  so  much  so  he’s  really  guarded ,  over  protective ,  and  self  loathing  as  hell.  tendency  to  keep  everyone  at  an  arms  length  unless   you’re  someone  very  special  to  him  and  does  not  deal  well  with  whatever  he  deems  betrayal.  though,  that  doesn’t  stop  him  from  being  an  absolute  buffoon  when  it  comes  to  seriously  committing. as  a  side  effect  though,  if  you’re  on  the  list  of  people  he  really  fucks  with  he  will  fight  for  you.  also,  will  fight  cause  he’s  short  tempered  and  shit  at  expressing  himself.   really  fears  abandonment   seriously.  lowkey  scared  of  the  dark  eye -- :( he’s  such  a  sweet  boy  on  the  inside  but  outwardly  a  prick  like  99.9% of  the  time. 

current  connections: 

best  /  good  friends:  brodie ,  harris ,   maeve ,   gus  and  parker 

enemies:  xavi,  remy ( eh? debatable )   

acquaintances ( aka  friends  but  he’s  too  much  of  a  dick  to  claim  them ):  cassie, ashley,  heather??, kaia??

ex on  really  bad  terms:  genevieve /  nathalia  / korday 

adoptive sibling: stas

childhood  girlfriend  /  something  really  complicated :  maeve 

friends: ricki 

wanted  connections: 

unrequited crush on him because im sure he milked that bc he wants affection w/o the commitment

party “friends”  friends  is  so  loose because  he...  never  calls  more than like 4  ppl  his  friend  but  he  treats  them  like  friends akass

a very  bad ex  pr  relationship  that  he  publicly  cheated  on  so  they  could  end  things  because  he  literally  can’t  fucking  stan  pr  shit akjdfas

neighbors ! 

an enemies with  benefits Perhaps? dont see that going further than they bicker but also smash ig sakfdjafd

anything else ! 

[junker-town]

NBA All-Star draft: Nets, Lakers fans make picks for LeBron, Durant

Lakers fans made picks for LeBron James and Nets fans made picks for Kevin Durant ahead of the 2021 NBA All-Star Game draft.

The rosters for the 2021 NBA All-Star Game are set and the snubs have been endlessly debated. Now it’s time for the All-Star Game draft, where LeBron James and Kevin Durant will be picking teams on the leading vote getters in their respective conferences.

The All-Star Game has used a draft format to pick the teams since 2018. Durant won’t play in this year’s game because of injury, but he will still be picking the team on Thursday night on TNT. Before the All-Star draft goes down, we asked representatives from our Los Angeles Lakers community Silver Screen and Roll and Brooklyn Nets community Nets Daily to make selections on behalf of their superstars.

Harrison Faigen and Sabreena Merchant made picks on behalf of Team LeBron. Chris Milholen and Matt Brooks made picks for Team Durant. Team LeBron got the first pick because he was the leading vote getter, while Team Durant will lead off the picking of the reserves.

1. Team LeBron: Kawhi Leonard, F, Clippers

In the three years LeBron has been an All-Star captain, Kawhi has been an All-Star twice. LeBron has picked him both times. Doesn’t hurt that he could be a free agent this summer, either

2. Team Durant: Kyrie Irving, G, Nets

Kyrie Irving is box office and the best point guard for the All-Star game to put on a show. He rises to every occasion.

3. Team LeBron: Stephen Curry, G, Warriors

LeBron has never had a chance to pick Steph before but as we saw on Sunday, they have plenty of mutual respect now. Now that we forced KD to pick Kyrie over him a second time, we’re comfortable grabbing the actual best point guard available.

4. Team Durant: Joel Embiid, C, 76ers

A stretch-five that can shoot is a great complimentary piece for our team, especially when he’s playing like an MVP.

5. Team LeBron: Bradley Beal, G, Wizards

A great shooter who is going to play this game like it’s his NBA Finals because it’s the most meaningful game he’ll play this year, and a potential trade target for next when he inevitably asks out? Is there anyone else LeBron would possibly pick?

6. Team Durant: Luka Doncic, G, Mavericks

A Luka-Kyrie backcourt is just a chopped and screwed remix of Harden & Kyrie (yes, that’s a Texas joke!)

7. Team LeBron: Nikola Jokic, C, Nuggets

The best passing big man ever to help this team run is an easy call.

8. Team Durant: Giannis Antetokoumpo, F, Bucks

Giannis adds a different element to our team as his length and versatility will compliment our offensive firepower. Good luck scoring at the basket against a frontcourt of Embiid and Giannis, by the way!

Team Durant also gets Jayson Tatum as the injury replacement starter for KD.

“A sleeper offensively for us,” says Team Durant.

2021 NBA All-Star Game reserves draft

9. Team Durant: Damian Lillard, G, Trail Blazers

Lillard probably should’ve been a starter in the first place, so this is a no-brainer.

10. Team LeBron: James Harden, G, Nets

Let us note that if NETS DAILY is breaking character and not doing what KD would do (take Harden), we can pick a guy LeBron never would just to point out that they apparently think Lillard is better. Possible closer for us.

11. Team Durant: Zion Williamson, F, Pelicans

First time All-Star’s want to prove they belong in the game, and that’s what we expect Zion to do. Keep an eye on the rim because there will be plenty of lobs. Oh, and just wait until we have Zion running point in the pick-and-roll...

12. Team LeBron: Devin Booker, G, Suns

LeBron gets his “most disrespected player” in the NBA, and we get a scorer who has caught fire in recent weeks.

13. Team Durant: Zach LaVine, G, Bulls

Zach LaVine not only provides us a bucket-getter but a box office show. He’s only one of two players in the East to average 28 points, five rebounds, five assists, and one steal while shooting over 50 percent overall, 40.0 percent from deep, and 80.0 percent from the line. As a first-time All-Star, LaVine almost assuredly put on a show to prove he belongs there.

14. Team LeBron: Chris Paul, G, Suns

LeBron can’t wait any longer before taking his best friend and all-time All-Star closing point guard.

15. Team Durant: Ben Simmons, F, Nets

Ben Simmons will space the floor with his elite three-point shooting and top-notch pull-up abili––I’m kidding. He’s yet another player that adds to this team’s defensive toughness. Becuase that’s what the All-Star game is about, right?! De-fense! De-fense!

16. Team LeBron: Paul George, G, Clippers

LeBron would never have let his fellow Klutch guy Simmons go elsewhere OR pick Paul George in real life, but as the clear best remaining player available, we have to go with him here.

17. Team Durant: Julius Randle, F, Knicks

If you’re chuckling at a Nets blog selecting the first Knick All-Star in three years, don’t worry. We are too.

18. Team LeBron: Jaylen Brown, F, Celtics

We are bolstering our wing depth with a guy LeBron just said is one of the young players he respects most.

19. Team Durant: Donovan Mitchell, G, Jazz

Nothing says “give the Jazz the fuel they need to continue this hot start” like selecting the two Utah All-Stars in the final four picks of this draft. As blogs representing finals contenders, you’d think we would know better than to give a rival some ammunition in the second-half of the season. Also, Mitchell is absolutely awesome and adds yet another virtually unconscious heat check guy to the mix.

20. Team LeBron: Rudy Gobert, C, Jazz

A team with some of the best lob throwers in NBA history gets the player with the most dunks in the league by far (110, as of Monday). Easy pick.

21. Team Durant: Domantas Sabonis, C, Pacers

Sabonis is *checks Twitter* still grossly underappreciated and gives our group some bone-crushing screen-setting toughness, as well as versatility with his playmaking at the elbows.

22. Team LeBron: Nikola Vucevic, C, Magic

Sabonis avoids being the last All-Star selected two years in a row. Very kind of you, Team KD. Team LeBron is still thrilled to get one more capable big to work off their multitude of playmakers offensively.

Team LeBron on their roster

Team LeBron feels comfortable that we stayed in character longer than Team KD did, when we assumed they’d take Harden first and we’d get Dame, and then all hell broke loose. We also feel like our team is pretty clearly superior, with the only possible quibble being Bradley Beal over Giannis, but while maybe LeBron would pick the latter, it seems unlikely give their cold war over the MVP races the last two years. And when in doubt, always assume LeBron is ready to tamper. But with both an elite small-ball group with our cadre of wings AND the ability to match-up with Embiid with the best offensive and defensive bigs in the league if Team KD stays traditionally sized, we like our chances.

We also mostly avoided the first-time All-Stars, so we know what we’re going to get from almost every veteran of this stage, with Kawhi, LeBron and CP all guys who traditionally take this game very seriously. - Harrison and Sabreena

Team Durant on their roster

All in all, this team is Built Ford Tough (possibly jersey sponsor?) with a cast of guys like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Domantas Sabonis, Julius Randle, Zion Williamson, Ben Simmons, and Luka Doncic. Seriously, good luck grabbing a single rebound against this group. But hold on! Just wait until we sprinkle in the heat check expertise of Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Zach LaVine, Donovan Mitchell, and Jayson Tatum.

We’re building on our model of continuous paint-protection by consistently featuring bucket-getters whose hands may catch on literal fire for minutes at a time thanks to their unshakable shooting rhythms. Team KD is basically the inverse Brooklyn Nets –– coasting on a strong bedrock of defense with just enough offense to come away victorious in the All-Star game. - Matt and Chris

[ramajmedia]

Netflix's Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Cast & Character Guide

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance sports an absolutely massive cast, employing a diverse group of actors and puppeteers to bring the many creatures of Thra to life. Netflix's Age of Resistance is a prequel to 1982's The Dark Crystal, a dark fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz that still impresses with its incredible puppetry and practical effects.

Set years before the events of the original film, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance sees three Gelfling uncover a horrible secret about their ruling lords, the Skeksis. The events of the Netflix series directly set up The Dark Crystal, and fans of that film will undoubtedly enjoy recognizing all that ways in which the movie is referenced. However, unlike the original Dark Crystal, Age of Resistance is a much longer and more thorough exploration of Thra, with a cast of over 30 characters brought to life with 20 principle puppets and an additional 90 supporting characters. Simply put, Age of Resistance is a massive production.

Related: Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance World, Creature & Terminology Guide

Building the world of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance by introducing so many characters at one time requires a truly stellar cast. Thankfully, Age of Resistance is employing some of the best in business. Here's the full cast of actors and puppeteers for Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

The Gelflings

Taron Egerton as Rian (puppeteer: Neil Sterenberg) - Taron Egerton is voicing Rian, a Gelfling of the Stonewood Clan who also serves as a castle guard. Egerton most recently starred as Elton John in Rocketman, and has previously held lead roles in Kingsman and Eddie the Eagle.

Nathalie Emmanuel as Deet (puppeteers: Beccy Henderson, Katherine Smee) - Fresh off her work on HBO's Game of Thrones as Missandei, Nathalie Emmanuel voices Deet, a Gelfling of the Grottan Clan who cares deeply for the animals of Thra. Emmanuel can next be seen in 2020's Fast & Furious 9. In addition to puppeteering, Beccy Henderson has also appeared as Aisling on Derry Girls, while Katherine Smee has also puppeteered for films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Muppets Most Wanted.

Anya Taylor-Joy as Brea (puppeteer: Alice Dinnean) - Anya Taylor-Joy is voicing Brea, a Gelfling princess of the Vapra Clan and daughter of the All-Maudra. Joy rose to prominence with roles in The Witch, Split, and Glass and is slated to appear as Illyana Rasputin/Magik in The New Mutants.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Seladon (puppeteer: Helena Smee) - Gugu Mbatha-Raw voices Seladon, Brea's older sister and princess of the Vapra Clan. Mbatha-Raw's breakout role came as the lead in Belle. She's also appeared in Beauty and the Beast, Fast Color, and A Wrinkle in Time. Helena Smee is the sister of Katherine Smee and has previously worked for The Jim Henson Company on productions like Muppets Most Wanted and Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Caitriona Balfe as Tavra (puppeteer: Neil Sterenberg) - Caitriona Balfe is voicing Tavra, another of Brea's sisters and a warrior for the Vapra Clan. Most will recognize Balfe from her lead role as Claire on Outlander, but she has also appeared in films like Super 8 and Now You See Me.

Helena Bonham Carter as Maudra Mayrin/The All-Maudra (puppeteer: Louise Gold) - No stranger to dark fantasy, Helena Bonham Carter voices the All-Maudra, leader of the Vapra Clan and the head of all Gelfling clans. Known for playing Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and collaborations with Tim Burton, Bonham Carter most recently appeared in Ocean's 8 and she'll play Princess Margaret in the upcoming season of Netflix's The Crown.

Lena Headey as Maudra Fara/The Rock Singer (puppeteers: Alice Dinnean, Louise Gold) - Another Game of Thrones alum, Lena Heady (Cersei Lannister) trades one crown for another by voicing Maudra Fara, the leader of the Stonewood Clan. Headey will next appear in the action flick, Gunpowder Milkshake.

