Brock Lesnar in UFC is a Big Bet on the Beast Incarnate

Before Wrestlemania 31 the status of Lesnar’s WWE contract was heavily discussed as it was to end shortly after the event. Lesnar was the WWE Champions at the time booked to face Roman Reigns and the conclusion to the main event felt like a foregone conclusion. It was a conclusion that was dreaded as it meant an end to Lesnar being a special attraction in WWE. Lesnar went on ESPN Sportscenter shortly before Wrestlemania to announce that he would continue to wrestle.

"I'm officially closing the door on MMA," Lesnar said. "It was hard. I re-signed last night with the WWE.”

Six months later Lesnar was a guest on the Stone Cold Steve Austin podcast to discuss how those negotiations unfolded.

"I felt robbed by diverticulitis,” Lesnar said. “ I felt robbed by being sick. I was feeling good and it took me a couple years to start feeling good. I'm at home, I'm working out, my life is great, everything's in tune, my contract's coming to an end with WWE, hey it's been a great time but something's missing.”

The hunger for another fight in UFC was there for Lesnar but all signs pointed to the door closing on a return. So it was a huge surprise when it was announced last month that Lesnar would face Mark Hunt at UFC 200. Lesnar is still under contract with WWE and getting together a one-off special attraction like this would require all sorts of negotiations between UFC president Dana White and WWE owner Vince McMahon. UFC is betting that Lesnar will be a big draw and big enough headline for a show that just lost it’s main event between Jon Jones and Daniel Cromier due to Jones’ failing a PED test.

White shed light on these negotiations after UFC 200 weigh-ins, which WWE covered on social media and streamed on WWE.com. In post-weight in interviews White mentioned that negotiations occurred between Brock Lesnar’s team, White, McMahon and Triple H.

“Listen, Vince and I have had our ups and downs and Vince is a tough character to deal with. He's an animal. It's one of the things that I respect about him. I think he's loosened up a bit on the UFC," said White.

WWE is making a big bet by allowing Lesnar to fight at UFC 200. MMA has exploded in popularity and WWE is hoping for some crossover appeal. Lesnar’s ties to WWE cannot be ignored and the opportunity for promotion from UFC is the kind of rub that puts WWE more in the mainstream. When asked if UFC would promote the WWE, White said, “The fact that they did this, I wanted to reciprocate, so yes.”

It’s no coincidence that without any backstory, Lesnar was given an opponent for WWE’s Summerslam Pay-Per-View on this week’s episode of Smackdown. If UFC is going to promote WWE then it might as well promote the guy who is on both cards. WWE is betting on names alone here as there is no current backstory that would warrant such a feud.

WWE has to be hoping that Lesnar wins, too. A Lesnar win puts WWE over as a destination for world-class athletes. It’s an argument they can hold on to for a while before former WWE Champion CM Punk has his first fight in UFC at UFC 202.

Of course, Lesnar doesn’t care about any of this. Lesnar was asked if his performance at UFC 200 would affect his booking and his draw in WWE and he responded with, “I really don’t give a shit...This is about me living my life, being the person I want to be. I mean, granted, without the fans and everything, none of us would be able to do this and I get that. But I don't sit up at night wondering if my drawing power is going to be hurt [and] are my WWE fans going to tune and watch me do this. I don't give two shits about that. This is about me. I want to get in there and be an athlete again."

No doubt that Lesnar is betting big on himself too.

Kayfabe Trouble Away

The truth about PED usage in sports is that it is more common than tests yield and that many go to great lengths to beat testing. In the same summer that Maria Sharapova or members of the Russian Olympics team were popped for PED violations, it was announced last week that former WWE Champion Roman Reigns has tested positive for a banned substance and will serve a 30 day suspension.

The Reigns situation has seemingly been handled with preferential treatment. Less than 48 hours prior to the suspension he was carrying the belt. Sure, he lost it cleanly to Seth Rollins at the Money in the Bank Pay-Per-View (PPV), before Seth Rollins lost it to Dean Ambrose, but WWE had invested so much in trying to build Reigns as their next big thing. The timing of the Reigns loss opens up speculation as to when WWE knew about the violation.

The next day Reigns appeared on Monday Night Raw building a storyline inserting him into a match at WWE’s July PPV, Battleground, in which Reigns would face both Seth Rollins and current WWE champion Dean Ambrose in a title match.

