April 2, 2023 News and Notes

• I don't think they're going to get fined for this one.  There was a court-storming after one of the games of the Final Four.  San Diego State defeated Florida Atlantic in a classic with a buzzer-beater jump shot.  After the game, both Petco Park and SDSU's Viejas Arena erupted at the victory, and students at the San Diego State arena stormed the court.
• It appears the shit is about hit the fan.  After Donald Trump is arraigned on Tuesday, he plans to go in front of the media.
• A Liga MX official is under investigation for angrily kneeing a dissenting player in the groin after the player demanded a VAR review.  He cards the player, the player is in his face, the ref knees him in the junk.  Send him off for abuse and be done with it!  That's TWICE now the referees/umpires, in the name of The Show Must Go On, did fire-able offenses when they should've ended games/thrown people out of games/etc.
• To wit, in an interview with umpire-school YouTube channel Close Call Sports, the referee suspended for that egregious Fuck You Strike Three in college ball earlier this year claims racial abuse from the crowd.
• Wrestlemania 39 Night One (for the record, I saw it pirated -- FUCK YOU VINCE!):
• Austin Theory defeats John Cena to retain the WWE US Championship.  ... and, once again, Vince and the like tell the fans that the people they cheer are IDIOTS, making the fans idiots by extension.  Cena throws the Five Moves, ref bump, crossface/STFU, Theory taps, Cena thinks he's won.  As long as Cena has been around, he should know better.  Low blow, A-Town Down, and nobody gets over with that garbage.  Match was also slow as well.  Maybe * 1/2.
• The Street Profits won the Intuit Turbotax Wrestlemania Men's Tag Team Showcase over three other teams.  Spot, Spot, Spot, eight and a half minutes, cash your paychecks.  Don't get me wrong, but this show went the better part of three and a half hours and some of the breaks were INTERMINABLE. At least one can say it was exactly what it said on the tin.  **, higher if you like short spotfests.
• Seth Rollins defeated Logan Paul by Stomp and Pinfall.  UGH.  And not because of the in-ring -- they certainly tried.  But a combination branding moment with the energy drunk Paul is promoting and fellow YouTube fighter KSI (KSI in a large energy drink mascot costume interferes in the match and eventually takes a splash from Rollins on the outside...) is several notches down for me.  ** 1/2 for the attempt.
• Trish Stratus, Lita, and Becky Lynch defeat Damage CTRL by pinfall.  A bit botchy, and what do you do with Bayley and Damage CTRL now.  Sasha's already gone, and, the way Damage CTRL is getting booked, it may be time for Bayley to follow.  ** 1/2.
• The card definitely picks up, though, right around here.
• Battle of the Mysterios goes to Rey as Judgement Day interference backfires as Rey's New LWO ensures Rey gets the 619 and splash on his son Dominik.  Solid match, good storytelling -- yes, mother and sister were in the front row and the sister took a cup of water to the face by the disrespectful bitch Dominik -- who, for effect, was brought in in handcuffs from the back of a police gurney in his entrance.  Going to be interesting to see what goes from here.  *** 1/2.
• Rhea Ripley is the new Smackdown Women's Champion with a pinfall victory off an avalanche Riptide from the top on Charlotte Flair.  Maybe a bit too baby-facey on this victory for the "bad girl" 2023 Royal Rumble winner -- this did seem to have the Stephanie McMahon "Woman Power" Stamp Of Approval...  And there may be a serious believability issue in getting the belt off a triple-threat beast like Ripley, but nothing to complain about in this match.  ****, maybe even **** 1/2.
• In the classic "Miz Eats Shit" spot:  Pat McAfee answers an apparent open challenge by Wrestlemania host The Miz and beats him in four minutes by NFL Punt (to the shoulder, to be fair) and pinfall.  In a rare moment, it is true in this case:  I was sports-entertained by this one.  A lot of people may not like Mike Mizanin, the former "Real World" participant, but damn has he blossomed in WWE -- and he's the perfect "Eat Shit" guy in this context.  And McAfee, for limited training, etc., is that damn good.
• And, in a rare "Feel Good Moment the WWE did allow", the main event of Night 1 saw Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, two talents from the Pro Wrestling Guerilla independent in Los Angeles (and yes, Zayn's masked El Generico from PWG was referenced by the commentary), defeated Jimmy and Jey Uso for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championships.  But I'm going to only give it about *** 1/2.  I do think the match was quite overdone, especially in the "they may have to stop the match because of the Uso Penitentiary Beatdown" spots.  The real interesting thing is going to be, however, what happens with the apparent upcoming sale of the WWE -- Sami Zayn is immediately GONE if the Saudis, as favored, buy the company.  Zayn is part-Syrian and uses that to promote a Syrian hospital charity and does not take part in the Saudi events.
• WWE claimed about 81,000.  Sources say it was more like 67,000 at SoFi -- it was basically a complete sellout.
• Some other Wrestlemania-week news:
• Latest "Transphobic Bitch To Be Cancelled From Professional Wrestling":  WWE Hall of Famer Rick Steiner was expelled and permanently banned from Highspots' Wrestlecon after a transphobic incident during Friday's dealer's hall against IMPACT Wrestling's Jordynne Grace.  Really, asshole?  And on Transgender Day of Visibility no less...  ("Vengeance" and perhaps "Violence" were squelched by the Tennessee shooting...)
• A couple more comments:  You'd think that the big-mouthed shithead of the brothers in this would actually have been roid-freak Scott!
• And as more people get outed as bigots and transphobes and #SpeakingOut and all of this, at what point is some skeezy promoter going to decide to actually counter-program a convention with these types?
• And it was so bad that it may have seriously damaged the career of his son, Bron Breakker in NXT.  Breakker was the NXT Champion entering a match on Saturday morning at the Staples Center "Stand and Deliver" event against Carmelo Hayes.  Breakker was the good guy, but Hayes was the one getting many cheers, including the "yay"s in the Yay-Boo strike-exchange spot.  And, even though Trick Williams blatantly interfered in the match and Hayes won the NXT Championship as a result, Breakker did the respect spot (in what made no sense otherwise -- not only would it seem Breakker has a rematch coming, but a "Beat The Shit Out Of Trick" match as well!!!) afterward.  That incident with his father Rick may have seriously damaged him, because that familial tie is a MAJOR part of Breakker's character arc!
• Talking possibly "Curtain Call"-level damage.  In that Bron is either going to be depushed or taken off television and retooled for a number of months, rather than go straight to the main or additional time with the NXT title.
• And for the record:  None of this is to imply that Bron is to blame.  However, a lot of Bron's push is that he's Rick's son -- and there's a family resemblance.
• Speaking of transphobia:  Gender-fluid/orientation-fluid "Daddy" EFFY had his sixth "Big Gay Brunch" on Saturday noon, as one of the last cards of a weekend full of independent wrestling events ancillary to Wrestlemania.  After another Game Changer Wrestling deathmatch main event where he and two partners won after one of the opponents turned on his (kayfabe!) homophobic "master" (the gimmick was that the little shit who was the "master" said that the only reason the Big Gay Brunch drew flies was that a straight man headlined it -- him!!!), EFFY gave an impassioned plea to the full house in Los Angeles to take the positive energy from the Big Gay Brunch and use it to aid the transgender community.
• A couple of the names who had very busy weekends in LA Wednesday-Saturday:  "Speedball" Mike Bailey had ten matches.  AAA Mega Campeon El Hijo del Vikingo parlayed his national exposure against Kenny Omega into several high-profile matches on the weekend.