Category: News

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

The Last Dance (Netflix) — If you missed this gripping docuseries on ESPN, you can catch it now on Netflix. The show takes a deep dive into Michael Jordan’s time with the Chicago Bulls, specifically the team’s 1997-98 season, which saw them chasing a sixth NBA title. So much goes down in the span of 10 episodes — from Jordan’s gambling addiction to Scottie Pippen’s departure and Dennis Rodman’s wild, unsanctioned Vegas vacation — you’ll probably be glued to your screen once you start. Plan accordingly.

I May Destroy You (HBO, 9:00 p.m.) — Still struggling to finish her book and desperate for money, Arabella takes a job helping Theo with a vegan delivery start-up. This prompts Terry to air her concerns over their deepening friendship, but only after she throws a birthday celebration that forces Kwame to go to extremes to avoid reminders of his own sexual assault.

The Arena (TNT, 8:00 p.m.) — NBA greats Charles Barkley, Dwyane Wade, and Draymond Green give fans a different kind of pre-game chat, discussing everything from the COVID-19 outbreak to Black Lives Matter.

The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons – Ever! (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) — The show looks back on Brad Womack’s two-season-spanning journey to find love which began with a physical confrontation and ended with a shocking double-elimination.

First of all, welcome back to Pro Wrestling coverage on Uproxx. We don’t have our own vertical anymore, but I’ll still be here from time to time under the Uproxx Sports banner to talk about the big shows and whatever else needs to be talked about. It won’t be the same without the open threads and results and countless news posts, but, all things considered, change can be a good thing and I’m happy to be back on this website, covering my favorite pseudo-sport.

This week, the thing I’m the most excited to talk about is Slammiversary 2020. Some of you may remember two years ago when I sent the wrestling internet into an uproar by declaring Slammiversary 2018 the best PPV of the year. Last year’s show wasn’t nearly as impressive, but it remains a PPV I have a soft spot for, and even though I haven’t been watching Impact recently I was excited to see what they had to offer. On the whole, I was not disappointed.

First of all, just to get the most unpleasant stuff out of the way, I was impressed by who wasn’t on the show. Impact has cleared out their roster of its most problematic members, which didn’t used to be something they seemed interested in at all. That’s not to say none of their wrestlers are morally complicated figures, but there’s no Elgin, no Ryan, no Crist, and no Tessa Blanchard, and if nothing else that makes my job easier because I can write about the wrestling with the extra paragraphs about what makes the wrestling hard to enjoy.

Slammiversary opened with the Rascalz (Dez and Wentz) offering to fight any tag team that wanted to face them. Everybody expected the just-signed Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, but the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) showed up instead. Any possibly disappointment (particularly from those of us who weren’t watching TNA the last time the MCMGs were around) was quickly softened by a really fun, fast-paced match. The veterans Shelley and Sabin were just as energetic as Dez and Wentz, and it turned out to be a lesson to the younger guys, with the moral being, “Be careful about saying you can beat anyone, because you don’t know who’s backstage.” The Machine Guns won the match, setting themselves up to enter the Tag Team Championship picture.

That will put them up against the North, who retained their Titles in a match against Ken Shamrock and Sami Callihan. If this had been a WWE show, you could imagine the two randomly paired up guys winning the belts, but it was clear that was never going to happen here. The North are strong champions, and I’m always here for Murder Grandpa Ken Shamrock. I’m a little confused about Callihan’s character right now, which made it harder to invest in their partnership. In any case, it wasn’t the strongest match of the night, and the highlight was after it was over, when the MCMGs showed up to challenge the North to a Title Match on TV. Not going to lie, I’ll tune in for that.

The weakest match of the night was obviously Moose versus Tommy Dreamer for the TNA Championship. I always enjoy Tommy Dreamer as a recurring presence on basically every wrestling show. He’s dignified enough to play an elder statesman of hardcore violence while also goofy enough to be an effective part of comedy bits. What I never need to see is Dreamer in a singles PPV match in 2020 (or beyond). Also, now that Moose has been challenged for and retained the belt he found in the basement of Impact Headquarters, does that mean he’s a legit champion? It’s Impact, so probably.