Then next day the announcement dropped about the 30 day suspension, which conveniently ends before Battleground and will allow Reigns to still participate in the main event.

I apologize to my family, friends and fans for my mistake in violating WWE’s wellness policy. No excuses. I own it.

— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) June 21, 2016

Many speculated how this would be handled on-screen, if at all, and right out of the gate heel Seth Rollins weaved it into kayfabe with a worked shoot. Rollins claimed he wasn’t supposed to acknowledge the suspension and claimed that the Reigns suspension reflects upon him as former members of The Shield and asked for Reigns to be removed from the Battleground PPV title match. In Rollins’ characterization as a chicken-shit heel, advocating for Reigns to be ousted from the match is supposed to be seen as a tactic to benefit Rollins’ chances at winning the championship back and an acknowledgment that breaking the rules doesn’t matter.

Working babyface, Dean Ambrose came out to the ring and defended Reigns giving him a pass because his tweet owned up to his mistake and that he was welcome to Reigns still participating in the title match at Battleground.

In kayfabe, Reigns just made a forgivable mistake. In reality, WWE just let a top star get away with cheating so as not to harm their product.

These 30 days off the road are the only real consequence Reigns will face. Titus O’Neil was suspended for 60 days simply for unprofessionally grabbing Vince McMahon’s arm in a way that O’Neil thought was playful but the McMahon thought was inappropriate given the circumstances of happening right after Daniel Bryan’s retirement speech.

Once Reigns comes back the suspension may never be acknowledged again. He may still be afforded the opportunities to still headline PPVs and/or written a redemption story to help us all forget about violating the policy. Either way, WWE buried their policy in the process to continue to get Reigns over.

The Rare Double Turn

Game 6 of the NBA Finals will be remembered for the type of poor officiating you'd see in Pro Wrestling, but also for the rare double turn. Steph Curry has been both a literal and figurative babyface while LeBron James has been the most trolled talent for years now. Yet, in one game, heel Curry emerged and face LeBron was born. Now, heel and face turns are fairly common, but two competitors changing roles in the same match is much more rare. 

The most famous double turn occurred on wrestling's biggest stage at WrestleMania 13. Bret "Hitman" Hart faced Stone Cold Steve Austin in a submission match. Hart entered the match a face but left a heel when he put Austin in a submission hold until Austin passed out from the pain and loss of blood and the match was called. Hart lost his cool and continued to attack Austin leading to fans flip-flopping their allegiance from Hart to Austin and recognizing the gutsy performance Austin put on. 

Curry lost his cool tonight while LeBron put on a clinic. 

Curry's turn occurred with 4:22 remaining in the game when Curry was slapped with his 6th foul of the game and he wasn't happy about it at all. 

Curry tossed his mouth piece into the stands, hitting a fan sitting court side, and earned himself a technical foul and an automatic ejection.

Supporting the heel turn was Ayesha Curry, Steph's wife. Ayesha ripped the refs and accused the NBA of being rigged in a now deleted tweet. 

While this was happening, LeBron turned face by putting up 41 points and aggressively rejecting a Curry shot. 

Get your popcorn ready for Game 7. 

Random Gems

Cleveland took the floor at Game 6 to The Undertaker's theme song. 

LeBron James wore an Undertaker shirt at practice before Game 5. 

Whatcha gonna do, Gawker, when Hulkamania destroys you?

Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker is Hogan’s best program since his surprise heel turn at the 1996 Bash at the Beach and it looks like Gawker is finished after filing for bankruptcy today. The chokehold that has the media giant tapping out is a $140 million jury judgment in favor of Hogan. How we got here had all of the elements of the type of programming popular of wrestling’s golden age of the late 1990’s.

The feud started off between wrestling legend Hulk Hogan and Gawker. Hulk Hogan was filmed having sex with Heather Clem, then-wife of radio host and very short-lived TNA wrestling employee Bubba the Love Sponge, and Gawker published excerpts from the tape. Gawker has claimed this to be reasonable journalism as Hogan is a public figure. Thus began the grudge match.

Included in the entire 30 minute tape was a racist rant that resulted in Hogan no longer being mentioned or appearing on any current WWE properties. Hogan was no longer a clean babyface in this feud when this was released. The deplorable racism and half-hearted apology tour added nuance to Hogan’s character and allowed people to question his motives. Was Hogan only worried about this horrible part of the tape being released?

The crux of the case was the privacy of a public figure. At what point is Terry Bollea, a private citizen, and at what point is he Hulk Hogan.