Harris Dickinson as Gurjin (puppeteer: Dave Chapman) - Harris Dickinson is voicing Gurjin, Rian's best friend and a Gelfling of the Drenchen Clan. He also serves as a castle guard. Dickinson is a relatively new talent, appearing next as Prince Phillip in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and as the lead in The King's Man. Dave Chapman, however, should be familiar to Star Wars fans as one of the two puppeteers responsible for bringing BB-8 to life.

Shazad Latif as Kylan (puppeteer: Victor Yerrid) - Shazad Latif voices Kylan, a Gelfling of the Spriton Clan and friend to Rian and Gurjin. Latif is best known for his role as Lieutenant Ash Tyler/Voq on Star Trek: Discovery.

Hannah John-Kamen as Naia (puppeteer: Beccy Henderson) - Hannah John-Kamen voices Naia, a Gelfling of the Drenchen Clan and Gurjin's twin sister. John-Kamen recently had roles in Ready Player One and Ant-Man and The Wasp, in which she played Ava Starr/Ghost.

Eddie Izzard as Cadia (puppeteer: Olly Taylor) - Eddie Izzard is voicing Cadia, a Gelfling soothsayer from the Sifa Clan. Izzard is a comedian and actor, starring in FX's The Riches and most recently appearing in Victoria & Abdul. Olly Taylor has puppeteered for Muppets Most Wanted and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, among other films.

Alicia Vikander as Mira (puppeteer: Helena Smee) - Alicia Vikander voices Mira, a Vapra Gelfling who is Rian's girlfiend as well as a castle guard. Vikander has starred in films like Ex Machina, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and most recently in Tomb Raider as Lara Croft.

Toby Jones as The Librarian (puppeteer: Kevin Clash) - Toby Jones lends his voice to the Vapra Clan's librarian. Jones had his breakthrough role playing Truman Capote in Infamous, and most recently appeared in Out of the Blue. Jones also portrays Armin Zola in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kevin Clash is a veteran puppeteer best known for portraying Elmo on Sesame Street until 2012. He was also the subject of the documentary, Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey.

Natalie Dormer as Onica (puppeteer: Louise Gold) - Yet another Game of Thrones cast member involved is Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), who voices Onica, Tavra's girlfriend and a Gelfling of the Sifa Clan. Dormer is next appearing in the spinoff series Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.

Mark Strong as Ordon (puppeteer: Dave Chapman) - Continuing the connection with the Kingsman franchise, Mark Strong voices Ordon, Rian's father and a warrior from the Stonewood Clan. Strong played Merlin in both Kingsman: The Secret Service and Kingsman: The Golden Circle. He also played Dr. Thadeus Sivana in Shazam!

Theo James as Rek'yr (puppeteer: Olly Taylor) - Theo James is voicing Rek'yr, a Gelfling of the Dousan Clan. James is best known for his role as "Four" Tobias Eaton in the Divergent series.

Louise Gold as Maudra Argot/The Shadow Bender (puppeteer: Louise Gold) - Louise Gold is another veteran of The Jim Henson Company and the only puppeteer reprising their role (as skekAyuk The Gourmand) from the original Dark Crystal film. In Age of Resistance, she is also voicing and puppeteering Maudra Argot, the leader of Grottan Clan in addition to puppeteering the All-Maudra, Onica, and The Gourmand.

Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Maudra Seethi/The Skin Painter - Kemi-Bo Jacobs is voicing Maudra Seethi, leader of the Dousan Clan. Jacobs has appeared in London Has Fallen, McMafia, and Doctor Who.

The Skeksis

Jason Isaacs as skekSo/The Emperor (puppeteer: Dave Chapman) - Hollywood's go-to actor for baddies, Jason Isaacs' latest villainous role is that of the Skeksis emperor, skekSo, the ruler of Thra. Isaacs portrayed Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter series and most recently Captain Gabriel Lorca on Star Trek: Discovery.

Simon Pegg as skekSil/The Chamberlain (puppeteer: Katherine Smee, Warrick Brownlow-Pike) - Simon Pegg has perhaps the most difficult task in voicing skekSil, The Chamberlain, seeing as Barry Dennen's portrayal in The Dark Crystal is downright iconic, but Pegg proves well-suited. Most viewers will be familiar with Pegg from his and Edgar Wright's Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy as well as his work in the Mission Impossible and Star Trek films. Warrick Brownlow-Pike regularly works on such Jim Henson Company productions as Sesame Street.

Awkwafina as skekLach/The Collector (puppeteer: Helena Smee) - Actress and rapper, Awkwafina voices skekLach, The Collector, a Skeksis who as their name suggests loves to collect things, particularly other creatures. Awkwafina gained prominence with parts in Ocean's 8 and Crazy Rich Asians.

Benedict Wong as skekUng/The General (puppeteers: Katherine Smee, Kevin Clash) - Benedict Wong is another MCU alum in the mix, here voicing skekUng, The General and commander of the Skeksis' army. Wong played Master of the Mystic Arts Wong in Doctor Strange and reprised the role for both Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.

Harvey Fierstein as skekAyuk/The Gourmand (puppeteer: Louise Gold) - Harvey Fierstein voices skekAyuk, The Gourmand, the Skeksis who prepares their many feasts. Fierstein is a prolific actor of the stage and is probably best known to moviegoers for his roles in Mrs. Doubtfire and Independence Day.

Andy Samberg as The Heretic (puppeteer: Damian Farrell) - Andy Samberg is voicing a Skeksis known simply as The Heretic, having been exiled by his fellow Skeksis. Samberg is a member of The Lonely Island and currently stars in the NBC (originally FOX) sitcom, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Damian Farrell frequently works as a creature and droid puppeteer in the Star Wars films.

Ralph Ineson as skekMal/The Hunter (puppeteer: Kevin Clash) - The final Game of Thrones actor involved in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is Ralph Ineson (Dagmar Cleftjaw) and he is voicing skekMal, The Hunter, the most viscious of all the Skeksis. Ineson has also appeared in the Harry Potter series and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Alice Dinnean as skekEkt/The Ornamentalist (puppeteer: Alice Dinnean) - Alice Dinnean is a veteran puppeteer for The Jim Henson Company and here she is both puppeteering and voicing skekEkt, The Ornamentalist, the Skeksis who designs their flamboyant outfits. Dinnean has also puppeteered roles for The Muppets, Sesame Street, and even that one Community episode where the characters become puppets.

Keegan-Michael Key as skekZok/The Ritual-Master (puppeteer: Victor Yerrid) - Keegan-Michael Key voices skekZok, The Ritual-Master, who is responsible for rituals like the Ceremony of the Sun. Key is best known for being one half of Key & Peele with Jordan Peele, also starring with Peele in Keanu, and most recently voicing characters in Toy Story 4 and The Lion King (2019).

Mark Hamill as skekTek/The Scientist (puppeteer: Olly Taylor) - No stranger at all to voice work, Mark Hamill is voicing skekTek, The Scientist, the Skeksis who begins experimenting on the Dark Crystal. Hamill is, obviously, best known for portraying Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films and voicing The Joker in several DC Comics animated projects.

Neil Sterenberg as skekOk/The Scroll-Keeper (puppeteer: Neil Sterenberg) - Neil Sterenberg is another veteran puppeteer who here is both puppeteering and voicing, skekOk, The Scroll-Keeper, who serves as the castle's historian. Sterenberg is also puppeteering the Gelfling Rian and Tavra.

Aughra, The Mystics & More

Donna Kimball as Aughra (puppeteers: Katherine Smee, Kevin Clash) - Donna Kimball is voicing Aughra, a character who is the embodiment of the planet Thra. Kimball is also a puppeteer for The Jim Henson Company, previously working on such projects as The Happytime Murders.

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as urVa/The Archer (puppeteer: Olly Taylor) - Ólafur Darri Ólafsson voices one of only two urRu to appear in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, urVa, The Archer, who as their name suggests is a skilled archer among the Mystics. Ólafsson has appeared in the surreal Netflix comedy, Lady Dynamite, and is currently in AMC's NOS4A2.

Bill Hader as urGoh/The Wanderer (puppeteer: Olly Taylor) - Bill Hader is voicing the other urRu, The Wanderer, a Mystic who, well, wanders. Hader is an actor and comedian currently starring in HBO's Barry as well as the impending horror film, It Chapter Two.

Victor Yerrid as Hup (puppeteer: Victor Yerrid, Katherine Smee) - Victor Yerrid provides the voice of Hup, a Podling who befriends Deet on her journey, in addition to puppeteering the character with Katherine Smee. Yerrid is also puppeteering for Kylan and skekZok. He's previously worked on such shows as Greg the Bunny, Crank Yankers, and more.

Sigourney Weaver as The Myth Speaker - As one of only two characters that isn't a puppet, Sigourney Weaver lends her voice to the narrator for the series, here called The Myth Speaker. She begins The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance by retelling a brief history of Thra. Weaver is an accomplished actress best know for Alien and will next appear in the still untitled Avatar 2 and Avatar 3.

Dave Goelz as Baffi - Dave Goelz is responsible for the vocal work (and presumably the puppeteering though that's unconfirmed) of Baffi, Maudra Fara's eyepatch-wearing Fizzgig. Goelz is veteran puppeteer for The Jim Henson Company, originating the role of Gonzo.

Theo Ogundipe as Vliste-Staba/The Sanctuary Tree - Another non-puppet character, Theo Ogundipe voices The Sanctuary Tree, Vliste-Staba, a wise tree that grows on the mountains above Grot. Ogundipe is largely a stage actor, appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but he has also worked on Eastenders and Doctors.

Next: Netflix: The Best TV Shows & Movies This Weekend

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance season 1 is now available on Netflix.

source https://screenrant.com/dark-crystal-age-resistance-cast-character-guide/

[hollowsentinel]

My OCs and Stuff

I've sat on this for too long. It's incomplete, but it's here. If anyone sees this and wants a peek into my head, ask about these peeps/ideas/places before I forget them.

My OCs

I have another list to promote my non-cishet OCs too. There's also a tag.

Rebecca Heller: my firstborn, transgirl (?), lives with her "uncle," makes magical bone cannons and practices swordplay

Vincent Azor: the aforementioned "uncle," vampire, old, technically owns an inn built by a crossroads, good shot with his pistol

Linora Azor: sister to Vincent, deceased?

Richard: nightmare, leader of the Black Knights/Brigade of Zavax, friendly?

Roger: badass, lieutenant to Richard, serious?

Fifer: mage and displacer beast

Mallory: mage and locker-mimic

Kevin: earth-etched, unblessed, practiced structured magic via an enchanted bronze plate, lives with a vampiric symphony member and witchy DJ

Damian: metalworker, later mechanic, son of a witch, once hunted by his "mirror image," survived by kissing and sexing her

Mira: the half-identical mirror image (?), can do tricks with mirrors, tastes like citrus

Matthieu Marchand: also Molten Myth, studies unconventional magic and metallury, spent his teenage years surviving alone in a nonsensical world of sugar, spice, and things trying to kill him, a squire of the Earthen Order

Grindstone: grandfather to Myth, knight of the Earthen Order, badass

“Ninth Lord”: "deceased" knight of the Earthen Order, demon, enjoys escaping hell for brief periods and enjoying romantic literature

Persistent Beast: known as Liam; old, practically immortal, dangerous, ravenous, famous for surviving ridiculous executions; generally terrified of external/uncontrolled sources of heat

"Pop-up Nightmare: known as Jack; famous for brief appearances throughout the ages, often considered a myth, very shy and unassuming

Porcelain Fade: known as Laina; actually a frail girl, known as a famous sex worker (her "double") that gathered a strong following that raised her from her work, her best friends are a realized figment of her imagination and a guy that should be killing her

Ruos Illinde, Pinnacle Hunter: the only hunter that threatens Liam, too gay to die, her girlfriend accidentally mangled her voice, unusually immortal for a human

“Demonolgist-gunner”: son of a witch, dragged to magic college by his friend, hard worker, poor magical prowess, has an independent magic system that lets him summon his weapons

Manager Death: pretty chill, overworked, in charge of all death (human, non-human, deific, and so on), has delegated many tasks to individuals he has waived death from

Sickly Death: a lady from another setting, good friends with Lady Luck, is wished ill by many and so is ill

Knottam Portan: a reaper employed by Manager Death, the "longest-lived" human reaper in Death's employ, lives in an apartment with humans out of the know, sleeps irregularly with the demands of his dayjob and his reaping duties

Lady Death: the crush of Elliah's soul? laid-back, timeless

Nate, Priest of the Abandoned: a table-top gamer that found, saved, and restored a statue of Lady Luck (with his friends), he goes on to enable all forgotten/abandon gods to continue existing and keeping them all company

Entropy: friend to Knottam, pretty chill, can totally end the existence of anything given enough time, likes to travel and experience new things

Elliah “Casper” Redden: sneaky, a reincarnation of Wrath, regularly murders people to keep control of himself

Ethan Moore: kinda popular, gets saved by Elliah and learns how to survive from him, goes on to co-found/lead a crew of students and friends through a warzone

Siet “Hailey” Lenas: saves a bunch of people from danger by avoiding conflicts, sets a lynch mob on Elliah, joins him shortly thereafter, generally pacifistic, adds exception as she learns to get along (and convinces Elliah and Ethan to chill out more in turn)

Lazar Kensley/Laus of Dust: a down-trodden gamer whose exploits decide the fate of a nation; Lazar is his "Earth" name, Laus is his "Lirc" name

Charlie "Barker": Lazar's friend, plays furry Vikings in their game and lives their ideals, aspiring veterinarian

Ikail: a master archer, quiet friend of Lazar

Haniel of Dust: something of a desert spirit, chief leader of the Lirc, adopted Lazar/Laus as her little brother, has a musical whip

Kezal: a master rider, hates Lazar once he is tied to her nation's fate

Sorec: goddess of the Lirc, ex-princess of a neighboring kingdom

Kirituania: DEFUNCT? lesser goddess of the Lirc?

