Hi, hello & welcome to News From Cook’s Corner! It’s been a pretty wild week for my sports teams. I hate to say it, but it’s become pretty evident that my Cincinnati Reds aren’t very good. We were able to sugarcoat it for awhile, but then people got hurt and the lack of depth in the organization became an issue. When you can’t have any faith in anybody below third in the batting order, it’s not a good sign. When your alleged best starting pitcher has an ERA over 7 after two months, it’s not a good sign. Don’t get me started on Eugenio Suarez, he’s been a complete disaster so far this season.

I’ve at least got one more week of sporting entertainment though. My Nashville Predators have defied the odds and made it a 2-2 series with the great Carolina Hurricanes. It took two double overtime games at home, but the Preds are hanging in there somehow against one of the best teams of recent memory. I was expecting a four game sweep because Jeremy Lambert told me that’s what was going to happen, but it’s actually become a series.

Oh, and I’ve got my second shot coming tomorrow. So we’ll see what that does to me. I do plan on doing a Fave Five column this week, with a different twist, but that depends on how I’m doing after the shot. Until then, here’s a little bit of news!

AEW on TBS

Well guys, turns out I was wrong on this one.

I spent months telling people how the NHL Wednesday night time slot didn’t really matter that much and wouldn’t affect our precious pro wrestling. Whether it was WWE NXT on USA, or AEW Dynamite on TNT, I figured it wasn’t a big deal. Surely, the NHL could air on a different night on USA? Or, maybe the NHL would be happy on TBS for Wednesday night?

Nah. As it turns out, AEW Dynamite will be moving to TBS in 2022

I’ve been trying to figure out where I went wrong on my analysis, as I’m widely considered the foremost expert when it comes to pro wrestling & hockey. After much contemplation, I’ve decided it must have something to do with the fact that I’m a Nashville Predators fan. See, NBC has never been particularly interested in airing Predators games, even a few years ago when we went to a Stanley Cup Final and employed P.K. Subban at the height of his popularity. (Poor guy, went to New Jersey and now he might as well be in the witness protection program. He still dating Lindsey Vonn? *Googles* Ah, that’s a touchy subject right now.)

So I never had much interest in watching NBCSN’s Wednesday Night Hockey, especially after Wednesday became a destination night for pro wrestling. Apparently, it’s this super huge deal that needs to continue with the new TV contract, so there ya go.

AEW gets moved to TBS, but it’s not all bad. The Observer reported that the company received an eight figure fee increase to move the show. They’ll also get four special events per year on TNT, which won’t be called “Clash of the Champions” but will serve the same general purpose. We also got confirmation on their long-awaited third hour, which will be called Rampage & air Friday nights at 10 PM starting on August 13. It’ll start on TNT before moving over to TBS with Dynamite in 2022.

As far as TBS vs. TNT goes, it’s pretty much a lateral move. TBS is available in slightly more homes, but TNT gets better ratings largely due to the NBA. AEW should get better lead-ins to Dynamite on TBS if they’re still airing Big Bang Theory re-runs during the 7:00 hour, those do much better than the random movies TNT throws on.

All in all, it’s good news for AEW. There are two hang-ups I see that could be an issue. Not deal-breakers, but could cause problems.

1. Friday at 10 PM?

Not the greatest time slot of all time, especially now that people want to have social lives again. I don’t, but a lot of people do. There’s also the matter of going on right after SmackDown, which you have to figure WWE will try to counter in some fashion. Meltzer says WWE is less likely to do so now than they would have been months ago, but I think it’s something to keep an eye on.

2. People are used to things being on one channel

I used to undersell this as an issue back in the 2000s when WWE would change TV channels every so often. Why couldn’t people figure out what channel something is on? Here in 2021, I get it. There are a lot of TV channels out there. If you move, there’s a chance people get confused. Or they don’t change their DVR setting, lose track of the show and move on.

As a sports fan that has a hard time keeping track of what channel his favorite teams’ games are on more often than he should admit, I can see people not getting the TBS move over in their brain no matter how much it’s hyped. It shouldn’t be too hard for us old-timers that associate TBS with wrestling even moreso than TNT thanks to years of WCW’s assorted programming & Georgia Championship Wrestling, but the kids might not have that same base to work off of.

Again, these are small points, but still points worth noting. There’s also the matter of the TNT Championship, but that can be handled between now & then.