 Hulk Hogan wearing his formal bandana in court. (Steve Nesius/Pool/Associated Press)

A 2006 interview on Bubba the Love Sponge’s radio show was brought to light in which Hogan implied that he was well-endowed.

Gawker attorney Michael Sullivan asked, “So you were discussing Hulk Hogan’s penis?”

“Yeah, because Terry Bollea doesn't have a 10-inch penis,” Hogan replied.

In a dedication to a character I haven’t seen since Val Venis in the Attitude Era, a wrestler promoted a kayfabe penis.

After throwing chops back in forth in the courtroom, the jury awarded Hogan with $115 million in compensatory damages and a bonus $25 million in punitive damages. Gawker is currently appealing this ruling.

But all good feuds continue for a few extra matches. Just when things were thought to be over, it was revealed that a higher power had pulling the strings backstage. Financing Hogan’s legal battle with Gawker was venture capitalist Peter Thiel. The grudge between Thiel and Gawker began around 2007 when Gawker media property Valleywag attempted to out him as gay.

Who knows if there’ll be another match or how this feud finally comes to an end but sometimes what happens outside of the ring can be just as interesting as what happens inside the ring.

Random Gems

These tweets hit the cutting room floor but are too good not to share.

Attorney: Do you follow wrestling?
Juror: “Yeah, when it was real back in the day." #hulkvsgawk

— Anna Phillips (@annamphillips) March 2, 2016

Attorney asks somewhat seriously if anyone was upset when Hogan slammed Andre the Giant or when he became "Hollywood Hogan" #hulkvsgawk

— Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) March 3, 2016

"HBK" is Dominating the Stanley Cup Playoffs

The Pittsburgh Penguins are being lead by an HBK of sorts. No, “The Heartbreak Kid” (HBK) Shawn Michaels, although this HBK has his attention, but rather the line of left wing Carl Hagelin, center Nick Bonino, and right wing Phil Kessel. The HBK line has been around for 29 games and Kessel has 30 points, Bonino has 28, and Hagelin has 24 in that period. This has caught the attention of WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels who tweeted about Game 2 of the Eastern Finals on May 16.

#GetHBKtoGame5 began to trend on Twitter as fans want Shawn Michaels to attend the next Penguins home game.

Michaels himself was invited by Brett Keisel of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Twitter.

I'll save a seat for you @ShawnMichaels

— Brett Keisel (@bkeisel99) May 19, 2016

An offer Michaels seems he may be accepting.

Well, @penguins fans, stay tuned!! Got an announcement for you tomorrow evening regarding 'ol Game 5 in the "Bur... https://t.co/Al1hFqjlzr

— Shawn Michaels (@ShawnMichaels) May 19, 2016

I'm sure Shawn Michaels has two words for the Penguins’ current opponent, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Beyoncé Pulled a Wrestling "Work" with Lemonade

The confusion over what is real is the new normal in modern professional wrestling. Kayfabe, the scripted reality, is now blurrier than ever as wrestlers have become stars of reality TV shows like E!’s Total Divas or through their own Twitter accounts that tweet sometimes as the character and sometimes as the actor. Wrestling even has its own version of tabloids in the myriad of wrestling blogs that report on backstage news and rumors that are often referred to as “dirtsheets.” So with all of this accessibility and fans believing they know more about what is happening than what is just being presented in the ring writers have found an exploit in skewing reality to better work the audience.

Celebrity tabloids have been alleging that Jay-Z cheated on Beyonce after TMZ published security footage of Solange Knowles, Beyonce’s sister, physically attacking Jay-Z inside an elevator. Beyonce and Jay-Z made pleas for privacy and stayed together. Yet, like the wrestling fans who read every dirtsheet and think they know what is happening behind closed doors, Beyonce and Jay-Z followers analyzed every public interaction between the couple and speculated on the health of their relationship. Their marriage has been tabloid fodder but fell off of mainstream coverage. This remained true until the release of Lemonade.

Unlike a traditional album release, Lemonade premiered through an HBO film of the same name with eleven segments: Intuition, Denial, Anger, Apathy, Emptiness, Accountability, Reformation, Forgiveness, Resurrection, and Hope and Redemption. Within the segments lyrics making reference to Jay-Z infidelity grabbed people’s attention.

