by Josh Silverberg | Dec 28, 2020 | General
The Wrestling world got a shock the night after Christmas with the sudden news of Jon Huber (Brodie Lee) passed away at the sudden age of 41. This hurts so much on so many levels. Huber was a star on both WWE as a member of the “Wyatt Family,” as well as the leader of “The Dark Order” in AEW. The amazing thing is everybody from all the major and even minor companies had a beautiful thing to say about Huber.
Most people said how amazing a family man he was and loved them more then anything in the world. Others stated how he helped them along the way. The common factor you read though is how amazing of a person he was.
I remember watching Huber in one of my favorite wrestling groups of all time “The Wyatt Family” and always thinking how underrated this guy is. I mean he was a top 25 singles wrestler according to Pro Wrestling Illustrated” in 2015. He was so entertaining to watch, and I remember when he had his singles run winning the Intercontinental Championship in 2014 and thinking this is a guy who has both the skill and charisma in his character to make it work.
His tag team specialty was a plus. He won the Tag Titles in “WWE” twice. Once with Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton. The other with Erick Rowan as the “Bludgeon Brothers.” in 2018. He also had won the NXT Tag Team Titles once with Rowan as well. He was a Tag Team specialists in NXT, and WWE.
When he got to “All Elite Wrestling. It was a shock to everyone. People heard rumors, but didn’t know if they would be true. He had become “The Exalted One.” He was the new leader of “The Dark Order.” His biggest accomplishment in short time with them was winning the “TNT Championship” on an episode of “Dynamite.” He also had a standout match at “Double Or Nothing” against Jon Moxley for the AEW Heavyweight Championship. He really left his mark in AEW.
It’s such an unfortunate event and just another downer for 2020. Everyone would love to give the thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Mr. Huber. He was someone who had so much left in this business and to his family as well. He will be forever missed. His family should be very proud of what he was able to accomplish in such a short period of time.
by Josh Silverberg | Dec 9, 2020 | General
When Sting showed up in AEW, I have to say I wasn’t surprised, but I still marked out as every fan did. If you didn’t I don’t think you have any feelings. It was the secretive way it was done that made it perfect. You didn’t know if the rumors were true, but they were. When he showed up on “Dynamite” last Wednesday, the rivalries and work he can do were endless.
Working with Darby Allin? A match with Chris Jericho or Dustin Rhodes? Helping Cody? You can’t tell me the this can’t work. Now, I’ve been a Sting fan forever. He is my favorite of all time, so I might be a little bias, but lets face it, his WWE run was trash. He shouldn’t have lost to Triple H at “Wrestlemania 31” and it was heartbreaking to see him get hurt against Seth Rollins at “Night of Champions.” But WWE never did right by him. In my opinion, his loss to Triple H was one of the worst booking decisions not just in WWE history, but in wrestling as well. They had him come in and lose every big match he had.
I don’t want to hear that it had nothing to do with him in WCW. That is a bold face lie. People say well Goldberg got big wins. That’s because he signed with WWE after WCW went under, and Sting had reservations of signing with WWE and rightfully so. Vince McMahon had no idea what he was doing with Sting. He should’ve given him that match at Mania, but he didn’t want a WCW guy who didn’t want to sign with WWE win the match over one of his top guys, as well as his son-in-law.
Him joining AEW gives Sting the chance to go out on his own terms, and his fans a chance to see him get the proper respect he deserves. Let him decide what he wants to do. He’s earned the right inthis business. The fact that Sting also signed a full time multi year deal shows he’s in this for long haul.Now, I don’t think he will be wrestling every week, but you can have him as a manager, as well as be a guy backstage to guide the young talent much like the Undertaker has done in WWE. Sting has the same respect level from the other superstars in this business.
His knowledge of wrestling inside and out of the ring is endless. He’s been doing this for so long, but he’s also worked for other companies as well such as WCW, WWE, IMPACT, New Japan andothers. He now has added AEW to his resume. I think you’ll see this workout extremely well and a big credit to Tony Khan for giving a legend what he wants. We all are winners here. It’s a win for Sting, AEW, and the fans. So, cheers to you Icon. You deserve this.
by Josh Silverberg | Feb 19, 2020 | General
What an amazing show top to bottom by NXT. Triple H said it best when we he applauded the fans for really bringing the energy, and I’m with him on that. I also believe this is the deepest roster NXT has produced. Top names were missing from the card, which shows how far this roster can go with talent. Every match really brought it Saturday night.
The opening contest was as good as it gets with Keith Lee continuing his feud with Dominik Dijakovic for the North American Championship and you knew right off the bat the energy was going to be brought. Ending the night with Adam Cole retaining the NXt heavyweight championship from Tommaso Ciampa in the main event brought down the road to NXT Takeover Tampa.