Draskul Aer: DEFUNCT? a rare significant man among the Lirc; drove monsters that the Lirc were unable to effectively combat to near extinction

“King of Coal/Flesh”: a French girl that has sat upon the Hearth's Throne for far too long

“King of Flame/Blood”: a boy steeped in the traditions of pyravol

“King of Bone/Ash”: another girl that pushes the limits of her art

Senai Orathi: overseer of the most complicated world, ex-thief, confined to his new home

Cinneyi: goddess of family and proactive protection, has a crush on "Creator"

Kreyji: goddess of family and reactive protection, Cinneyi's sister

Rafe Lorienne: cleric of Cinneyi and necromancer by her request

"Creator": Senai's predecessor and assumed to be the creator of the most complicated world

Seriqad: the last of his people, attuned to the spirit of death, has red eyes that he regularly disfigures to hide his heritage, a sort of lich

Arhias: a paladin sent to hunt Seriqad, befriends him over the course of a lifetime instead

Nuemin Tilus: the biggest jerk, born to a rich family, has a little sister that he regularly harassed/abused

Mint Nuelle: friend of Dodger, later hunts down draft dodgers, pioneers the use of soulfire bonds as torture tools

Dodger Stone: soulfire adept, illusionist, murders Nuemin and steals his identity

Aster Xilhu: succubus that binds herself to Dodger as his familiar

Lillian: prodigy diviner, one of the few that challenges Dodger to do better, practices demon summoning and related taboo magics

"Demon Bro": Lillian's brother and a demon of some renown

Esri Lyrrhn: excellent mage, excels in indirect combat, works as head of security and secondary chief administrator at Iolech (?)

Hel: bitchy model that gets sucked up by Alskur

Mercy: useless nerd that gets sucked up by Alskur

Lecil: tendril-morph, works as security and sells baked goods on the side

Tamara: Maria Eschil Loew, librarian, chief practicioner of dangerous magic; lives with Lecil

Jonathan Sieffas: went to art school and studied to be a construct technician as a secondary option, abandoned both when his girlfriend was murdered by exorcists, became an exorcist

Kjekerva Austre: Kayla, sentient pair of panties made by an accomplished, pro-sex mage

Jay: AKA "J:\\", a digital avatar? something of a killswitch in a digital setting where everyone and everything is data, programming, artificial intelligence, etc

Charlie: AKA "C:\\" (?), a dick in the same setting as Jay

Delia: internal intelligence agent, Yinnic, totally an assassin, totally botched her murder-suicide of a suspected defector/spy, racist as shit?

Anise: talented ship security, Yinnic, recruited as muscle in a long-term stealth op, was totally used as incentive to try to get other recruits in

Kino: daughter of an ex-intelligence agent, Dekar, skilled marksman

Janeo: daughter of an ex-intelligence agent, Dekar, skilled infiltrator

Osric: hopeful radio operator/technician, Yinnic, conscripted as a tank operator, learned to act as a spy as a matter of survival

Seamus: a prototype Yinnic supersoldier, really nice guy, really tough guy, was totally bait for hopeful recruits

Chelsea: the only "regular" soldier going out on the stealth op, Yinnic, fell hook, line, and sinker for Anise and Seamus

Ollie: also Olivia/Oliver, genderfluid space fighter pilot or some such, kind of badass, kind of nerdy, very good at zero-G combat, low self-worth (and takes full advantage of that to do crazy shit)

Laika: friend of Ollie, smuggler, trader, and captain of a stealth vessel

Jesse Albrecht: a horror game critic/guide-maker, director of the Cabinet Corps

Desmond Locke: prophetic (?) game-designer, owner of the Locke-r Arcade, was totally a cool kid back in high school and ran an arcade out of his locker at the time

Beverly Vigor/Ainsley Flow: "librarian" for a small selection of restricted books that travels and connects to larger collections willy-nilly

Gunman Gamma/Old God Kiirkxin: technically an old spirit, has many titles and names, would like to forget some of them, somewhat chill, lost all of his followers to a plague, isn't over their deaths centuries later, older than the flow of time (and can recognize weird things because he's not bound by time), later depicted as nubby horned and white haired

Xion & Teo/Seijin: intertwined souls, Gamma's champion and spring, can totally rewrite timelines

"Phoenix": a fire god/spirit that crushes on Gamma, regularly dies and comes back

"Invincible Mountain": rival to Gamma (Relentless Gale), rules over a massive mountain city

Zershaln: life portioner/thief and advisor

Esukal: life granter/puppeteer and priestess

Yequln: life ender/warden and tailor

Prosper: executioner of the Gravel Guard, actually pretty chill and unlikely to execute anyone

Juuha: ascended demon

Tyler Hoffman: judge, jury, warden, and servant of an alien, fan of cartoon wherein alien is depicted, smith, kind of a wizard eventually, dies and comes back to life several times, kind of unkillable

Thomas Baker: programmer, works alongside mythical creatures, has no idea until after he bluffs a gang and inadvertently "burns" his veil, sees everyone amd everything as what they are, has to put effort into seeing their disguises

Hunter Hunter Halsey: modern day monster hunter, does more diplomacy than hunting, has about as much sexual intercourse as verbal intercourse at some point, dressed/trained old-fashioned at patron's request

"Patron": a vampire hunted by time mages

Nolan: a Dreamer that is "acutely aware of all threats", intended, actionable, possible, and acted

Faye Scoria: national criminal, can summon/control fire

Scum: one of the Covenant, regenerates in a parasitic manner, hive-minded over their lives, but tends toward using one vessel

Bitch: one of the Covenant, usually Major Bitch as per their military rank (and something of a joke)

Bud: one of the Covenant, not Buddy

Jill, the All-seeing Witch: Ruos' runaway girlfriend and substitute horror hunter

Lacey: stripper, has a retired intelligence agent as a brother, leader/creator of the Escort Service (kind of a gang, kind of a bodyguard business, kind of a prostitution ring)

Trevor: skittish ex-conscript with an erased service record, kind of remembers overlapping timelines of the span wherein he was shelled in trenches, sees his week-long stint as several months

Zachary: AKA Beta, Bee, or Plan B, supers' supportive vigilante, experienced mountain climber, college kid, eventually joins their ranks after an incident

Shan: may become defunct, a Dreamer that creates shadows of people that he can command, they have limited operating range, owns the Midnight Lounge

Hikaru: martial street performer

Jill, Shadow Demon: the demon that Hikaru plays at

"Jane Doe": big, caffeine addict, smells of the sea, "brick-like," an unexpected OC, but a fast favorite after a few key events and chats

Places

Zavax: country of necromancers

The Void: the place of men and beasts unfit for mortal realms

The Overworld: current home of Senai Orathi and other "gods"

Alskur: the city of arms and armor; the desire of the nal'orose

Yinnia: nerds have their own country and send conscripts to war in mechs

Dekar: bullies have their own country and go to war with greedy nerds

"Gear Mall": high-tech skaters have their own city-state where everyone skates; they are literally the biggest mall

Associations/Groups

The Dreamers: a bunch of people that dropped into inexplicable comas, shared a dream, and gained supernatural powers

Horror Hunters: a loose association of monster hunters

Oschn Clan: more a band of like-minded horror hunters that specialize in dueling other hunters to learn their techniques than a proper clan

Guillotine: a guild of player-killers run by a group of criminals

The Covenant: usually "of Blood", sometimes "of Dust", composed of many near-human people that never truly die (but they totally die a lot)

[allspark]

It’s time for our weekly Diamond Comics Shipping List! Check out some great titles IDW has in store for us next week like Star Trek vs Transformers, Batman/The Maxx, Star Wars, Team Sonic Racing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and much more! All coming your way for December 5th!

STAR TREK VS TRANSFORMERS #3

John Barber, Mike Johnson (A/CVR A) Philip Murphy (CVR B) Gaving Fullerton

Klingons and Decepticons lay siege to a remote Federation dilithium mine-and the only thing holding them back is the shaky alliance of Captain Kirk and Optimus Prime. But what dark secret is buried beneath the ground… and can this uneasy partnership withstand the revelations?

The Transformers ’80s cartoon series meets Star Trek: The Animated Series in a no-holds-barred Saturday Morning mash-up for the ages!

TRANSFORMERS IDW COLL PHASE 2 HC VOL 08

John Barber, James Roberts, Shane McCarthy (A) Alex Milne, Andrew Griffith, Guido Guidi (CVR) Marcelo Matere

Rodimus leads a team of Autobots into Cybertron’s past, pursuing the Decepticon double-agent Brainstorm, who plans on killing Orion Pax before he can become Optimus Prime. Meanwhile, on Earth, Prowl is left in command gathering his allies, the Constructicons, to search for the one human he holds a grudge against, Spike Witwicky. Then, Drift returns! After leaving the Autobots in disgrace, he’s now alone, on a mission to clean up the darkest depths of the galaxy.

Collects Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye issues #35-40, Transformers: Robots in Disguise issues #35-38, Transformers: Punishment, and Transformers: Drift-Empire of Stone.

•   Advance solicited for December release! •   The best format for new readers to pick up the series and for continuing readers to supplement their collections with deluxe hardcovers.

BATMAN/THE MAXX ARKHAM DREAMS #3

Sam Keith (A/CVR A&B) Sam Kieth

With Joker back in Arkham, Maxx runs off into the night. Meanwhile, Batman grows more wary of Dr. Disparu’s experiments. In an effort to unravel the riddles of the Outback (and Disparu), Batman seeks out Julie Winters… and they both enter a dimensional hole leading to the Outback-where they encounter an alternate version of Harley Quinn! Back in the real world, Joker, Harley, and the Penguin are the current subjects of Disparu’s experiments-experiments that have a decidedly bad reaction on the Maxx!

COMPLETE CHESTER GOULD DICK TRACY HC VOL 25

Chester Gould (A/CVR) Chester Gould

Dick Tracy closes out the 1960s by moonlighting-literally! The master sleuth takes a part-time second job as Head of Security and Law Enforcement for Diet Smith’s operations based on the moon. Soon, Tracy learns that an international crime syndicate, the Apparatus, has infiltrated Smith’s organization on the lunar surface.

All this and more in these classic Chester Gould comic strips, from April 3, 1969, to December 23, 1970.

MAGIC THE GATHERING CHANDRA #1

Vita Ayala (A) Harvey Tolibao (CVR A) Ken Lashley

The boundless multiverse of Magic: The Gathering returns to comics!

In the wake of tragedy, Planeswalker and pyromancer Chandra Nalaar strikes out on her own. On her journey, she’ll have to fight against threats both old and new, as well as her own sense of guilt. Can she overcome all of that alone? And who is that familiar face lurking in the shadows?

OCTOBER FACTION TP VOL 05 SUPERNATURAL DREAMS

Steve Niles (A/CVR) Damien Worm

With their former leader and father retired, the rest of the Allan family adjusts to the new status quo and brings the monster-hunting business into the modern era. But a sinister and powerful new evil stirs… one that could tear the family apart! The town of Gristlewood is under attack from the most powerful being it has ever seen. Vivian and Geoff take the lead in fighting the evil, but can they even begin to match its power? Or will this be the end of the October Faction?

•   Advance solicited for December release! •   “The October Faction: Supernatural Dreams is packed with demonic action, with an important family thread running through it.”-Horror Talk

RICK & MORTY VS DUNGEONS & DRAGONS #3

Patrick Rothfuss, Jim Zub (A/CVR A&B) Troy Little

A dimension where the Dungeons & Dragons paradigms are real. The rules are absolute… or, at least, they were… until Rick and Morty make their mark. Get ready to plead the fifth (edition) in this unlawful, chaotically evil story of family friction and fantasy frolics.

The world’s greatest roleplaying game. Reality’s most dysfunctional animated series. What could go wrong?