If it was a work then it worked. As an unintended consequence, speculation that Jay-Z cheated on Beyonce with fashion-designer Rachel Roy lead Roy to cancel appearances and make her social media accounts private. Rachael Ray got caught in the crossfire just by having a similar sounding name.

Arising speculation that this is all a work is that Beyonce is in control of the narrative. Whatever is put out there is from her own doing. She is the creative backstage doing all the booking. It doesn’t help that new broke that Jay-Z is setting to release his own album addressing the rumors and telling his side. The couple that was set on having people respect their privacy are now airing their dirty laundry to everyone to sell albums and tickets. We’ve already address that Beyonce’s tactics to sell tickets seem to borrow from wrestling. Fans are being worked into believing the fiction she’s created or at least are conveniently forgetting that Lemonade ends with Hope and Redemption.

Mark Henry said it best after a work in which he teased a retirement, gave a speech, and then attacked John Cena to begin a feud. “Y’all a bunch of puppets.”

Was Prince a Wrestling Fan?

While Prince’s family has not been able to locate a will, a Minnesota judge appointed a special administrator, Bremer Trust, to find all of Prince's assets to determine how much Prince’s estate is worth. This means that Bremer has been given carte blanche to look into Prince’s long known secret vault that was known to contain unreleased tracks, memorabilia, and video. Bremer drilled into the vault this week and reports of the found items have concluded there’s enough music to release a new album every year for the next century. Of 99 things reported in the vault are a few wrestling related items. It shouldn’t be a surprise as many of these unreleased projects have been cataloged. Found in the vault:

Morris Day-narrated Koko B. Ware documentary film

Koko B. Ware’s theme from 1986 to 1987 was Morris Day’s “The Bird,” a song immortalized in Purple Rain.

Bockwinkel

Described as an “unreleased hard rock project” with fellow Minnesotan musician Bob Mould and named presumably after Nick Bockwinkel, famous 1970’s wrestler most famous for his work in Minnesota based American Wrestling Association and now immortalized in the WWE Hall of Fame. Bob Mould was once a writer for WCW in 1999.

The Undertaker

This name may be a coincidence and not wrestling related, but The Undertaker was a live recording originally intended to be packaged with 1,000 copies of Guitar Player magazine in 1994 until Warner Bros. stopped the release.

WWE paid a small tribute to Prince during the April 25 episode of Raw when The New Day cut a promo on The Vaudevillians. New Day’s Xavier Woods proclaimed that the winner of the Tag Team tournament sponsored by Booty-O’s would “party like it’s 1999.” The Vaudevillains, with their throwback gimmick, had member Aiden English clarify that when they won they would actually “party like it’s 1899.”

I can only speculate that Prince would have approved.

The Live! Screwjob

So here is the rundown. Michael Strahan is leaving Live! with Kelly and Michael to join Good Morning America. This is great news for Michael Strahan but puts co-host Kelly Ripa in a bind. Moreover, Kelly Ripa got the news about the move almost at the same time as the news was being made public to everyone. Kelly Ripa was left in the dark and then no-showed the next four shows. In essence, a company shit the bed in being transparent and communicative between co-workers. This probably happens at one point or another in every office in America in some fashion or the other but it becomes more intriguing when the drama plays out in public.

One workplace that occurs in plain view and requires just as much communication as TV co-hosts is Pro Wrestling. In the same manner that Kelly and Michael rely and trust each other to entertain their fans and stay on script, wrestlers know how a match is supposed to end and keep any beef they may have in the locker room and not in front of the TV cameras. When things don’t go as planned and the outcome of the match is switched without informing the loser, they call it a “screwjob.”

The most famous screwjobs occurred in November 1997 during WWF’s Survivor Series. At the time WWF was in direct competition with rival promotion WCW for TV ratings and talent. Then-WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret “Hitman” Hart signed a contract with WCW that was to begin once his WWF contract expired in December 1997. Hart presumably needed to lose the championship before leaving to another company and was booked in a title match against Shawn Michaels, whom Hart had beef with on and off-screen, at Survivor Series. Hart was not willing to drop the title to Michaels citing that he didn’t want to lose in his home country of Canada and so the scripted ending to the match was supposed to be a disqualification, which would allow Hart to retain the title and drop it at a later date. Without Hart’s knowledge the ending of the match was changed so that in a part of the match that had already been scripted and agreed upon by both competitors, the referee rang the bell as though Hart submitted at the order of WWF owner Vince McMahon. This gave Michaels the victory and the title and Hart erupted at ringside, destroying TV monitors and spitting on McMahon.