The Gauntlet Match to become Number One Contender for the Knockouts Championship wasn’t very good either, which is a shame because it was filled with talented women. It wasn’t what I was expecting from a “Gauntlet Match” in that it was exactly like a Royal Rumble. It started with Tasha Steelz and Kylie Rae, with another woman joining every minute or two (I think they said it was every two minutes, but it seemed to vary a lot). The whole thing kind of stayed a crowded mess into we got down to the final four (Kimber Lee, Rosemary, Taya Valkyrie, and Kylie Rae), when it finally started to seem like somebody had booked this match. It came down to Taya and Kylie, with Kylie getting the win. It’s great to see Kylie doing well here, and she’s always a joy to watch. I could have done without the “comedy” spots of Johnny Bravo coming out dressed like Taya and then Rosemary, but the fact that Rosemary was already in the ring when the latter happened at least heightened the absurdity.

Fortunately the other women’s match was one of the best matches of the night, with Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace facing off against Deonna Purrazzo. Purrazzo’s both a skilled technician and a charismatic performer, and the perfect foil for Jordynne Grace’s size and strength. The number one thing people mock about Impact Wrestling is their willingness to take WWE’s castoffs and treat them like stars, but watching Purrazzo in action you can help but feel that she simply is a star, and it’s WWE that made the mistake in failing to treat her like one. I was surprised that she won the Knockouts Title this early in her run, but it feels earned and it was really exciting in the moment. Also, she and Kylie Rae ought to have a great feud. They’re both amazing wrestlers, they’ve got that “cocky heel/earnest face” dynamic down, and there’s a fun meta angle with them each representing “the one that got away” to WWE and AEW’s respective women’s divisions.

The other contender for match of the night was the X-Division Championship match between Willie Mack and Chris Bey. I’m a big fan of Willie Mack, and while I wasn’t sure his light blue gear and yellow contact lenses were the best look for him, he did great work here as always. I’m less familiar with Chris Bey, but he seems really great and put on such a showing in this match that I wasn’t mad when he won the X-Title off of Willie. Interested to see where both of these guys go from here, with the roster getting a refresh and opening doors for new feuds and rivalries.

Speaking of which, Heath Slater turned up for a surprise in-ring promo. His speech itself was good, but his “Free Agent” tee and the later backstage segment made it clear that Impact is going to do the same “earn your spot” story with him that WWE did a couple of years back, and I can’t say that sounds exciting. A modest proposal: just let the man wrestle! He’s got kids.

There was also a big build to a surprise fourth man in the match for the vacated Impact World Championship, which already included Ace Austin, Eddie Edwards, and Trey Miguel. First, Rich Swann returned from injury to fill that fourth spot, which was quite a letdown. But then Eric Young showed up, making scary faces in a scary mask, and made it a five-way. Young never found a spot in WWE after the breakup of Sanity, so it’s good to see him back in a place that appreciates him. He also got over like a monster by beating the hell out of Rich Swann, effectively putting him back on the injured list.

It turned out to be Eddie Edwards who actually won the World Championship, however. I’ve got no problem with that. Eddie’s been doing great work the last few years, and he feels pretty legit in this role right now. After the match, Ace Austin and his buddy Madman Fulton decided to beat Eddie up, but he was saved by his new friends, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows! So yeah, the Good Brothers did eventually show up, and it looks like they’re babyfaces, which is interesting. Then the night ended with a quick reveal that EC3 is back too. Presumably either he or Eric Young will soon be coming after Eddie’s belt, either of which sounds like a fun time.

Slammiversary wasn’t the only big show this weekend. The next night we got WWE’s Horror Show at Extreme Rules, an oddly Halloween-themed PPV in July. The tag division also opened that show, with the New Day losing their Smackdown Tag Titles to the Artists Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura in a Tables Match. Hopefully this earns two of the best wrestlers in the world some of the respect WWE seems reluctant to give them. And hopefully Kofi’s okay after that double table finish, because damn that looked deadly.

The two best matches of the night, to the surprise of nobody who’s been keeping up with WWE during the pandemic, were the women’s matches, both of which featured WWE’s empty-arena MVPs Bayley and Sasha Banks. As a known huge fan of Nikki Cross, I loved seeing how strong she looked in challenging Bayley for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. Narratively, I didn’t expect Nikki to win, but the match itself made me feel like she could, and like Bayley was justified in using a foreign object (Sasha’s big BOSS ring) to sneak out a win she probably couldn’t have managed clean.

Sasha’s own match with Asuka for the Raw Women’s Championship was perhaps even better over all, but it had the even more ridiculous finish. Asuka resorted to the Green Mist, but Sasha ducked it and the referee got a face full. Bayley took down Asuka from behind, stole the referee’s shirt, and then counted the pinfall and demanded the bell be rung. So now the Role Models consider Sasha Banks the new Raw Women’s Champion, but everyone else (and especially Asuka) are probably going to have a talk with them about that. I’m sure that will go well.