•   Presented in conjunction with Oni Press! •   Patrick Rothfuss, the multiple award-winning, bestselling author of The Kingkiller Chronicle series, joins Dungeons & Dragons fan-favorite author Jim Zub (Avengers, Wayward) on a tri-dimensional fantasy adventure! •   Rick and Morty is one of the most popular shows in Adult Swim history, with a steady fan following since it debuted in 2013. This is the first official Rick and Morty team-up story and should have deep traction in fan circles! •   Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition sales continue to grow each year and the Baldur’s Gate video games have sold millions of copies around the world. D&D has returned as a cultural force in bookstores and online.

RISE OF THE TMNT #3

Matthew K. Manning (A) Chad Thomas (CVR A) Andy Suriano

The TMNT are in a bitter fight with each other over an extremely sensitive topic… which pizza place has the fastest delivery! When a villain butts in, the Turtles will have to put aside their differences and do what they do best: beat up bad guys!

•   Overseen by showrunners Andy Suriano (Cosmic Scoundrels) and Ant Ward!

ROAD OF THE DEAD HIGHWAY TO HELL #2

Jonathan Mayberry (A/CVR B) Drew Moss (CVR A) Santiperez

An over-the-top wild ride prequel to ROAD OF THE DEAD! Written by Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author and creator of V-WARS. Scientist Harriet, tank crewman Skelly, and their crew of losers leave a trail of bodies-living and dead-behind them as they race for sanctuary through the zombie wasteland of North America. The road to hell is paved with bad decisions, heavy drinking, and a lot of blood on the asphalt.

•   Five-time Bram Stoker award-winning author, Jonathan Maberry, returns for a new tale of the undead!

STAR TREK TNG TERRA INCOGNITA #5

Scott Tipton, David Tipton (A) Angel Hernandez (CVR A) Tony Shasteen (CVR B) Photo

On the heels of the blockbuster THROUGH THE MIRROR miniseries comes a brand-new NEXT GENERATION series, featuring untold tales of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D! Interstellar odd couple Worf and Beverly Crusher undertake a difficult mission, but can they overcome their differences to work together?

•   Takes place during Star Trek: The Next Generation’s critically acclaimed fourth season! •   Featuring covers by Mirror Broken co-creator and designer J.K. Woodward! •   The unexpected twist ending of Through the Mirror continues!

STAR WARS ADVENTURES #16

Chris “Doc” Wyatt, Michael Moreci, Kevin Burke (A/CVR B) Arianna Florean (A/CVR A) Valentina Pinto

Welcome to the Resistance! Star Wars Resistance is an exciting new animated series coming to the Disney Channel this fall, and making its Star Wars Adventures debut in this very issue! In the time before The Force Awakens, this all-new adventure follows the fledgling Resistance as it begins to realize the growing threat of the First Order!

•   Ties into the new Star Wars Resistance animated show coming this fall to Disney Channel! •   Written by Resistance show writers Chris “Doc” Wyatt and Kevin Burke! •   Plus, an exciting new Flight of the Falcon story!

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Scott Beatty (A) Jon Sommariva (A/CVR A) Derek Charm

Swallowed by the shifting sands of Jakku, the Imperial Star Destroyer Spectral has been lost for two decades, giving rise to rumors of hauntings and buried treasure. But an epic sandstorm has revealed the ruins of the starship, and renowned scavenger Rey now leads the race to claim whatever lies within!

•   Three-issue miniseries set during the days before The Force Awakens! •   Includes a backup story depicting the Battle of Jakku, revealing how the Star Destroyer Spectral met its fate during the last days of the Empire!

TEAM SONIC RACING (ONE-SHOT)

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Sonic’s been taken to another world and entered into a race unlike any other! With a little help from his friends Tails and Knuckles, he’ll race to win the competition and get everyone home! BUT! Before that, check out a comics exclusive story straight from the world of Team Sonic Racing!

•   Leads into the upcoming game, Team Sonic Racing, available Winter 2018! •   Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails team up in this exciting adventure! •   Special extra-long one-shot!

TMNT ONGOING IDW COLL HC VOL 08

Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Ben Bates, Dustin Weaver (A) Bill Sienkiewicz, Damian Couceiro (CVR) Dan Duncan

Bebop and Rocksteady stumble across a time-travel scepter, kickstarting the craziest, most destructive adventure yet! Then, when a mysterious new mutant targets Baxter Stockman, it will be up to the TMNT to reluctantly save him, but little does anyone know that a larger trap is being laid by a new arch-foe. Plus, Donatello reboots a new and improved Metalhead only to find that the robot no longer functions entirely as designed. Collects the Bebop & Rocksteady Destroy Everything mini-series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Universe issues #1-8, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issues #65-66.

•   Advance solicited for December release! •   The best format for new readers to pick up the series and for continuing readers to supplement their collections with deluxe hardcovers.

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[marvinswriting]

Gut feeling

Prompt: no prompt in this one buddies, just check out bear's borrower!janis au. Like my g/t mg au its something i thought about a lot but never officially put down anywhere, but she did and you fucking bet im gonna write it

This is a long one boys, and there's still more i wanna write lmfao

Think about everything you know about borrowers-

-and throw it out the fucking window.

Yep, fuck your stereotypes. I'm Janis, and yeah I guess your right about the whole tiny-people-who-live-in-walls-and-steal. You're also creepily accurate with your borrower's code (so I wanna know who blabbed. Probably Gretchen, god. I always wonder where she was before this house). I'm sidetracked. Other then that, you guys got it all wrong. 

We are very much aware of the concept of not all humans wanna kill or harm borrowers. Thank you very much. 

We just know most of them do.

And we aren't as rare as you may think. Lots of humans know about borrowers, and you all think we're a dying species or a myth. No. We're just good at what we do, thank you. The goal is to live undetected. It's safer that way.

We also don't live totally alone, isolated in walls. Well, some of us do, and some of us wish we did. (Me, it's me, I hate my roommates.)

I live with Gretchen and Kevin. Won't call them friends, because they're not. We aren't close enough. We keep each other around because we'd go insane without the interaction from others. A borrowers life can be boring and isolated.

Its the total opposite of a human's. When the owners of the house sleep, we're awake doing food runs. When the owners of the house are awake, we're hiding away, tucked in bed.

And for a long time that worked. But then something changed. I think the owners of the house called it 'the school year ended'? Now the boy, Damian- from what we've gathered he's our age. But who knows, it's not like we can just go up and meet him. He definitely seems to be the most sympathetic one of the family. 

The dad kills any fucking bug without even getting a good look, so like- don't get caught with him (not that you wanna get caught with any of them). 

The mom watches a lot of gory sci-fi shows that always end up with the main character in some type of experimental facility so we don't trust her. 

Damian just hides in his room, playing music and singing along. I like it, its harder for us to be heard that way. 

The final member of the household is the fucking cat. Her name is Ariel which is supposedly a reference to some princess, but the only royal she is is a royal pain. Little bitch almost killed me once. 

I'm so off track though. 

Apparently, this 'school year' is over, and now Damian is home all the time. He doesn't have to get up early to leave so he's opted to not sleeping at night at all. Which is just great for us. He doesn't often leave his room, but Gretch, Kevin, and I have to be a lot more careful often resulting in us grabbing a lot less.

I glance around my 'bedroom'. Through the years I like to think it's grown to be decorated nicely. Unlike my two roommates, I pride myself in my living space. I spend most of my time here, so why not. Yeah, I have the necessities, but I also have other things like plants and makeshift art supplies. In the corner of my room is what you could call a bed and a bottle cap nightstand. There's a piece of a mirror hanging. We all found mirror shards and took them, and might I say life hasn't quite been the same since. 

We don't really look at ourselves that often, there aren't many reflective surfaces to do so. Yeah, I'd catch my face staring back at me in my water, or on a shiny surface, but it was never as clear as the mirror. As I look right now, I just look stressed.

Pretty accurate.

I've got a weird feeling about tonight.

"We need food."

"No shit Gretchen." 

Gretchen and I are sitting in our combined space, waiting for Kevin. I'm hesitant to call it a living room because it hardly looks lived in. There are four beer cap chairs (and three of us, it's fucking stupid- I know) a pizza saver as a table, and a bunch of miscellaneous items that haven't found a home yet.

"Hubbards are asleep." Kevin walks out from where he was keeping watch. "The kids light is still on and I couldn't locate the cat, are we sure we want to go out tonight."

"We need food," Gretchen repeats herself.

"We don't have much of a choice," I say, shoving makeshift grappling hooks and double-sided tape into my satchel, and grabbing another bad for food. "We gotta make a big run tonight. We can't guarantee a day by day flow anymore, Damian has to unpredictable of a sleep schedule."

Gretchen makes a noise of agreement, packing up her own things.

Kevin is still peaking out of the exit into the household, worriedly. 

"Janis are you down for that trip tonight? You look stressed as fuck."

I bitterly. "Yeah, I'm just- tired. And hungry. And quite frankly I may be coming down with something."

"They stay away from me," Gretchen says, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "Ready?"

"Let's just grab food and go," Kevin says before spinning around to look at me. "Only food, Janis."

I nod. No point in trying to defend myself when he's not wrong. I have an awful habit of finding something I could use for art and going out of my way to grab it.

But we have priorities tonight. 

We file out into the household, all pressing against the wall. The exit we used lead right to the floor. Its a debate on which was riskier, but I for one, preferred to be higher. Further from the cat and a better view of everything. Kevin mumbled something about keeping watch and made his way over to the island table the Hubbard had. He pulled out his climbing supplies and made his way up as Gretchen and I continued our trek across the floor, waiting to reach the kitchen to get to higher grounds. 

"It hasn't been this hard since we all moved here." Gretchen says quietly, but I understand.

"Yeah." I whisper.

We all moved into this house together maybe two ago. We tell time by the day and the decor around the house. Humans often put of decorations for holidays and it's like marking points though the year. My least favorite holiday happens during the summer. I don't know the name but everything turns red white and blue and there's tons of loud booms and explosions. It kills my ears and sends me into sensory overload every time.

 We've pasted two Christmases. I don't know much about the holiday, but its the most decorated, with fancy trees and cookie crumbs everywhere. A borrower's dream. But it wasn't like that now. It was hot and sticky, food got left out on the counter less. We haven't eaten anything more then the minimum to survive, if you don't count yesterday where we didn't eat at all. 

I was so lost in my thought for food, I almost didn't hear it. Kevin calling out, the patter of paws on the floor-

-oh shit. 

I whirl around just in time to have a paw whacked with my side. 

Cat.

There was no claw, Ariel is here for a game of cat and mouse obviously. Roles already clear. 

That didn't make it hurt less though.

I groan skidding across the floor, curled into myself. 

Gretchen shrieks and runs away, the cat's interest on me.

She left me for fucking dead.

Wow.

Rude, but unsurprising.

I'd fucking bolt too. I wonder if Kevin ran as well. 

My heart stops as the truth of the statement catches up to me. 

I'm gonna die.

I'd like to say there's so much I still haven't done, or that my life had only just begun. But that wasn't true. I live to borrow another day and borrow to live another day. But I was content like that, I don't wanna die.

Ariel stalks towards me again. I sit up and push my self backward, only to find a wall.

Fuck.

I can see Gretchen duck back into the wall out of the corner of my eye, Kevin with her.

To be fair, I'd do the same. I can't bring myself to be too mad.

"Hey, kitty," I say softly, holding my hands out in defense. The cat sits down in front of me, eyes wide and pupils dilated, ready to play. "Ariel, right? Good kitty. I'm not a toy."

Ariel doesn't seem to get the message as she lifts her paw.

No!

"Hey, whatcha got there girl?" A voice comes from behind the cat. 

My blood runs colder than it already was. 

That was to loud to be Gretchen or Kevin, to masculine to be the mom, not deep enough to be the dad-

Hands pull Ariel away despite a mew of protest, leaving me totally exposed in the open. 

Put the cat back I'd rather die that way.

My eyes connect with the boy of the household- Damian. His gaze travels up and down my small form and he lets out breathy 'what?'.

Once again, I know not all humans are bad, but you try not even being four inches call, curled up against a wall with a full ass living moving human standing there. It's a lot.

Damian kneels down so he isn't towering over me but it doesn't feel any better. I push myself closer to the wall, ignoring the pain in my side.

"Are- I uh-" Damian seems as equally at a loss as I am. 

Don't worry buddy, I didn't think I'd be getting caught tonight either.

"Are you okay?"

I can't exactly say I've been caught before, so I don't exactly know the 'this is a bad guy' red flags, but asking about my well being probably isn't one of them. 

"Yeah." I say, shakily. My voice is weak and seems a lot quieter in contrast to the boy's in front of me.

"I'm sorry about her." Damian said, placing the cat down. Ariel glares at me before walking away, clearly bored.

I could tell we were dancing around the important questions. What are you? Why are you so small? What are you doing here?

"My name's Damian."

I almost say 'I know' but believe it or not- I do have manners and hey, this human hasn't killed you yet, don't be rude and give him a reason to.

"Janis." I say, giving a small wave. 