The fallout here is that fans who saw this all play out took sides. Opinions ranged from those who said Vince McMahon had to look out for his business and didn’t want a former star from his promotion appearing on a rival’s show with his promotion’s belt to those who feel that Hart should have been trusted to do the right thing after over a decade of loyal service to WWF.

The same conversation is happening with Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan. Ripa is accused of having a “total meltdown” or hot takes that this situation was sexist. Strahan supporters find that he’s doing what is best for his own personal business and doesn’t owe his co-host anything.

Now Strahan leaving the show on May 13, four months earlier than what was announced after a few fill-in hosts carried on a few shows where Ripa’s absence was the elephant in the room.

This may be good for ratings. After the Montreal Screwjob WWF surged into its highest level of popularity as it became more unpredictable. It’s possible that ratings may increase for the daytime talk show as people want to find cracks in both hosts’ relationship on-screen.

So did ABC screw Kelly Ripa? Or did Kelly Ripa screw Kelly Ripa?

Amber Rose's Emoji App Has A Goldust Emoji

WWE Superstar Goldust has been intertwined with Amber Rose as people have noted over the years that they often dress and look alike. So when Amber Rose launched her emoji app MuvaMoji, she included one emoji that was a direct homage to The Bizarre One. 

Goldust! 😍😍😍 I knew u would see this sooner or later Lol glad u like it! 😘😘😘😘😘 https://t.co/v7zU1Gh449

— Amber Rose (@DaRealAmberRose) April 7, 2016

The app is currently number one in the iTunes App Store and has reportedly made over $4 million in over a week. 

Amber Rose is currently feuding with Kim Kardashian, whose camp sees this app as a direct copy of Kim's Kimoji app. 

What's more bizarre: Amber Rose and Goldust or that celebrities have beef over branded apps?

Getting Future Endeavored

If there’s something WWE has done well consistently in the last decade it has been their ability to brand specific terms and phrases. Fans are referred to as the WWE Universe, wrestlers are WWE Superstars, along with every catchphrase and chant. The weirdest phrase to have gotten over with wrestling fans comes from the boilerplate line that ends all WWE press releases about a wrestler no longer being a WWE Superstar.

“We wish [WWE Superstar] the best in all future endeavors.”

It's much nicer than getting a kayfabe Vince McMahon, "You're fired" and it’s now a verb. In wrestling forums you’ll see discussions and speculation about who will be next to be “future endeavored.” WWE has even sold t-shirts with this phrase. 

Getting “future endeavored” from WWE used to be a death knell for many wrestlers’ careers, it’s now a career choice many are actively seeking. Rey Mysterio Jr. is now performing for Lucha Underground post release and his name recognition is drawing the El Rey show more viewership. Alberto Del Rio also made Lucha Underground a landing spot and made himself a more attractive draw for WWE to bring him back.

Which brings us to Wade Barrett, Del Rio’s League of Nations former stablemate, rumored to have some Bad News and is looking to be released in search of future endeavors. Stuck in mid-card hell and knowing he was a great young talent having anchored a stable of up-and-comers in Nexus when he first started in WWE to winning last year’s King of the Ring, the future is bright for him.

I have no idea if he’s been Brogue Kicked on his way out to being “future endeavored.” If this is Wade Barrett going out on his back then I am confident he’ll be a bigger star that before.

Sometimes being “future endeavored” is the Brogue Kick that sets people undervalued in organizations into the next level.

That One Time in 2008 When The Presidential Candidates Appeared on WWE Television

One magical Monday evening in the spring of 2008, Presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain recorded messages to be aired on WWE's flagship show, Monday Night Raw. Each candidate threw out their best attempts to appeal to wrestling fans by borrowing their lingo and altering famous wrestling catchphrases. It's as cringe worthy as hearing your parents say "Netflix and Chill." So here are those promos ranked:

Barack Obama

Only three wrestling references and they bookend his actual campaign stance. Remember that this is the 2008 Obama who didn't have the need to be on every podcast, talk show, or web series. This is the hope and change Obama with all the right charisma to end with, "Do you smell what Barack is cooking?" 

Hillary Clinton

Hillary references King of the Ring and Last Man Standing to play on the fact that she was the only woman running. She sprinkles in some generic phrases like "opening bell" and "go to the mat" to get her point across but then reaches when she talks about dropping The People's Elbow if needed.