The crazy thing is Triple H said that will be the best card yet. Better then Portland? That might be a hard one to top. From Charlotte Flair accepting Rhea Ripley’s challenge for Wrestlemania to Johnny Gargano turning on Ciampa at the end of the match to cost him the championship belt. Finn Balor and Gargano wrestled a clinic and now questions are starting to arise. Who will challenge Cole in Tampa? What’s next for Balor? Does Ripley have a match the night before Mania? What match will Gargano and Ciampa continue the feud? How does Tegan Knox and Dakota Kai continue their feud? Can anyone take down Keith Lee in the future? Not to mention who will fight the Broserweights for the tag team championship after an unbelievable bout vs Undisupted Era to take the gold.
The beauty is we have time to figure this all out. Talent such as Killer Kross, Velveteen Dream, Timothy Thatcher and Austin Theory I am sure will play a role as well. One thing remains, NXT’s roster is as good as it’s ever been.
by Josh Silverberg | Feb 11, 2020 | General
An exciting season is supposed to be happening this summer. Problem is the Mets find a way to Met it up. Reports came about that according to Bloomberg News the Mets will be going to an open bid and the highest bidder will now get full control of the team. The question is why couldn’t Steve Cohen just get full control?
We read from December till now that a handshake agreement was put in place and it would be a five year plan before Cohen took control. But ownership, namely Jeff Wilpon, found a way to sabotage it all. Just another unfortunate situation for a Mets team that has high hopes going into this season.
Now the question is who will take control of this situation? We know they’ve hired adults to run this now in “Allen and Company.” An investment bank has now taken charge in the process. Even though Jeff’s son works for them.
SNY, which is the cash cow of the organization yet won’t be for sale. This would be the third time the Mets are up for sale. In 2011 David Einhorn had agreed to purchase the team only for the Wilpon’s to back out. The question remains, can these guys be trusted?
We know the Wilpon’s need the money and can’t afford to have this investment anymore, but the fan base needs them gone. This has past them by. They can’t afford to keep the Mets in the state they’re in. They can’t keep acting like a small market team in a big market.
by Josh Silverberg | Feb 3, 2020 | General, National Football League
Did the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super bowl or did Kyle Shanahan give it to them? We can go on and on about who was to blame for the San Francisco 49ers loss in Super Bowl 54 Sunday to the Kansas City Chiefs. Lots of factors played into it, and of course will give the credit to Patrick Mahomes and company. But the guy who should be at the head of the blame game table belongs to the head coach. Shanahan has now been on the wrong end of two of the biggest comebacks in Super Bowl history. He was the offensive Coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons debacle where they blew a 28-3 loss to the New England Patriots, and the Falcons have still never recovered. People said he got to conservative and didn’t do enough to win when New England grabbed momentum. Super Bowl 54 played out the same way.
Let’s start with clock management. Right before the half, the 49ers defense had gotten Mahomes and the Chiefs to punt the ball. With all three timeouts left, Shanahan decided let’s not use them. What was he saving them for? He had over a minute left on the clock to make something happen. Jimmy Garoppolo had been dominant in the two minute offense all year. So why all of a sudden change up what made you successful? They wound up throwing a deep ball to Tight End George Kittle, but was called back for a questionable offensive pass interference. After that Shanahan said he was content going into the half tied at 10. Even his GM John Lynch was showing signaling for Shanahan to call for a timeout. What does that tell you?
Not having the confidence in his offense was on display when his team had momentum and on a fourth and two, he decided to kick a field goal to go up 13-10 rather than going for it. His running attack had been thriving for the game and they had two very reliable backs in Raheem Moster and Tevin Coleman, not to mention a strong, and likely best fullback in the game in Kyle Juszcyk. Even doing trickery with Deebo Samuel would’ve been wise. The 49ers had plenty of options. So why not go for it and keep the ball in your offenses hands rather than give it back to Mahomes and keep Kansas City in the game? You had a chance to end it early, but instead you kept the Chiefs in the game.
RUN! RUN! RUN! That should’ve been the advice Shanahan should’ve been giving his offense. Instead as the running attack had done well all game, he put the ball in Garappolo’s hands. I thought he could handle it, but didn’t think Jimmy G had to even throw it. He didn’t play his best game and when the score was 20-17, Mostert got a five yard run on first down and instead of continuing to dominate on the ground and chew up more clock, and he elected to let Garoppolo throw it. Incomplete passes would only stop the clock and let Mahomes have his moment. The last two drives were a disaster for the 49ers. By the time Shanahan had confidence in his quarterback, the team lost all momentum. Two weeks ago, in the NFC Championship game, against the Green Bay Packers the run worked. So why all of a sudden are you jumping off of something that was helping?
Many other reasons unfolded, such as the 3rd and 15 completion against the stacked Niners defense, or Garoppolo missing Emanuel Sanders wide open at the end of game. Missed tackles played a role for the Niners defense too. You can also blame the refs for plenty of missed calls. But the one truth remains, and that’s Kyle Shanahan once again chocked away another Super Bowl. The 49ers will be back, but can this guy be the leader to a championship? We shall see.