"Janis," Damian repeats like he's testing the name in his mouth. "It's pretty."

"Thank you." I glance around but as I suspected, my roommates did not even attempt to come back. 

"You're a borrower." Damian states. It wasn't a question and his voice sounded sure, but his raised eyebrow told a different story.

"Yeah, we're real, just-" I take a breath. "Uncommon?"

Damian nods. He knew what I was right off the bat which probably means I'll have less explaining to do. It also made me feel safer in a way. It meant he's less curious. Not to mention he has yet to move any closer or invade my space, so I felt okay. I push myself off the wall a bit, trying to ignore how my head spins a bit from lack of nutrients. 

"I'm sorry if I interrupted whatever you were doing. We'll leave if you don't want us here or-"

"No, it's okay. I honestly am glad I stepped in then I did- wait, we?"

Shit.

It was one thing to expose myself, but not I'm mentally hitting myself for exposing Gretchen and Kevin too.

"There are multiple of you?"

"Nonono forget I said anything." I wave my hand as if waving away nonexistent flies. 

Damian looks like he wants to press more but doesn't. "What are you doing out here? It's like, four am."

"It's still early for me. We- I need food." 

Damian's eyes light up. "Of course! Oh my god, I'm so sorry then. Do you-" He pauses. "Do you need help?"

My instinct is to decline but- there hasn't been much food out and Damian seems genuine. Its either die by cat or human. "Yeah, help would be nice."

Damian smiles softly. "Can I pick you up?"

What?

Oh.

Oh.

Yeah. 

Riiiight.

"Yeah, you can." I smile, trying to seem brave about this, but I've never been picked up before. The only time I'm off the ground is with my climbing tools with my fate in my own hands. 

Damian places his hand down next to me, it's huge. The sheer size difference doesn't sink in when somebody is crouched a couple of human feet away from you. 

I step onto his hand regardless, trying not to concentrate on how weird it feels. 

"You ready?" Damian's voice asked from above.

Was I ready?

Why did I think this was a good idea?

I could die right here right now.

I don't know anything about this kid other than his name and his favorite musical soundtrack. 

What if he's bad news?

"Yeah, I'm good." I say, despite my inner turmoil. 

The ground beneath me shifts and as much as I like to think I was mentally prepared, physically I was not as I ungracefully fall backward into Damian's palms.

"You okay?" He asks, freezing. 

He was as nervous as I was.

This sudden realization gave me a bit more confidence in the situation.

"Mhmm," I say, patting the hand beneath me gently. "Thanks."

"Of course." Damian says, and we're moving again. Its a significantly shorter trip from here to the kitchen for Damian. He holds me close to his chest, his fingers curled around me slightly. Its comforting, and contrary to what I expected, I don't feel ready to drop. I can see Ariel curled up contently on the couch, and the entrance to my home from here. One of them at least. I wonder if my roommates are watching or if they're already cleaning out my room. 

Damian places his hand on the table and I get off on my own.

It feels better up here, to be further up. I don't feel as small when Damian steps away. 

"You've made it clear it's just you," He does air quotes. "But how many people do you take food for."

The lie of 'it is only me' is the first thing on my tongue, but I hold it. Damian has done nothing but help me so far and he already knows there's multiple of us. No harm in giving exact numbers.

"Three," I say. "One with a big appetite." I smile as Kevin comes to mind. 

Damian grins. "What do you normally take?"

"Whatever is out." I shrug, glancing around at the table. Just like the past couple of times, the tables were empty.

Damian notices this and is silent for a bit. "I'll have to conveniently forget to put stuff back then." He says quietly. I can't tell if he was talking to me or himself but I smile nonetheless. 

"So, you've never had options?"

"No." I say. It feels weird to admit that. Damian grins. 

"Guess you're in luck. Wait here." He turns around and walks over to a cabinet. Where am I supposed to even go? 

His back isn't turned long enough to let me figure that out, because he soon comes back with two things. "So I brought this because I want you to try it," Its a cookie, I know that much from Christmas, but instead of decorative frosting and sprinkles its dotted with splotches of brown. "It's a chocolate chip cookie. And I brought this for practical reasons." He lifts up a bag. "Its granola and it comes in these little chunks- well for you they'd be big, but you can just break them off as you need!"

I smile at the thoughtfulness. Maybe this kid isn't all bad news. 

He opens the bag and pours a bit into his hand before placing one on the table. Sure enough, a cluster of granola is just big enough to fit maybe two into my bag. I can break off a piece and it will last days (assuming Kevin doesn't go to town).

"Woah." I say softly, picking it up. This is the most food I've ever even been near in one place. 

Damian chuckles as I carefully place the granola into my bag miraculously fitting three. One for each of us. Damian watches me silently, I guess we're both still stying to wrap our heads around the situation. 

"Oh! I almost forgot!" He picks up the cookie breaking off a piece and handing it to me. It's the size of my head but I can just save what's left for later. Damian takes the rest for himself, watching as I silently break a piece off to eat. 

It's grainy but smooth a the same time. Sweet and salty. It's-

"Woah." 

Damian laughs, its loud and sudden, but also contagious.

I giggle a bit as I feel my face flush. I know he's not laughing at me maliciously.

"They're good right?"

"Yeah." 

We fall into silence, and I look around. I've been up on the counters before, but I've always been in a rush, get food, and get out. I've never been this relaxed in the open and certainly never so close to a human. 

I look up at Damian and he smiles. "What are you gonna do now?"

"Huh?"

"I don't know how true the stories are but isn't this where you leave and never come back because you've been caught? I won't tell anyone if you don't want to leave."

He had a point. But- the borrower's code wasn't law. More like- recommended guidelines? I mean, not true at all, but it's not written in stone or anything. Borrower police aren't gonna break in and arrest me or anything.

I think.

Besides, I didn't want to leave. I liked my room and my roommates (not that I'd admit that to them). They don't need to know I met a human. And Damian said he wouldn't tell anyone-

"How do I know I can trust you?"

The question had a lot more of an edge then I expected, but Damian didn't seem to take offense. 

"You don't. But, follow your instincts. I'm not trying to trick you or anything if that's what your thinking."

He did help me get food. Which saved my life. He also saved me from the cat, which saved my life too. Even before he knew I existed, he always seemed to be the nicest Hubbard. Something tells me his word is good.

"I think I'm gonna stay," I say after a while.  "I'll just- never tell my roommates about this. One of them flips over everything. She'd pack in an instant if she knew."

Damian smiled. "I understand if you hope to never see me again and if you wanna just walk away like this never happened, but I'll be sure to leave granola out every once in a while."

I grin. "Thanks, Damian." It felt weird to be so close to a human and already trust them so much. Something deep inside told me that this wasn't the last time we'd see each other, and that's okay.

"I figure you can get down on your own? You don't want me to know where you live or anything."

I shook my head, patting my climbing tools. "I got this from here. Thank you so much for your help."

"Of course, Janis. I'll take Ariel to my room to make sure she doesn't cause any trouble. Maybe I'll see you around, hopefully not under any life or death circumstances though." Damian grins before walking away, leaving me alone in the kitchen. I can hear him call out to the cat followed by padding of paws as a door closes. I almost feel as if I've hallucinated the whole thing, but the weight of the granola in my bag proves to me otherwise. 

I begin to take out a hook and rope while I think of what I'm gonna tell my roommates. Gretchen will flip either way and I don't think Kevin will believe me that I was able to fend off a cat alone, but it's what I have to do if I don't want to move. Besides, deep down I feel like I can trust the teen of the Hubbard household. 

Let's just hope my gut isn't wrong. 

alt title: how borrower janis got hooked on granola tag list!!! @realmisspolarbear @musicallygt @smallsoysauce @sourishlemons

[marvinswriting]

trapped

ANOTHER BORROWER JANIS FIC? A N D IT'S LONG (ish)? wow.

Trusting Damian was probably the best decision of my life. Not that I've had to make many life-changing decisions. 

It didn't take long for Gretchen and Kevin to find out that I've been caught. It took them even less time to want to meet Damian for themselves. 

Even though they all knew each other now, I was still the only one visiting Damian often. Gretchen was still slightly scared and Kevin just couldn't be bothered. I mean, fair.

We (It was really just me) had made a new path through the house right to Damian's room but I was the only one to use it often. It leads behind an outlet abnormally high in the wall where Damian's desk was. He used to use it to plug in lights (as you would and outlet) but now it sits there without screws. 

But that's not where I was right now. I was sitting in the combined living space next to Gretchen. "I saw it, I swear."

She was whining about a mouse which, to be fair- was scary, but it wasn't near us right now so why carry on like this. 

"Ariel will get it, I'm sure."

"Janis," I don't think I've ever seen Gretchen this stressed. "It was so close to our house! We live in a pocket of room between beams of wood! It could be on the other side right now."

"But at least it's not on this side."

"Maybe not now but it clearly was." Kevin says walking into the room holding what used to be a bag full of granola.

I curse under my breath, taking the bag from him. "All of it?"

"And the rest of our food."

"Kevin, that was our stash for the week!"

"Do I look like a mouse? Why are you yelling at me?!"

Sometimes our dysfunctional family arguments got so loud I'm surprised we didn't get caught.

I run my hand down my face. It's still early, maybe six pm. We don't even think of borrowing until past midnight. 

"What are we gonna do?" Gretchen asks. She sounds like she might cry.

"I'll go get Damian." I say. We don't ask for his help often. Ever since that night, he just leaves out granola chunks once a week and I visit just to talk and hang out with somebody other than my roommates. But he did say whenever he needed help to get him, so-

"You can't go that way!" Gretchen hissed as I went to shift the block of wood we use as a makeshift door. 

"And why not?"

"Janis, are you stupid?" Kevin deadpans. "Gretchen saw the fucking mouse over there."

Oh right. Maybe I am stupid. 

Huh.

"Well, I can't just walk through the house."

"We can go borrowing on our own," Gretchen says. "You've gone soft and dependent, Janis. Damian won't always be there. What happens when we have to move, or he moves out? You're losing your skills. Look-" Gretchen throws a thimble at me- and hard.

"Ow!" I whine as it bounces off my shoulder.

"Janis four months ago would have caught that." Gretchen shakes her head, earning a murmur of agreement from Kevin.

"Okay, I'm shitty. Sure. Whats you're point?"

"We don't need Damian to borrow. We're borrowers. It's in our name." 

"Fine," I say, shoving borrowing tools into my bag. I get Gretchen's point. I also know she and Kevin don't trust Damian. But I don't see an issue with asking for help- at least not anymore. Maybe Gretchen was right, now I'm soft and dependent, but at least I've got a friend. Other then roommates that bully each other.

"Are we going now? It's still early." I ask.

"I'll do a quick lookout," Kevin says before disappearing. 

Gretchen and I stand in silence for a bit. 

"I'm sorry for yelling." She says quietly. We never apologize. I guess I'm not the only one soft. "After that night with the cat, when you met Damian- I thought you were dead. And yeah, none of us are friends but you're still my roommates. You're the closest thing to family a borrower is gonna get. And I just want to see you safe. The bond you've formed with that human- it's not it."

I scowl. "Sweet sentiment, Gretchen, but you don't know what you're talking about. You want to see me safe, well Damian is the only reason I am here and I am safe. You don't trust him but you also never put in the effort to try."

"All I'm saying is from an outside perspective, this is a sure way to get yourself killed."

"Anything we do we can get killed!" And we're yelling again. "Fall off a table, run into the cat, get caught by a human-"

"Yeah! Get caught by a human! You said it yourself, Janis!"

I cross my arms. "That's different."

"How so?"

"He isn't gonna kill me!"

"Intentionally."

I freeze, meeting Gretchen's eyes. She shrugs, seemingly happy her point got across.

I never thought of it. Damian and I had both been so careful around each other. It's never a thought that even entered my mind.

And I won't let it now.

I shake my head, regaining my composure and glaring at Gretchen. 

"You're wrong."

"Am I?"

"Yes." I'm determined to stand my ground and not let Gretchen in my head again. "Damian is careful, he isn't reckless. He sees me and another living creature, nothing less than."

Gretchen shrugs as Kevin walks back into the room. "You're funeral. I won't attend."

"Woah." Kevin holds his hands up. "What did I just witness?"

"I'm officially dead to Gretchen, I guess."

"Cmon guys." Kevin seems genuinely saddened by this normal occurrence. I'm cut out of Gretchen's life every other week. 

"No! I won't 'come on guys'! When Damian decides he bored with keeping Janis around and exposes all of us we all have to pay for her reckless behavior!"

"Damian wouldn't do that." I put my hands on my hips.

"Would he not? You're not even four inches tall. You think you have some big impact on his life? Your friendship isn't mutual! Unlike you, Damian probably has a life outside these walls! He doesn't care about you!" Gretchen's voice gets softer as her anger dies. "And I'm sorry the only way I could get that through to you was by yelling. I know its hard for you. But-"

"No."