The most ridiculous thing on this card was Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio in an Eye For An Eye match, which required the winner to remove the loser’s eye from its socket. Seth managed to win according to that stipulation, and then everyone—commentary, medical staff, even Seth himself—immediately seemed shocked and horrified that Rey’s eye was out of his head (seen only briefly through his fingers and clearly made of rubber). Seth even vomited about it. Look guys, if you don’t want disgusting things to happen, consider not booking matches with disgusting stipulations?

Dolph Ziggler got to pick his own stipulation for his WWE Championship Match with Drew McIntyre, so he made it an Extreme Rules match for him, but not for the Champ. So Ziggler got to do whatever he wanted and use any weapon he could grab, but Drew had to follow all the rules of wrestling or lost his Title on a DQ. Of course, Drew kicked Dolph in the face and won the match anyway. That was always going to happen. I like Drew as Champion, but he needs better contenders than this, and soon.

Finally, Braun Strowman fought Bray Wyatt in a swamp. This wasn’t the worst COVID-era “cinematic match,” but it certainly wasn’t the best one either. It was mostly just two guys brawling in hip-deep dirty water with lily pads all over the place. The best part was when Braun was lured by a vision of Alexa Bliss offering to be with him, paying off the long-forgotten Mixed Match Challenge subplot about them being kind of in love. And then of course the Fiend showed up at the end, indicating that this rivalry is not over yet, and that we don’t have to worry that Bray’s reversion to his old swampy self was permanent. Off to SummerSlam, one assumes.

Extreme Rules had its moments, not just of Horror but occasionally of wrestling, but if you’re only going to watch one show from this past weekend, you should watch Slammiversary. Impact may not always hold things together on an ongoing basis, but when everything hits just right they can put on great shows. At WWE, in contrast, there’s sort of a base level of mediocrity (especially in COVID times), that every match has to overcome, and many don’t.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this lengthy review of the weekend’s wrestling. Let me know in the comments what kind of pro wrestling content you’d like to see here in Uproxx Sports, with the caveat that it’s only me and probably only a couple of times a week. In the meantime, I’ll definitely be back for future PPVs and other shows that seem worth reviewing.

Drake is back on his UK drill vibe thanks to Headie One, the rising Tottenham star who has become one of the faces of the movement over the past several years, and their “Only You Freestyle” video which just dropped. Over a muscular, trademark M1onthebeat production, the two rappers reel off a pair of long, threat-filled verses as they wander through a garage filled with Range Rovers and members of their respective crews.

Drake first introduced the burgeoning sound of UK drill to his oeuvre in late 2019, when his song “War” was mistaken by American audiences for the similar grime style of Skepta and Stormzy. He then incorporated the sounds more heavily into his May mixtape Dark Lane Demo Tapes, on which he also shared the spotlight with members of the scene’s New York offshoot on the track “Demons.”

Drake’s incorporation of the style has — like much of his output recently — met mixed reactions. While some, like Stormzy, feel that Drake’s indulgence is a good thing for British music scenes, others, like grime vet Wiley, have called Drake a culture vulture. Meanwhile, there’s little doubt that searches for Headie One’s about to skyrocket as a new audience of potential fans is exposed to the collaborator from Stormzy’s “Audacity.”

Watch Headie One’s “Only You Freestyle” video with Drake above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Westside Gunn survives a shootout in his new video for “Allah Sent Me” from his recently released album, Flygod Is An Awesome God II. The Buffalo, New York rapper once again employs Griselda Records’ signature black-and-white look for the new video, which was previously seen in videos for “Dr. Bird’s” and “Cruiser Weight Coke.” The song features verses from Gunn’s cohorts Benny and Conway, while the visual narrative sees Gunn wake, pray, and cruise the streets in a red Lamborghini truck which pops from the grayscale visuals in vibrant, electric red.

Later in the video, Gunn visits the traphouse, where he counts money and checks on his stash. Unfortunately, he’s quickly alerted to the presence of a would-be jacker who lays in wait outside. Gunn makes a mad dash and the shootout commences. Because it’s his video, Gunn walks away victorious, returning home to his lady as the video fades out.

Flygod Is An Awesome God II is Gunn’s second release of 2020, following up Pray For Paris, which he completed while sick with the COVID-19 coronavirus. It seems it will take a lot more than that to get him to slow up his hustle.

Watch Westside Gunn’s “Allah Sent Me” video above.