John McCain

This one is just sad and has the most total references. John McCain tries his hand at The Rock's "Finally..." intro, as though people were really excited for the return of McCain. Then McCain borrows Ric Flair's, "To be the man, you gotta beat the man." Not even halfway into his promo does he coin the term "McCainiacs" a la Hulkamaniacs. He goes off the deep end and says that he'll put The Undertaker to beat down Osama Bin Laden. Finally, he screws up The Rock's "Do you smell..." with "Can you smell..." and closes with Stone Cold Steve Austin's "That's The Bottom Line..."

The Donkeys of Justice

There are two people who are essentially on the same team. They're competing against each other for fans and the top prize with one is expected victor due to support from the establishment. They have the look and the characteristics that makes them seem like the right person for the role. The other looks disheveled and is a little bit different but has garnered some of the loudest support. Right now the quest for a spot on the ballot for the Democrats in November's Presidential election is like the quest for members of the former WWE faction The Shield to headline Wrestlemania.

It's almost certain that Roman Reigns will be headlining Wrestlemania in the same way that it is almost certain that Hillary Clinton will be on the ballot. Both have strong family ties to their position, Clinton serving as first lady and Reigns coming from the same wrestling lineage as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. They have the look. They have the talent. But when it comes to the acceptance of the loudest voices on the internet, both are being rejected and seen as part of the establishment. Both are seen as having had their chance with Clinton having lost the bid in 2008 to Barack Obama and Reigns having headlined Wrestlemania last year and booked to lose as a way to appease the fans who booed his inevitable rise to the top. For the internet crowds they already had their shot and should move aside for their less conventional counterparts. 

The internet community is rallying behind Bernie Sanders the same way they're wrestling fan counterparts are rallying behind Dean Ambrose. Sanders and Ambrose represent the anti-establishment. They are easy to root for underdogs who represent a change from the status quo. They receive the same critiques about their appearance and notions that they may be a little crazy from their opposition. As the days advance it becomes more and more apparent that they are not going to be the ones on top. There are glimmers of hope like Sanders' margin of victory in Vermont or Ambrose getting a championship match in the last major card before Wrestlemania. There's enough hope to not give up on cheering. 

All the while some are clamoring for the unlikely situation of someone on the shelf to make a surprise run. Vice President Joe Biden elected not to run for president after dealing with the loss of his son. The third former member of The Shield is Seth Rollins, who left last year's Wrestlemania as the surprise champion and forfeited his title after suffering a torn MCL and ACL injury this past fall. Both are unavailable but it hasn't stopped the occasional pondering of what if. 

The cynical viewpoint of it all is that politics and wrestling feel like the outcomes are predetermined. Both people and wrestling fans want to feel like their voices matter but that donations and booking committees have created a disparity. The optimist view is that there is a democracy in play that allows people to cast a vote for candidates and for crowds to show the booking committees who they like through cheers and merchandise sales. 

The only thing to do is just keep watching. They may have to team up to defeat a mega heel in Donald Trump. 

Clean Finishes Are My Jam

The 2016 NBA Slam Dunk Contest provided one of the rarest forms of competition you will ever see, a clean match with a clean finish. 

So much of the narrative of competitions, in sports and sports entertainment, takes the typical face vs. heel dynamic. Two faces going up against each other with no animosity towards each other and obeying the rules is clean. A victor emerging without either sides turning heel and without outside factors or interference is the cleanest it will ever get. Throw in nearly flawless execution into the mix and it is possibly one of the rarest things you will ever see. Not even Kevin Hart commentary or the appearance of a Hoverboard could ruin it. 

Zach LaVine successfully defended his title his 2015 Slam Dunk Contest Championship against Aaron Gordon in Toronto on Saturday in a battle that took a double overtime to decide. LaVine received a perfect score of 200, edging out Gordon's 197. 

What determines a great match is its staying power. The All-Star Game is the main event the skills competitions are in support of. And rather than still talking about the Kobe send off or Paul George coming close to breaking the record for the most points scored in an All-Star Game, reports are still coming in about the dunks. 

One is the report that Zack LaVine had more left in the tank. 

Jordan Clarkson said Zach LaVine has a double through-the-legs dunk that he didn't bust out: "It's like a video game."

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) February 17, 2016

Another is ESPN Sport Science dissecting the physics of the jams. 