"What?" Gretchen takes a step back at my cold attitude. Tears are burning in the corners of my eyes, but I refuse to let them spill. Kevin seems mildly annoyed at most. He looks like he could use some popcorn. 

"You don't know what you are talking about. You never put in the time to meet him and-"

"Janis do you hear yourself?! You've got the same two arguments. You don't know him, he isn't like that. How can you not see this only ends up with you hurt?! Emotionally or physically!"

Call me immature, but I don't want to hear anymore. So I walk away. I duck into my room, Gretchen calling after me. 

We still have a couple more hours until we need to borrow anyway. 

"Janis."

"Go away, Kevin."

"Gretchen is just looking out for you."

"She's doing a shit job at it." I look in my mirror past me to see Kevin hovering in my doorway.  He didn't seem to have more to say, so instead, he changed the topic.

"The Hubbards aren't home. We're thinking of doing a quick trip before they get back."

"Do we know when they get back?"

"No."

"Then that's too risky."

"You don't get to talk about risky, Janis."

I shrug. "All I'm saying is we can go four hours without food."

"Janis."

"Fine!" I throw my hands up in defeat. "I don't know what you two gain from a death mission or what point you're trying to prove, but let's just go get fucking food."

Kevin smiles, but it's forced. He isn't happy, he's just relieved he got his way without too much of a fight.

We don't take our normal route this time. We have to go the long way to avoid the mouse that attacked Gretchen. This route requires us to climb up and it leads out to the counter and its probably my least favorite course. 

I curse as I lose my footing on a nail and almost fall. 

"Jesus, Janis." Gretchen says from above me, but she seems more concerned than annoyed. 

"Yeah yeah." I mumble, regaining my composure and continuing to climb. 

We all make it to the entrance (without falling). Kevin goes out first to do a quick lookout and Gretchen and I stay back in silence. 

This entrance is also a broken outlet, but unlike Damian's, there was still power going through it, so pushing it open was always a dangerous task. 

"All clear." Kevin waves us out. "Ariel is on the sofa."

From the kitchen table, you can see the front door which leads into the living room. And sure enough, Ariel is asleep contently. 

There's a lot of things on the kitchen counter, none of it is food. A napkin holder is blocking my view of the front door, and there are a couple of cups scattered around as well as papers or any random object put down. 

There's a gap in between two counter tiles, maybe the size of my foot. It's an easy step across, but we have to be careful not to drop any of our tools down there. We'd never get them back.

"There's no food." Gretchen deadpans. 

"Really." I roll my eyes. After what my roommates said, I was feeling less and less sure that I should ask Damian for help. It made me feel guilty because deep down, I knew they were wrong. But- what if they weren't? 

Unlike you, Damian probably has a life outside these walls!

It'd be shitty luck, but pretty par to how my life generally goes. My pity party is interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. 

Shit.

We all collectively freeze as the sounds of voices fill the building.

"Guys!" Kevin the first to snap out of it as he pulls back the outlet, holding it for us. I nod and begin speed walking over when I hear a cry from behind me. 

I whirl around to see-

Gretchen's got her foot stuck in the crack.

Of course.

The voices are closer, and I'm right in the middle of the outlet or Gretchen. My mind momentarily flashes back to when Gretchen left me with the cat but we meet eyes and all bad morals disappear. 

She's crying and I can tell it's from both pain and fear.

I rush towards her, ignoring the cries of protest from Kevin.

My mind is in overdrive, picking up every noise while simultaneously blocking it all out. 

I can hear Damian and his dad, their voices clearly heading towards the kitchen, but my mind has tunnel vision, focusing on Gretchen.

Gretchen reaches out to me like a lost child. I grab her forearms and she does the same, and I lean backwards with all my weight. Gretchen cries out in pain but her foot doesn't move.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I look up momentarily and freeze upon seeing Damian enter the kitchen with his dad behind him. 

We're too late.

We're done for.

Fuck.

"Janis." Gretchen whimpers.

"I'm trying."

I bend down and grab Grechen's ankle, trying to lift her foot out from the source. I can tell she's trying to stay still and quiet, maybe they won't notice-

A shadow falls over us, and I freeze.

Fuck.

I don't even want to look up.

Fuck.

If its Damian, then that's embarrassing.

If it's his dad, then we're dead.

I glance up-

Damian is standing with his back to us, leaning against the counter talking to his dad.

He's blocking us from the view.

I could break down and cry in relief, but we've still got a problem. Upon seeing it’s sort of safe, Kevin rushes over to help. He lifts Gretchen up while I pull out her foot. Gretchen lets out a muffled cry but she’s free. She leans heavily on both Kevin and I as we make out way to the outlet again. I don't bother looking back, I'm busy carrying half of Gretchen's body weight.

That's gonna be sprained for a while.

And we still need food.

Fuck.

-

"Janis, I know it's you."

I sigh and step out from where I was hidden in the shadows. "What are you doing out here."

Damian is standing with his arms crossed the center of the kitchen, strongly resembling a disappointed mother.

"You guys were almost caught."

"Blame Gretchen." I shrug, avoiding Damian's gaze.

"Is she okay?"

"We're no doctors but she's probably not gonna be borrowing for a while."

Damian tsks. "You need food?"

"No, you don't have to worry, I can do it myself. I don't wanna be a bother you probably have other things to do-"

"Janis."

"Yes," I mumble, glancing up. Damian looks like he can't decide whether to laugh or be concerned. "What?"

"I offered. You aren't a bother."

"Okay," I said softly.

I guess I let Gretchen's words get to me more then I realized. 

Damian grabs granola before turning back to me. "What would you have done if I didn't see you?"

I shrug. "Died, probably."

Damian obviously did not like this answer. "Janis."

"What do you want me to say?! We're small and inconvenient and it's a big dangerous fucking world!"

"You can ask for help next time."

I hug myself slightly. "You'd get annoyed fast if I asked for help every time. I'm a borrower, I should be able to do this on my own."

Damian doesn't try to fight my point. "Can I pick you up?"

"Why?" I question but nod anyway.

Damian reaches out and gently scoops me up, letting me fall into the palm of his hand before holding me to his chest.

"Because I want to talk with my friend and not risk her getting caught. We're gonna go to my room"

Friend.

Take that, Gretchen.

"Okay." I laugh softly as Damian makes his way through the house.

tldr, gretchen is a bitch but its from the heart @realmisspolarbear @musicallygt @sourishlemons @smallsoysauce

[placetobenation]

If nothing else, the times are busy in the WWE these days. Two PPV’s within a week of each other with NXT TakeOver: In Your House and Backlash bookending our Sundays, a change in the creative of RAW and of course, the three shows themselves. Never a dull moment indeed.

First, let’s take a look at the NXT PPV.

NXT TAKEOVER: In Your House PPV Results

NXT Championship Backlot Brawl Match: Adam Cole defeated The Velveteen Dream

NXT Women’s Championship: Io Shirai defeated Charlotte Flair & Rhea Ripley to win title

NXT North American Title Match: Keith Lee defeated Johnny Gargano to retain title

Karrion Kross defeated Tommaso Ciampa

Finn Balor defeated Damien Priest

Mia Yim, Tegan Nox & Shotzi Blackheart defeated Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez

Another solid night as Adam Cole not only survived seeing his two teammates from The Undisputed Era, Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish kidnapped by Dexter Lumis, but triumphed over The Velveteen Dream, cementing his final shot at Cole’s NXT Championship. I thought the Backlot Brawl was well done as I had reservations, they were using the whole cinematic match genre too much lately. But the use of the cars as weapons worked and it brought Lumis into the feud too. Most thought, unlike me in my predictions, that TVD would come out on top, but I like the fact Cole remains on top for his next challenge.

Plus, Io Shirai stole the night and stole a sneaky pin to win Charlotte Flair’s NXT Women’s Championship, flying off the top rope to pin Rhea Ripley while Ripley was in the figure 8 from Flair. Keeps Flair strong and unpinned and brings the NXT Championship back full-time to Wednesday nights.

Karrion Kross destroyed Tommaso Ciampa. A strong performance to solidify Kross’ dominance in his debut on TakeOver.

Surprised that Keith Lee beat Johnny Gargano, but as we saw on Wednesday night, there’s still more to be done in this feud.  And yes, while Damian Priest brought a good fight to Finn Balor, Balor needed the win as he sets his sights a bit higher in the future.

As for the creative change, I was hopeful when Paul Heyman was put in charge of RAW but still thought that it was handcuffing a genius. Heyman is awesome with guiding the edgy storylines and pushing some superstars that need it. We saw that in the rise of Andrade, Angel Garza, Austin Theory, The Authors of Pain and Dana Brooke. But it just seemed like some of the details were missing and we had a lot of 50-50 booking on RAW. With Bruce Pritchard now overseeing both RAW and SmackDown, let’s see if the ideas are still split or if there’s more of an umbrella type booking for the time being. Needless to say, no crowds have hurt and that could be changing with more things opening up around the Country as we try to get back to normal, whatever that is, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A few words of advice for Pritchard move forward – think out-of-the-box, have common sense and don’t forget the details, they matter.  

Star of the Week:

Couldn’t fathom talking about anything else. Today’s #NewDayPod with @AndreasHale. pic.twitter.com/gIXQbJ0z0R

— Florida Man (@WWEBigE) June 8, 2020

The New Day – Kudos to Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods! Not only are they the SmackDown tag team champions, but they are leading the way in the WWE with their leadership and voices they’re leading to the Black Lives Matter movement. Symbolically, Big E and Kofi kneeled with one hand raised during their ring entrance on Friday night. But before then, on their podcast, there were powerful words. I just wish the WWE would put this kind of content on their shows to bring to a wider, mainstream audience than just what’s on social media. Like CM Punk’s opinion last week on WWE Backstage, it would bring a whole new dynamic to the type of change we as a Community are looking and hoping for.

BACKLASH PPV – UPDATED CARD

WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley

Universal Championship Handicap Match: Braun Strowman vs. The Miz & John Morrison

Greatest Wrestling Match Ever: Edge vs. Randy Orton

RAW Women’s Championship Match: Asuka vs. Nia Jax

Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus

Women’s Tag Team Title Triple Threat Match: Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics

United States Championship Match: Apollo Crews vs. Andrade

Predictions are below….after we take a look at the Week that Was for RAW, NXT and SmackDown.

RAW

RESULTS

Asuka & Charlotte Flair defeated The Iconics and Sasha Banks & Bayley

Aleister Black & Humberto Carrillo defeated Buddy Murphy & Austin Theory

United States Championship #! Contender’s Match: Andrade defeated Angel Garza & Kevin Owens

Bobby Lashley & MVP defeated The Viking Raiders

Charlotte Flair defeated Asuka

Loved it:

THE QUEEN DOES IT AGAIN.@MsCharlotteWWE defeats #WWERaw #WomensChampion @WWEAsuka with the assist from @NiaJaxWWE! pic.twitter.com/hn5qA3coXN

— WWE (@WWE) June 9, 2020

Asuka & Charlotte – Anytime you can get Asuka & Charlotte in the same ring twice in one night, it’s a good thing. Plus, we get the Women’s Tag Team Champions in on the fun as Bayley & Sasha Banks come to RAW for a night. The only downside of the night, and yes, we know it was a predictable one, was Nia Jax interfering in the main event costing Asuka a win over Flair. I don’t love the fact that the RAW’s Womens Champion loses on the go-home show before a PPV, but I understand why they did it.

Peep Show – Christian was spot on putting Edge in his place before pumping him back up for his Greatest Wrestling Match Ever against Randy Orton this Sunday. There’s no substitute for chemistry my friends.

Drew vs. Bobby – Nice build up to their title match Sunday with both looking strong all night. Lashley gets a win with MVP over The Viking Raiders while Drew makes the save after the match. Can’t wait for the physicality Sunday night!

Meh:

Your eyes didn't deceive you.@AndradeCienWWE just pinned @AngelGarzaWwe to earn himself a #USTitle opportunity against @WWEApollo at #WWEBacklash! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/dnCvA1GhTg

— WWE (@WWE) June 9, 2020

Triple A: Apollo vs. Andrade again – Do we really need to see this match again? I’d rather see Crews vs. Kevin Owens get some more time than they did on RAW a few weeks back. Plus, I think we can all see Angel Garza getting a little payback on his faction brother, right?

Just for grins and giggles:

Charly and Angel – Can we just get these back together on the love train already? It was fun with the flirting but it’s kind of been put to the side the past few weeks. Charly Caruso needs her love and so do we! And oh by the way, not enough Zelina Vega this week. The Ariana Grande look rocked, but she was oddly quiet after being “injured” by Andrade.

NXT

RESULTS

Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae defeated Keith Lee & Mia Yim

Indus Sher defeated Mikey Delbrey & Mike Reed

Finn Balor defeated Cameron Grimes

Dakota Kai defeated Kacy Catanzaro

NXT Championship Non-Title Match: Adam Cole defeated Dexter Lumis

Loved it:

TICK TOCK.