NXT Releases

It’s bad karma to celebrate people getting fired. So let’s talk about the NXT releases that we didn’t want to see.

Alexander Wolfe was a member of the Sanity faction that got over big in NXT then got killed off the second they made the main roster. He was kicked out of the Imperium faction after losing a match on the most recent NXT episode, so the writing might have been on the wall here. Dude got six years.

Ezra Judge got two years, and apparently a lot of people thought he would have a bright future due to his look. Dude looks like a wrestler. Dude never wrestled. I mean…we’ll see where he goes from here, but obviously WWE didn’t see him making much progress. Seems like a nice guy.

Brandi Lauren got a WWE name of Skyler Story, which she didn’t get to do much with. IWC people are telling me that she was with Joey Janela, but I’m not here to comment on that sort of thing. Last decade I got in trouble for writing off people that got with Matt Hardy, so I’m not here to comment on people getting with Joey Janela or anybody else. I mean, if I was trying to root out “Internet sources” I would get rid of people closely associated with Joey Janela. Not saying, just saying.

Vanessa Borne fell into the same catering hole that Chelsea Green fell into, minus the “Internet source” stigma Green carries with her. I feel like her best future doesn’t involve pro wrestling, which is likely for the best.

Jessamyn Duke was part of the MMA Four Horsewomen. She never quite got the pro wrestling like Ronda Rousey or Shayna Baszler did, and she didn’t marry a wrestler like Marina Shafir did. Did I just type that?

There are two people whose name I don’t recognize at all: Kavita Devi & Jake Clemons. I could lie and say that I remember their random stints, but I do not. Just being honest I wish them well.

Then, there are Drake Wuertz & the Velveteen Dream.

Drake Wuertz and Velveteen Dream to the unemployment line pic.twitter.com/y3gaVsPF2E

— Soundwave (@LocalSoundwave) May 20, 2021

I didn’t say that. That darn New Jack just telling people things. I didn’t say nothing about Drake’s deranged beliefs, or Dream’s proclivities that certain folks in NXT management kept enabling. Didn’t say a word! I’m just saying it’s about time WWE divorced themselves from both of those individuals, and to keep up the good work.

Zombies = Money

In case you weren’t with us last week, WrestleMania Backlash was a widely praised show with one exception: the Zombie Lumberjack Match pitting The Miz against Damian Priest. It was in partnership with Netflix’s movie “Army of the Dead” featuring Dave Bautista, which I might think of watching if I ever get two & a half hours without some wrestling or sports content, but will probably binge Wrestling Challenge instead.

The Zombie match was truly awful, with the added effect of Miz injuring his ACL and looking to miss extensive time. Who knew that ACLs were the favorite part for a zombie to eat? Priest didn’t exactly look like a future star, but none of that matters. As Ringside News reported, WWE got a cool seven-figure payday from Netflix to include some zombies on the show. On one hand, with the type of money WWE brings in, it’s not like they need to get more. On the other hand, most wrestling promoters I know would book zombies on their show for a three-figure payday.

F4WOnline reported the deal was made by Nick Khan, who seems to be making all the deals these days since Triple H & Stephanie McMahon are busy sending old wrestlers to shake people down for wrestling memorabilia. If you’re like me, you’ve noticed how NK seems to be at the heart of most of these WWE deals & decisions being made lately. It’s interesting.

Ospreay Vacates NJPW Championship

For the first time since 2009, New Japan’s top singles championship has been vacated. Will Ospreay suffered a neck injury during his match with Shingo Takagi at Wrestling Dontaku Night 2, and will be returning to his home country for treatment & rehabilitation. New Japan’s shows scheduled for this week are being held as originally planned, which is probably a good sign.

There’s been some rumor and innuendo that the gaijin New Japan workers haven’t been particularly happy with their lot during the pandemic. Which is understandable, it’s easy enough to get homesick when there isn’t a pandemic going on. Fit Finlay mentioned on a podcast with JBL & Gerald Brisco that his son David was thinking pretty hard about his future lately. Some websites jumped to the WWE conclusion, which I imagine would be an option, but that certainly remains to be seen. David’s team of FinJuice with Juice Robinson just dropped the Impact Tag Team Championship, they have gotten some American exposure recently, so it’ll be interesting to see if that leads to anything.

As for Ospreay, he says he’ll be fine given some time. I mean, Dave gave him like six stars with a bad neck, so I can only imagine how many he would get if he was healthy.

Thanks for reading! Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.