This budding feud has made the Slam Dunk Contest a must see again and the 2017 contest can't come soon enough. Anything can happen between now and then. But this feud is dying for a payoff. If it's just as clean it will be transcendental. 

Donald Trump is the Master of Getting Cheap Heat

A man goes up to a microphone, says horrible things that pisses off a crowd of people, he smirks through it all, and even makes on the fly comments about the crowd's reaction almost egging more of it on. I've either described a Pro Wrestling bad guy, or heel, or a Presidential candidate. 

In Pro Wrestling, we have the understanding that these are all actors playing a part. Why is it not any different from politics? Politicians poll and search for what resonates with their supporters with the goal of netting more. There's nothing authentic about what they are saying. 

My favorite example of this has been Donald Trump.  He is no stranger to the world of Pro Wrestling having hosted and participated in a few Wrestlemania's and an inductee of the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame.

Wrestling is based upon the idea of a face versus a heel. One way to determine a heel is by what they say on the microphone. Heels usually go for a large common denominator like mock the local sports team to get a negative reaction, or heat. 

Trump has said some very reprehensible things like suggesting that Mexicans are rapists. And while we like to think that this is a universally deplorable thing to say aloud in mixed company, it's simply the act of getting cheap heat and continuing to grab the headlines. 

In wrestling, any reaction is better then no reaction and no reaction is a surefire way of getting kicked off the card. The only way to make someone like Donald Trump go away is to take away the power of their cheap heat by just not reacting.

Beyoncé Went Into Business For Herself

The phrase "going into business for yourself" in wrestling refers to making someone else look bad at the expense of your opponent. Coldplay was the headlining band and all promotion of the halftime show gave Coldplay top billing. While she was clearly in a three-member tag team during the Super Bowl 50 halftime show, people on social media would have you believe that you could love some but not all between Coldplay, Bruno Mars, and Beyoncé.

Super Bowl 50 was built around nostalgia - it's the granddaddy of them all. Commemorative beer cans and changing the NFL logo to gold all season were promos for this. The inclusion of Bruno Mars and Beyoncé supported that as they were both former Super Bowl halftime performers who could help appeal to a wider demographic. 

Beyoncé's performance didn't support this narrative. Her politically fueled performance highlighted some of the uglier parts of the past 50 years. It wasn't the love fest that was scripted.  

Almost immediately after her performance she announced her tour, overshadowing LiveNation's ad highlighting Coldplay's upcoming North America tour. 

She didn't put Coldplay over. Instead she's gone on to state in interviews that she'd turned down songs written by Coldplay's Chris Martin for not being to her liking. 

When the nostalgia story was heavy handed, Coldplay  sang most of the lyrics in their homage to Beyoncé's "Independent Women."

She needs to make nice and take Coldplay to Red Lobster. 

The Super Bowl is the NFL's WrestleMania

Super Bowl 50 just concluded with the Denver Broncos defeating the Carolina Panthers. It's the biggest game of the NFL season and this year the game was played at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. However, the previous April Levi's Stadium also hosted WWE's marquee event, WrestleMania. To provide an analogy, WrestleMania is simply the WWE's Super Bowl. Just like the Super Bowl, a ton of people go and a ton of people watch the broadcast. If you don't believe me, just check out how different Levi's Stadium is for both events.

SUPER BOWL 50

WRESTLEMANIA 31

WWE quotes that nearly 77,000 people attended last year's WrestleMania at Levi's Stadium and quotes it as a Levi's Stadium attendance record. Figures aren't available yet to determine if that record has been broken by the Super Bowl. Regardless, it's a silly record given that Levi's Stadium has only been in operation since 2014.

WrestleMania 32 is coming up in April 3 and will be held at the home of the Dallas Cowboys and former Super Bowl venue AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Everything is bigger in Texas and the size of AT&T Stadium has lead to WWE coining WrestleMania 32 as the biggest WrestleMania ever without having sold out yet or put any actual butts in a seat yet. They're hoping to shatter the previous WrestleMania attendance record of over 90,000 people set by WrestleMania 3 in 1987. 

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seems to be excited by any coverage his AT&T Stadium can get and earlier this year hosted WWE CEO Vince McMahon and WWE Superstar (and McMahon's son-in-law) Triple H at a recent Cowboys game. 

TRIPLE H, JERRY JONES, AND VINCE MCMAHON

The NFL season may be in the books but the run up to WrestleMania is just getting started.