#WWENXT @AdamColePro @Lady_Scarlett13 @WWEKarrionKross pic.twitter.com/WF98AASFSX

— WWE (@WWE) June 11, 2020

Tick. Tock. Challenger – That was a seriously special moment to end NXT as Scarlett brings the hourglass to the ring after Adam Cole’s successful NXT Championship Title defense against Dexter Lumis. The look on Cole’s face of fear not that Karrion Kross is in his crosshairs was awesome. This should take the title picture on Wednesday nights to a whole new level.

Kacy gets a shot – Yes, I’m biased since I’ve watched Kacy Catanzaro since her American Ninja Warrior days, but I loved that they gave her some time in the ring against Dakota Kai and actually got some good offense in too. Kacy’s better than just being used as a person in the crowd, so I’m glad they saw that. I hope it continues.

WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED?!?!

#WWENXT @hijodelfantasma @RaulMendozaWWE @joaquinwilde_ pic.twitter.com/jrGVxwkf5J

— WWE (@WWE) June 11, 2020

Hello Mr. Escobar – El Hijo del Fantasma is not only the new NXT Cruiserweight Champion, but now he’s the new Santos Escobar and is the leader of the Mexican Masked Mafia. With an unmasking and a beatdown of Drake Maverick, it’s a whole new chapter for Mr. Escobar.

Can’t wait –

"@RealKeithLee, when you're done playing house, come see me." @FinnBalor has his eyes on the #WWENXT #NorthAmericanTitle. pic.twitter.com/6Y85J0cWCM

— WWE (@WWE) June 11, 2020

Balor vs. Lee – So, Finn Balor wants a shot at the NXT Title he hasn’t won yet – the North American Title. I’ll take it. I wonder what Johnny Gargano thinks of all this as I don’t quite think he’s done with Mr. Lee just yet.

Thank you:

Rhea Ripley – Thank you Rhea for making quick work of Robert Stone! The tough days continue for the Robert Stone Brand.

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

SmackDown Tag Team Non-Title Match: Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura defeated The New Day

Intercontinental Championship Tournament Finals: AJ Styles defeated Daniel Bryan to win title

Braun Strowman, Otis & Tucker defeated Dolph Ziggler, The Miz & John Morrison

Loved it:

After an INSTANT CLASSIC, @AJStylesOrg is the NEW Intercontinental Champion!#ICTitle #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/qmfaRCJgbq

— WWE (@WWE) June 13, 2020

Simply Phenomenal – I think we can all agree that if there were to be a Greatest Wrestling Match Ever this weekend, it would not be Edge vs. Randy Orton, but the one Friday night between AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan. Anytime these two hook up, it’s good, but with the I-C Title on the line, this one was top notch. I’m hoping it’s not just a one-off either. Give these guys an Iron Man Match or a best of three series.

The New Day @WWEBigE & @TrueKofi make their entrance on #SmackDown. (via @wwe) pic.twitter.com/HH7dCJtezi

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) June 13, 2020

The New Day – While we didn’t love the champs losing again on TV, something the WWE is seemingly in love with these days with their champions, we applaud The New Day’s tribute to the Black Lives Matters cause as we said above, making them the stars of the week.

Confused:

Well … that’s gonna leave a stench.@JEFFHARDYBRAND turns the table on @WWESheamus’ impromptu urine test. #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/xyiU52DSZQ

— WWE (@WWE) June 13, 2020

You’re In – See what we did there?! The Jeff Hardy/Sheamus drug test to start SmackDown was just silly. Shades of the Attitude Era silliness with not enough edge. Plus, you can say “pissed off” but you can’t say “pissed on” on broadcast TV? Well, that just makes no sense. At least the backstage brawling was better to put the spotlight on Sunday’s PPV match.

Didn’t love:

Main event – If the 6-man tag team match with Braun Strowman joining Heavy Machinery to face The Miz, John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler was supposed to make me want to see the Universal Championship Handicap Match at the PPV, it didn’t. There was more of a spotlight on Otis/King Corbin and Mandy Rose than the champion, the Miz or Morrison. A total miss right there.

Quick Pick Predictions for Backlash PPV:  

WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre defeats Bobby Lashley

Universal Championship Handicap Match: Braun Strowman defeats The Miz & John Morrison

Greatest Wrestling Match Ever: Randy Orton defeats Edge

RAW Women’s Championship Match: Asuka defeats Nia Jax

Sheamus defeats Jeff Hardy

Women’s Tag Team Title Triple Threat Match: Bayley & Sasha Banks defeats Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics

United States Championship Match: Apollo Crews defeats Andrade

Overall: I don’t see much changing on Backlash as far as titles go. Drew is too strong right now on RAW, but expect the feud with Lashley to continue. It would be foolish for Strowman to lose again in another handicap match. Look for Randy Orton to get some revenge on Edge for WrestleMania. There’s no way Nia Jax is beating Asuka – same can be said for the Women’s Tag Team Titles as the new champs shouldn’t lose their first title defense. Apollo Crews’ push should continue as well.

Parting shots:

Don’t forget, part 4 of The Undertaker series is back Sunday night after the Backlash PPV on the WWE Network.

I’d love to see someone ask Bret Hart about appearing on AEW on this week’s WWE Backstage. Now, THAT would truly make some noise, but I know it would never happen. Kind of surprised Hart is doing the show.

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND!

[placetobenation]

Will this be one of the final weeks without crowds at a wrestling event? It could be!

With signs of things trying to get back somewhat back to normal around the Country, there are reports that the state of Florida will allow sporting events and wrestling open their doors at possibly 25% capacity. I’m sure the WWE will pounce on this opportunity if it’s presented. As long as it is safe, it would be a welcome return to fill the void left with no crowds. But again, let us stress – ONLY IF IT’S SAFE!

With a week left until the Money In The Bank PPV, here’s how the card looks:

WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Seth Rollins

Universal Championship Match: Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt/The Fiend

Men’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Aleister Black, Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio, King Corbin, Otis and winner of RAW’s Last Chance Gauntlet Match

Women’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Shayna Baszler, Nia Jax, Asuka, Dana Brooke & Lacey Evans

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Bayley vs. Tamina

.@SonyaDevilleWWE is LAYING WASTE to @WWE_MandyRose on #SmackDown! pic.twitter.com/07vdhXDPcF

— WWE (@WWE) May 2, 2020

Star of the Week:

Sonya Deville – After last week’s emotional and  personal promo showing her true feelings against Mandy Rose, Deville was in top form showing her rage against her former best friend and tag team partner. Here’s hoping for a physical, twist-turning feud that goes on a for a bit and has some legs.

RAW

RESULTS

Rey Mysterio, Aleiser Black & Apollo Crews defeated Andrade, Angel Garza & Austin Theory

Nia Jax vs. Asuka vs. Shayna Baszler never started

Bobby Lashley defeated Denzel Dejournette

Liv Morgan defeated Ruby Riott

Jinder Mahal defeated Akira Tozawa

United States Championship Match: Andrade defeated Apollo Crews

Ricochet & Cedric Alexander defeated Ever-Rise

Kind of a disjointed show this week on RAW after a couple of really good weeks. That’s disappointing as short (or non-matches) ruled the evening. On a positive note though, Zelina Vega continues to be the Queen of RAW, sorry Charlotte Flair. Vega dominates every segment she’s a part of it – in a good way! Plus, how about them heels on those boots! How the heck did she even walk to the ring! Would love to see WWE put her in a pre-produced segment once or twice a month to showcase her talents out of the ring. We don’t need another in-ring promo segment in front of no crowd these days (sorry Miz TV, Moment of Bliss, MVP Lounge, every start to a WWE show).

While the opening six-man tag match was decent, it was just too long, stretched out over three segments, four if you count the MVP Lounge to start the show. Plus, it didn’t end there as we got a set-up for Apollo Crews’ US Title Match later that night. Damn that slap was loud!

BRING IT ON.@WWEApollo wants an opportunity at @AndradeCienWWE's #USTitle, and he just might get it TONIGHT! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/VhNRTS6SpT

— WWE (@WWE) April 28, 2020

Unfortunately, it led to the most disappointing part of the evening as Crews “injures” his knee and is now out of the MITB Men’s Ladder Match. He was of course the underdog, emotional favorite we were all pulling for!

He's baaaaaaaaack.#WWERaw @JinderMahal pic.twitter.com/YAvzwc4ka1

— WWE (@WWE) April 28, 2020

Returns! We got them with Samoa Joe back at the commentary table and Jinder Mahal is back to grace us with his awesomeness on RAW for the first time in over a year.

I really hope they give Liv Morgan a REAL push! Much like Ricochet & Cedric Alexander, it seems like Morgan is up and down from week-to-week as opposed to a strong month of activity.

What the heck was up with the triple threat? We get the tease of a match of dominating non-divas only to see if end two minutes into it without starting as Nia Jax goes crazy with the ladder. There’s better way to build it folks than to just waste it like that. I could’ve used a good 8-10 minutes of back-and-forth between the trio instead of three segments of the six-man match.

The contract for the #WWEChampionship Match at #MITB has been SIGNED.@DMcIntyreWWE delivered a crushing CLAYMORE to @WWERollins' disciple, @WWE_Murphy!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/E0esLnn0Iu

— WWE (@WWE) April 28, 2020

Drew McIntyre continues to be the star of Monday Nights! His no-nonsense, yet whimsy approach with his cool one-liners plays well. Getting right to the contract signing and then to the expected physicality that ensued is a plus. We all know it’s coming, so address it head-on. I really wish they would come up with a better unveiling of the “contract signing” that has seen its better days.

I really hope they give McIntyre vs. Rollins some breathing room and not just a one-off at MITB. Murphy is now back too to be that sacrificial lamb for the WWE Champion.

Finally, is it really fair to Akira Tozawa or us, the fans, to see him get squashed every Monday night but be forced to see him as a contender for the Cruiserweight Championship on Wednesday nights? Non-sense!

Boy do we miss Kevin Owens!

NXT

RESULTS

Interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match: Isaiah Scott defeated El Hijo del Fantasma

Candice LeRae defeated Kacy Catenzaro

Non-title NXT Women’s Championship Match: Charlotte Flair defeated Mia Yim

Dexter Lumis defeated Shane Thorne

Interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match: Drake Maverick defeated Tony Nese

NXT North American Championship Match: Keith Lee defeated Damian Priest to retain title

This episode had a little bit of everything folks!

Quality in-ring action from The Queen, Charlotte Flair, comedy from The “Newly-Bros,” a returning Kacy Catenzaro against a new look Candace LeRae and of course, another solid main event, basking in the glory of North American Champion, Keith Lee. And oh yeah, let’s not forget the emotion of the evening from one Drake Maverick!

"I'M NOT LEAVING, BECAUSE I LOVE THIS. I LIVE FOR THIS. I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL I'M THE NXT #CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPION!" – @WWEMaverick #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/ek0UhVkGFg

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) April 30, 2020

Loved, loved, loved seeing Maverick with the unlikely win over Tony Nese in the on-going interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament. I just hope there’s a pay-off and he sticks around after the seeming release two weeks ago.

What’s up with the Mexican Mafia? They’re now getting inside the arena as they tried to kidnap El Hijo del Fantasma before he got beat by Isaiah Scott

Pick your poison.

#WWENXT @CandiceLeRae pic.twitter.com/sl4uk3usEh

— WWE (@WWE) April 30, 2020

The Poison Pixie is here! Candace LeRae gets the new look last week and makes her in-ring debut as the Poison Pixie, complete with an awesome intro by husband Johnny Gargano! It was nice to see Kacy Catanzaro back on NXT TV, but poor Kacy, you knew she was going to get the beatdown! It was interesting to see a different side to Gargano too! Gargano gets a match with Dominik Dijakovic next week!

We haven't seen it and we already LOVE IT. #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/nnGYF1fPdE

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) April 30, 2020

What the hell was with the “Newly-Bros Show! How about Byron Sexton’s outfit, man! Finally the lunacy of RAW/Smackdown has hit NXT with Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher! But, it works as thankfully Imperium puts an end to it with a savage attack on the tag team champions.

A beautiful bully is what The Queen has become. The Women’s NXT Champion made her in-ring weekly tv show debut against the superstar she beat to start her NXT career five years ago – Mia Yim. Loved seeing Charlotte being the bully she truly wants to be. Classic showdown between Flair and Io Shirai after the match to set-up next week’s title match.

Also next week – time is up! Tick. Tock. Apocolypse! Karrion Kross and Scarlett Bordeaux are coming to NXT! Can’t wait for more! I’m sure Tommaso Ciampa is waiting too!

Kudos to Keith Lee for a physical main event title defense in a battle of big men. Who’s next for Lee after dispatching of Priest with a pair of Spirit Bombs for the victory.

Next week is stacked!