When NBA players first arrived at Walt Disney World for the NBA restart, they all had to go through a two day quarantine in their hotel rooms to clear two negative tests before being allowed into the bubble environment and begin practicing.

During that period, we saw lots of pictures on social media of the less than stellar food they were receiving at their door and some players not thrilled about their accommodations. That, naturally, led to some pushback from fans and the general public, as they didn’t really want to see pro athletes complaining about life in a Disney resort in the midst of a pandemic.

There is undoubtedly a toll on the players, particularly mentally and emotionally, in being in the bubble and being away from their families, which should be acknowledged and understood. However, complaints of the environment they’re in physically rang a bit hollow and Thunder center Steven Adams made note of that when he was asked on Monday morning about life in the bubble and any difficulties he was facing.

“We’re living in a bloody resort,” is just about the perfect Steven Adams response. He notes there’s some adjustment and there’s occasionally “dry food,” but also seems to be enjoying the opportunity to hang out with guys from other teams in an environment that isn’t ever really available to NBA players otherwise. While it’s more than understandable why there would be some frustrations from players about bubble life, it’s also not exactly something the general public is particularly interested in hearing right now given, well, everything going on.

Adams taking a glass half full approach is nice to see and now that players have seemingly found a rhythm to life at Disney (and are no longer eating delivered food, but what appears to be much fresher food in dining areas), I’d expect — at least for a while — the complaints to be at a minimum.

Netflix’s latest animated show is about a basketball coach who isn’t very good at basketball. Thankfully, that coach is voiced by New Girl star Jake Johnson.

“As everybody knows, it’s bad luck to end practice on a miss,” the coach says in the trailer for Netflix’s animated show Hoops. Problem is, the shots just aren’t falling. Johnson’s character gets closer and closer to the hoop, eventually resorting to layups that keep clanging out. There’s a lot of swearing in front of children, who look to be a bit beaten up and downtrodden in their own right. But you can’t end practice without a make, so Johnson’s coach lowers the rim to give himself a fighting chance.

Predictably, he goes in for a dunk on a 4-foot rim and the ball clangs halfway across the court, drawing more curses. It’s a brief glimpse at what the show will be like — Johnson’s character coaching from a position of weakness as he helms the Colts, who at least seemed to have some success in the 80s.

We’ve seen some great voice acting from Johnson in Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse and the character seems perfect for his tonality. The trailer said we’ll see more on August 21, which doesn’t leave a lot of time to hit the gym and put up some shots to get into playing shape.

Because 2020 is a non-stop juggernaut of crazy, Adult Swim found itself in the middle of a viral conspiracy theory after a woman on Twitter stumbled upon Cartoon Network‘s late night animation block for clearly the first time.

Despite the fact that Adult Swim has been on the air since 2001, the woman fired off a set of now-private tweets that accuses Cartoon Network of duping unsuspecting parents by switching its programming from children’s cartoons to content that is a plot to normalize infant sacrifice. Yup, you read that.

“They throw it in your face,” the woman wrote. “They hope you aren’t the kind of parents who monitor what your kids watch and do. What do you see here? I see witches abusing babies. This is not ok.”

After her tweet went viral, the woman was swarmed by Twitter users who pointed that not only has Adult Swim existed for almost two decades, but it’s literally called “Adult Swim” as in not for kids. On top of that, the programming block is known for its bumpers that repeatedly warn that its airing material for mature audiences. Cartoon Network managed to make it twenty years without any problems, but welcome to Twitter.

Clearly the folks at Adult Swim caught wind of the controversy because, first thing Monday morning, they tweeted out its bumper warning that airs before every show along with a polite caption.

You can see Adult Swim’s reaction below:

As for the woman who kicked off the viral event, she took her account private, but not before boasting that “when the darkness is exposed, the demons start panicking,” which is one way you can describe what happened here, we guess.

(Via Adult Swim)

In late January, the Damon Albarn-led group Gorillaz teased a new project titled Song Machine. While it at first wasn’t clear what form the new project would take, Gorillaz began cranking out singles with an ever-evolving eclectic array of artists from UK rapper Slowthai to ‎Kate Tempest’s former drummer Georgia. Now, Gorillaz once again return with the brand-new single “Pac-Man,” which arrives on the 40th anniversary of the iconic arcade game.

This time, Gorillaz tapped LA rapper Schoolboy Q to offer up a verse on the new single. A digital beat accompanied by a sweeping bass provides the song’s instrumentals as Albarn offers breathy lyrics: “I’m a mad Pac-Man / Living in levelled world / Everywhere I go / I don’t know where I am.” The beat breaks down into a cacophony of synths before Schoolboy Q’s hard-hitting verse puts it back on track.

The song’s accompanying video was directed by Jamie Hewlett and depicts the band being taken over by an addictive video game. Gorillaz’s members begin to feel the hallucinogenic effects of the game before getting a much-needed wake-up call.

“Pac-Man” marks the fifth installation of Gorillaz’s Song Machine series. The group kicked off their project with a collaboration with Slowthai and Slaves, before sharing the tracks “Désolé,” “Aries,” and most recently, “Friday 13th” with Octavian.

Listen to Gorillaz and Schoolboy Q’s “Pac-Man” above.

Gorillaz are a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Uproxx is excited to announce we’re partnering with EDGE (Experiential Development for Gaming and Esports), a new cultural entertainment platform designed to connect regionalized communities of casual gamers by VY Esports. To celebrate this, we’re teaming up with GameStop on EDGE’s launch event, which features Madden in partnership with the North American Collegiate League, and will be available on both the UPROXX Gaming and GameStop Twitch streams.

The event takes place on July 25, 2020, and runs from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. PST. Hosted by esports personality Jess Brohard, the event is packed with big names from the worlds of gaming, sports, and entertainment. Los Angeles Chargers star Derwin James and Los Angeles Rams rookie Cam Akers will join in on the fun, as will rapper and gamer YBN Nahmir. Additionally, representatives from FaZe Clan and Team Liquid will participate, as will esports representatives from UCLA, USC, and UC Irvine.

“As the go-to source for culture and entertainment, we are always striving to deliver content that moves audiences to engage, listen, and share,” UPROXX Head of Publishing Kristopher Maske said in a statement. “And with more and more people exploring the world of gaming and esports, we’re thrilled to dedicate our efforts to collaborate with VY Esports to amplify this subculture of tomorrow.”

American Eagle is also joining the event as a sponsor. If you’d like to follow along, head on over to the Uproxx Twitch channel and subscribe, or visit the EDGE site for details.

On Saturday evening, 53-year-old Chris David, a disabled Navy veteran, took a bus ride to downtown Portland. According to the Washington Post, he had seen videos of federal agents attacking protesters, whisking some of them away in unmarked vans, and was disturbed by what he saw. So he decided to go talk to them, to ask them what they thought of the oath they had made to defend the Constitution of the United States.

David, who had never attended a protest before, hung back and watched protesters outside the federal courthouse after he arrived on the scene. When the feds arrived, they rushed a line of protesters, and David took the opportunity to approach the agents. Standing before them in his Navy sweatshirt, he asked them, “Why are you not honoring your oath? Why are you not honoring your oath to the Constitution?”

At first, agents pushed him away, causing him to stumble. He regained his footing, then continued to question the agents. Video footage from Portland Tribune reporter Zane Sparling then shows one agent hitting David repeatedly with a baton, while David somehow stands firm and unflinching with every blow.

“I stood my ground at that point and just stayed there…I did nothing provocative,” David told The Independent. They just started wailing on me with batons, and I let them. I probably could’ve taken a lot more baton blows if they had not sprayed pepper spray all over my eyes.”

After the pepper spray, David turned around and walked away, flipped the agents the bird, then stumbled into a cloud of tear gas. He managed to make his way to a park bench where he was helped by a medic.

“I would really, really, really like to thank Tav,” he wrote on Twitter. “She’s my street medic angel who pulled me out of the park and took me to safety when I couldn’t see anything anymore. She stayed with me the whole time and then her and her friends drove me around to find an ambulance.”

At the hospital, David found out that his hand was broken in two places. On Twitter, he shared that the surgeon had splinted his hand for now, but “plates, screws, and/or pins” await him on Friday.

People have made offers for donations or assistance, which David has said he doesn’t need. However, he has said he wants to help raise funds for street medics and Black Lives Matter.

A true hero stands firm in the face of injustice, not for personal glory or recompense, but because it’s the right thing to do. And a true hero redirects any attention or offers they receive to those who truly need it or who can further the cause of justice.

Christopher David proved himself a true hero this weekend, though he doesn’t see himself as the superhero some are making him out to be.

“They are playing me up as an Iron Man and a Superman,” David told KOIN News. “I’m a 53-year-old overweight man on blood thinners and I have a lot of physical damage from the military. So, I’m not made of steel at all. They could have killed me last night, as my ex-wife and daughter have reminded me 45 times this morning.”

Thank you, sir, for reminding federal agents who and what they took an oath to protect and for the physical sacrifices you ended up making in order to do so.