Sports
Electric Atmosphere At WWE Clash at the Castle Gets Dampened With Roman Reigns’ Win
WWE Clash at the Castle from Cardiff, Wales on Saturday night will go down as one of those events.
“Those” meaning a stellar must-see event with near-WrestleMania energy that remained that way until the ending of the main event—this time Roman Reigns against Drew McIntyre—which could leave things on a sour note.
The first major stadium event in the UK since 1992 and first pay-per-view in the UK since 2003, Clash at the Castle was an example of pro wrestling at its very best.
In front of an electric crowd, the six-woman tag match that started the show was fun and did much to propel Damage Control (Bayley, Dakota Kai, and Iyo Sky), the new hottest faction in WWE. Gunther and Sheamus predictably tore the house down with a bruising slugfest, and Liv Morgan continued her stellar run with a win over Shayna Baszler.
Unlike some other big event crowds in WWE, things only seemed to intensify from there. What could have been a “cool-down” match sandwiched between Morgan’s title bout and the two main contests to take the show to its conclusion was instead an outright show-stealer.
There, Edge and Rey Mysterio, with an assist from Dominik Mysterio, picked up a win in tag action over The Judgment Day. The match was great, but more important was WWE electing to use the platform to set up major stories for the immediate future: Dominik turning on Edge and his father, brutalizing them.
Those personal stakes only amplified in the clash between Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle, with the former capping off the feud in a classic match by goading his opponent into getting overly emotional, which cost him.
Rollins is The Architect, after all, and now we’ve got serious character development on the table for a maturing Riddle.
It almost looked as if nothing the main event could throw out would spoil the fun, too. WWE had a years-in-the-making-and-remembered-fondly-forever setup:
- A beloved babyface
- An intensely disliked heel
- The perfect location
- The perfect crowd
But the result? Reigns wins via interference (again), this time with Solo Sikoa pulling the interference pretty much out of nowhere.
Before the jaw-droppingly silly result and McIntyre then hamming it up by singing alongside Tyson Fury (after losing via shenanigans, no less), things were going great. There were no interferences, both men put on memorable spots and there were creative near-falls. Even the important storytelling of Theory attempting to cash-in unfolded in the perfect moment, only for Fury to end that from the sidelines. This was a Reigns match without the silly interferences and Paul Heyman there to guide him along.
Until it wasn’t, of course. The men put on a classic in what could have been an all-timer of a memorable result, but instead fans had to accept that even this special occasion just couldn’t rip the company from the plan.
And this is again the product of WWE booking with one goal in mind and everything else is filler when it comes to the main event scene. This is Reigns’ GOAT-making run and the company still has eyes for The Rock at WrestleMania 39 in Inglewood, California.
Problem is, everything before that sags under the weight of the holding pattern. And should Reigns beat The Rock (if it happens/he 100 percent will), nobody is a credible contender to upend him later. Even if it’s Cody Rhodes instead, at WM39 or some other point, nothing will match the energy, timing and moment that was Clash at the Castle. And WWE can’t say that has been the plan this whole time because the idea of Rhodes leaving All Elite Wrestling then was nonexistent.
While Sikoa’s addition to The Bloodline will make for some interesting pit stops at things like Survivor Series, the reality is Saturday’s result means a continued (mostly) part-time champion holding both belts.
One thing WWE has always struggled with is that all heat isn’t good heat and Reigns’ run might have just hit a breaking point from fans that it can’t recoup.
None of this is to say Clash at the Castle won’t be remembered by fans with a smile. But it’ll be of the WrestleMania 38 variety from earlier this year, which was a great show until a shrug-worthy main event between Reigns and Brock Lesnar with the understood ending.
The fact that fans went in expecting this sort of finish isn’t exactly a great look for WWE’s main event scene or even its biggest events. It’s a good thing, then, the rest of the card again delivered. And it’s another blinking signal to WWE brass that more international events in front of scalding-hot crowds like this are a no-brainer.
As much as Clash at the Castle delivered for the UK, the inverse is true, too. It’s that sort of synergy that makes an event a classic, to the point that even a colossal misfire of a show-ender can’t tarnish things too much.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury in U.S. District Court ordered the NFL to pay nearly $4.8 billion in damages Thursday after ruling that the league violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service.
The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class. Since damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could end up being liable for $14.39 billion.
The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV. The lawsuit claimed the league broke antitrust laws by selling its package of Sunday games at an inflated price. The subscribers also say the league restricted competition by offering “Sunday Ticket” only on a satellite provider.
The NFL said it would appeal the verdict. That appeal would go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then possibly the Supreme Court.
Should the NFL end up paying damages, it could cost each of the 32 teams approximately $449.6 million.
“We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the league said in a statement. “We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games, supplemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment.
“We will certainly contest this decision as we believe that the class action claims in this case are baseless and without merit.”
The trial lasted three weeks and featured testimony from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
“Justice was done. The verdict upholds protection for the consumers in our class. It was a great day for consumers,” plaintiffs attorney Bill Carmody said.
During his closing remarks, Carmody showed an April, 2017, NFL memo that showed the league was exploring a world without “Sunday Ticket” in 2017, where cable channels would air Sunday afternoon out-of-market games not shown on Fox or CBS.
The jury of five men and three women deliberated for nearly five hours before reaching its decision.
Judge Philip S. Gutierrez is scheduled to hear post-trial motions on July 31, including the NFL’s request to have him rule in favor of the league because the judge determined the plaintiffs did not prove their case.
Payment of damages, any changes to the “Sunday Ticket” package and/or the ways the NFL carries its Sunday afternoon games would be stayed until all appeals have been concluded.
The league maintained it had the right to sell “Sunday Ticket” under its antitrust exemption for broadcasting. The plaintiffs said that only covers over-the-air broadcasts and not pay TV.
Other professional sports leagues were also keeping an eye on this case since they also offer out-of-market packages. A major difference though is that MLB, the NBA and the NHL market their packages on multiple distributors and share in the revenue per subscriber instead of receiving an outright rights fee.
DirecTV had “Sunday Ticket” from its inception in 1994 through 2022. The league signed a seven-year deal with Google’s YouTube TV that began with the 2023 season.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2015 by the Mucky Duck sports bar in San Francisco but was dismissed in 2017. Two years later, the 9th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over California and eight other states, reinstated the case. Gutierrez ruled last year the case could proceed as a class action.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Olympic team is one of a handful that will supply air conditioners for their athletes at the Paris Games in a move that undercuts organizers’ plans to cut carbon emissions.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic CEO Sarah Hirshland said Friday that while the U.S. team appreciates efforts aimed at sustainability, the federation would be supplying AC units for what is typically the largest contingent of athletes at the Summer Games.
“As you can imagine, this is a period of time in which consistency and predictability is critical for Team USA’s performance,” Hirshland said. “In our conversations with athletes, this was a very high priority and something that the athletes felt was a critical component in their performance capability.”
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Germany, Australia, Italy, Canada and Britain were among the other countries with plans to bring air conditioners to France.
Olympic organizers have touted plans to cool rooms in the Athletes Village, which will house more than 15,000 Olympians and sports officials over the course of the games, using a system of cooling pipes underneath the floors.
The average high in Paris on Aug. 1 is 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit). The objective is to keep the rooms between 23-26 degrees (73-79 degrees Fahrenheit). The rooms will also be equipped with fans.
“I want the Paris Games to be exemplary from an environmental point of view,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has said about the plans for the Olympics.
According to the International Energy Agency, fewer than 1 in 10 households in Europe has air conditioning, and the numbers in Paris are lower than that. The study said that of the 1.6 billion AC units in use across the globe in 2016, more than half were in China (570 million) and the United States (375 million). The entire European Union had around 100 million.
The Olympics mark the most important stop on the athletic careers of the 10,500-plus athletes who will descend on Paris, which has led some high-profile countries to undercut environmental efforts for the sake of comfort.
“It’s a high-performance environment,” Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Strath Gordon explained to The Post.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers seemed determined to keep playing. And playing. And playing.
The teams opened their Eastern Conference final playoff series with Florida’s 3-2 victory in four overtimes early Friday, with the game ranking as the sixth-longest game in NHL history.
Matthew Tkachuk’s goal came at the 19:47 mark of the fourth OT to end this one, which marked the 15th four-overtime game in NHL history and the longest game in franchise history for each team.
The longest game in NHL history came on March 24, 1936, when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 in the sixth overtime on Mud Bruneteau’s goal at 116 minutes, 30 seconds of extra play.
Florida’s previous record for longest game was 104:31 in Game 4 of the 1996 Stanley Cup final against Colorado. Carolina’s previous record was 114:47 for Game 3 of the 2002 Stanley Cup final.
The only good news for the teams is they had an extended break before this series began. Carolina closed out New Jersey exactly a week earlier, while Florida eliminated Toronto a day later.
But this game ended roughly six hours after Thursday night’s puck drop, and the teams have a Game 2 in less than 48 hours.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