Next week's #WWENXT is going to be

pic.twitter.com/EocnVnK9k4

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) April 30, 2020

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

Daniel Bryan defeated King Corbin (DQ)

Sheamus defeated Leon Ruff

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Carmella defeated Mandy Rose

Non-Title SmackDown Tag Team Title Match: The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler) defeated The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Big E)

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Otis defeated Dolph Ziggler

Happy May Day!

The first day of May brings us a solid SmackDown. I still don’t understand why every WWE show has to start with an in-ring promo, but this week’s it’s Daniel Bryan doing it with a heartfelt speech about hos MITB changed his wrestling career. Will it happen again on March 10th?

Chaos has ERUPTED on #SmackDown!#MITB @BaronCorbinWWE pic.twitter.com/LIDxfaD34d

— WWE (@WWE) May 2, 2020

Good stuff from Bryan and King Corbin. There’s no one better in the heel ranks than Corbin these days and the physicality, complete with ladders, sets up their MITB match nicely. Plus, we’ll get another crack at it next week as Bryan, Drew Gulak and a partner of their choice (Elias anyone?) will take on Corbin, Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura.

How about Those Forgotten Sons? Forgotten no more as Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler get their first signature TV win Friday night, beating the tag team champs in a non-title match that should put them in position for a shot at the gold soon. Nice push for the boys from NXT.

As we said earlier, Sonya Deville continues to shine in her feud with Mandy Rose. Not only did she cost Rose a shot at the MITB contract with a distraction that let Carmella advance on, but she literally took the boots to her former BFF as well after the match. Really liking this feud moving forward.

Too bad we don’t get the first couple of SmackDown both in the MITB match as Otis does advance past Dolph Ziggler in fighting through the WWE headquarters in one week.

Sheamus starting in the Jeff Hardy/Michael Cole Groundhog Day continues and I don’t know why. Same ol’ same ol’ and there’s really no reason why Sheamus is so hell bent on fighting Jeff Hardy and using Michael Cole as his punching bag. Makes no sense that they’ve wasted a month on this already.

No spoilers, please. #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/CjIjiRFUJi

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) May 2, 2020

Lastly, what started as something cool with Bray Wyatt giving us storytime with “The Black Sheep” kind of just ended and fell flat. The Fiend vs. Braun Strowman for the Universal Title feels bigger than what it’s being portrayed and played on as on TV. It’s missing that edge, that toughness, that grit. I need a bit more and we all know that Wyatt has it in him. Does Strowman? We have a week to find out.

Speaking of next week, besides the 6-man tag match, we get Lacey Evans & Tamina vs. Bayley & Sasha Banks, the return of Jeff Hardy and Braun vs. Bray face-to-face.

Still no mention of Roman Reigns! I guess we can add Sami Zayn’s name to that list as well. C’mon WWE. Just be honest with us there.

Parting Shots:

• It was great to hear Maura Ranollo’s voice back on NXT, even it wasn’t live on site. He IS the voice of NXT! • What the heck is going on with Natalya on social media? If you haven’t seen it, follow here along for all the fun (this is one of the tame one!)….

Our last @YouTube video got over 60,000 views!

What do you guys want to see next?! I was thinking I should put @TJWilson in a Sharpshooter…..and have him really break down the science of the submission!!! (Waiting for TJ to answer….)

pic.twitter.com/5pekz7pLg8

— NattieByNature (@NatbyNature) May 1, 2020

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots and Red Sox fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND!

[placetobenation]

What a week!

Of course, you expect a lot of things to change when the Royal Rumble hits and the Road to WrestleMania begins. But what we got this past seven days from the WWE was simply amazing!

A huge crowd, solid storytelling and a surprise return that’s turned the WWE on its edge is where we begin for that fateful night in Houston.

Roman Reigns keeps his strong Royal Rumble performance going by not only defeating King Corbin in the opening match, but Reigns also goes nearly an hour in the Rumble match itself before being the final elimination by winner Drew McIntyre.

Then, in the women’s Rumble match, Bianca Belair makes her mark with a 33:20 stay and eight eliminations before being ousted. Beth Phoenix not only returns, lasting until the final five, but does it with a gutsy performance that saw her blonde locks turn red after being posted in the back of the head by Belair. In the end, it’s a tremendous finish as Charlotte Flair ousts Shayna Baszler, who eliminated eight superstars herself, with a leg scissors and flip over the top rope. Nice to see Molly Holly, Kelly Kelly and of course, Santina Morella too!

The Fiend outlasts Daniel Bryan to keep his Universal Title. You have to wonder if Roman Reigns is up next for Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania.

Not to be outdone, Brock Lesnar eliminates the first 13 men to start the Rumble match! Now that’s Beastly! In a great bit of detail, Lesnar gets eliminated after Riccochet low blows him (payoff for Brock’s RAW ballshot) and McIntyre claymores Lesnar over the top rope. The shock on Lesnar and Paul Heyman’s face is worth the price of admission. Also, I loved Lesnar’s “who’s this MF’er” when Keith Lee came out at #15. It’s that attention to detail that makes the payoff all the more sweet! It’s almost like we got two Rumbles – the Lesnar part and then the McIntyre part. Well done!

And then, there was Edge! After nine years away in retirement due to his neck injury, Edge comes in at #21 and makes a moment with his former Rated RKO superstar Randy Orton. It wasn’t until one night later that we would see the ultimate payoff in that one.

Get yourself a man like @otiswwe!#RoyalRumble #WomensRumble pic.twitter.com/0dFYJu8lOj

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) January 27, 2020

Oh yeah, nice save Otis! I’m sure Mandy Rose enjoyed the ride!

Star of the Week:

Edge and Beth Phoenix – How could we not give it to the new first couple of WWE? Both returned to the WWE ring with complete fanfare for their Rumble matches. Both showed amazingly well even despite Beth’s injury. Then, the explanation by Edge as to how he came back and subsequent dastardly, cowardly acts by Orton on RAW gave us an incredible end to Monday night and the beginning to what should be a twist-and-turning Road to WrestleMania in Tampa in April.

RAW

RESULTS

Drew McIntyre defeated The O.C. (Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows)

Rey Mysterio,Jr. defeated MVP

Aleister Black defeated Kenneth Johnson

Raw Tag Team Title Match: Buddy Murphy & Seth Rollins defeated Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe to retain the titles

US Title Match: Humberto Carrillo defeated Champion Andrade (DQ)

Charlotte defeated Asuka (DQ when Kairi Sane interfered)

24/7 Title Match: Champion Mojo Rawley defeated No Way Jose; R-Truth defeated Mojo Rawley; Mojo Rawley defeated R-Truth

Liv defeated Lana

Erick Rowan defeated Branden Vice

What we loved:

R… K… No! Instead of a #RatedRKO reunion, @RandyOrton delivered an #RKO on his former pal @EdgeRatedR. #RAW pic.twitter.com/SaBtASLiDc

— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2020

The return story – Edge’s explanation, straight from the heart, as to how, why and the struggle to come back to a WWE ring was perfect. And then, to have Randy Orton come out, reunite, hug and then stab his former friend in the back with an RKO left the live crowd and tv audience speechless. Then, a conchairto to further injure Edge’s neck cemented Orton’s dark place in Heelville, a place that suits Orton best. Can’t wait to see how this unfolds.

And if ya don't know, now ya know.#WrestleMania @BrockLesnar @DMcIntyreWWE pic.twitter.com/SVY6onsV9J

— WWE WrestleMania (@WrestleMania) January 28, 2020

Drew picks Brock – Why drag it out! Drew wants Brock. Brock wants Drew. Let’s get to the physicality between these two heavyweights! The question will be how do the fill the six weeks until Tampa with enough intrigue.

Charlotte picks … no one – I, for one, am glad they are not trying to shove another Charlotte vs. Becky match down our collective throats. Charlotte vs. Bayley would be nice. But, I’d rather see Charlotte vs. either NXT Champion Rhea Ripley or Shayna Baszler. Those two matches have a big-match feel to them if built up properly.  And oh yeah, BTW, interesting how no one came to Flair’s rescue when she was getting double-teamed by the Kabuki Warriors. Hmmmmm….

MVP’s last WWE match – Even if it was just for 24 hours, we got MVP back and MVP vs. Rey Mysterio, Jr. one more time.

What we didn’t love:

Bye bye Andrade – With his 30-day suspension at hand, you knew they were going to find a way to write Andrade off tv for a month. Humberto Carillo’s face-plant on the concrete floor does that and makes for title match down the road between these two in Tampa. Making chicken salad out of you know what there folks. Had to be done and a title switch was too soon in this feud.

Erick Rowan – broken record for the past countless number of RAW episodes. Squash match, no reveal of the cage. Blah, blah, blah. It better be something good in there!

Liv vs. Lana – After a white-hot wedding, this one’s fizzled out quicker than a candle in a rainstorm. Two minutes for a match and the boys banned from ringside. No payoff on the Liv angle with no story being told. Such a bad follow-up, but not unexpected.

NXT

Finn Balor defeated Trent Seven

Shotzi Blackheart defeated Deonna Purrazzo

Dominik Dijakovic defeated Damian Priest

Tegan Nox defeated Dakota Kai

Kayden Carter defeated Chelsea Green

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals: The Broserweights (Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne) defeated Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake)

Things that may you go hmmmm…

What has @NXTCiampa done?!?!?! #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/6Ccp0gqMKS

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) January 30, 2020

Ciampa vs. Cole – Was it me or did Tommaso Ciampa do all the bad stuff yet still got all the cheers? Beating up The Undisputed Era, bullying his way to a title shot and then signing the contract in his own blood. Don’t get me wrong, Cole’s a bad dude too, I just like the tweener role for both guys who are not quite babyfaces and not quite heels. Grey fits them well. Hmmmm……

Balor vs. Seven – Was it me or did Seven look a little too good against Balor? Just sayin. Hmmmm….

NXT Women’s Championship – With no Rhea Ripley or Shayna Baszler, it left me longing for what they will do next. Seemed odd that it wasn’t even addressed, not even a little bit. Hmmmm…..

COOLEST entrance of the decade right here!

Everyone's talking about @Shotziblack on #WWENXT! pic.twitter.com/VApZ7JtRD9

— WWE (@WWE) January 30, 2020

Shotzi’s tank – If you’re a fan of social media (and who’s not), was Blackheart’s ride to the ring in a miniature tank a nod to AEW’s Sammy Guerra’s knock to the old WWF invasion over the weekend in Sammy’s hometown of Houston? Hmmmm…..

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

Smackdown Tag Team Championship #1 Contender’s Match: The Miz & John Morrison defeated The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder), The Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik& Lince Dorado), & Heavy Machinery (Otis & Tucker)

Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross defeated Fire & Desire (Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville)

Intercontinental Title Match: Braun Strowman defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win title

Sheamus defeated Chad Gable

Losers Eat Dog Food Match: Reigns & The Usos defeated King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode

What we loved:

Happy Valentine’s Day Otis – Heavy Machinery may not have won the #1 contender’s match for the tag team titles, but Otis My Man has himself a Valentine’s Day date with Mandy Rose. What could go wrong!

January would end like this.#SmackDown @BaronCorbinWWE pic.twitter.com/5cgTkBPyCy

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) February 1, 2020

The end of Reigns vs. Corbin – Here’s hoping with the dog food payoff by Reigns over Corbin, we get the end to this underwhelming and long feud. Both need to move on.

Champion Braun – Well, it’s been awhile since we’ve seen the exposed turnbuckle backfire but it works to Strowman’s advantage as he wins the I-C Title! Plus, could this be the crack that gets Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn? Shinsuke can’t be happy with Zayn’s mistake that ultimately cost him his championship.

This Week in WWE History – Love looking back especially when we get a Rock vs. Mankind empty arena match from 1999’s Super Bowl to look back at. Halftime Heat was really cool back in the day!

What we didn’t like:

Super Smackdown? – I get that FOX wants to make sure that we know that they have the Super Bowl on FOX Sunday, but there’s was nothing really SUPER about this Smackdown. Good, but not great and no real surprises like we had on RAW earlier in the week. A pair of rematches from past Smackdowns and the Royal Rumble does not make a Friday night SUPER my friends. Next week, we get the return of the Dirt Sheet with Miz & Morrison and Firefly Funhouse.

Parting shots:

I know the Road to WrestleMania is just starting, but I wonder if we’ll get exits including The Undertaker or Ronda Rousey this year. Eventually, I’m sure, we’ll get the very final sighting of the Dead Man, but will it be in Tampa, Saudi Arabia or somewhere else in 2020. As for Rousey, I’d love to see her back, although it seems unlikely according to her social media game.

Welcome to RAW Tom Phillips. It was good to hear him replace Vic Joseph as the voice of Monday Nights. Nothing against Joseph, but Phillips is a bit more energetic for my tastes. Not so sure we needed a return of Byron Sexton though. Phillips and the King would be just fine IMHO.

WrestleMania card (confirmed to date): WWE Championship – Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots and Red Sox fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND!