Previously on the Ins and Outs of AEW Dynamite: AEW offered you Double Your Money Or None Of It with a new Women’s Champion, the crowning of the first TNT Champion, and a Stadium Stampede so good “match of the year” reads like an understatement.

If you’d like to keep up with this column and its thinly veiled Best and Worst format, you can keep tabs on the Ins and Outs of AEW Dynamite tag page. You can keep track of all things All Elite here.

Follow With Spandex on Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow me on Twitter, where everything and everyone is terrible.

And now, the Ins and Outs of All Elite Wrestling Dynamite for May 27, 2020.

All In: Say Yeah

After helping bring tag team wrestling back to WWE through NXT only to go to Raw, get injured, shave each other’s backs, scoot around on their butts like uncomfortable dogs because they got Usos-branded Icy Hot on their balls, get the shit beaten out of them by last year’s WrestleCon lineup as a celebratory joke, and fall down go boom because the deteriorating 74-year old man in charge of the company likes jokes for babies more than he likes pro wrestling, The Revival has finally, finally found something better to do.

Their debut comes after a fun show-opening trios match between the teams of Bad Boy Joey Janela and Private Party (aka “Bad Party”) and The Elite Adjacent, Broken Matt Hardy and the Bucks of Youth. It’s one of those bouts I hope they do again when there’s a full crowd, because they would’ve gone bonkers for it. Also, as far as I can tell the AEW version of Matt Hardy has a Dr. Manhattan thing going on where he sees the entire timeline of his life happening all at once, so he can transmogrify into any “Matt Hardy” he wants. Before this match, the Bucks actually get him to “try on” different personas, ultimately deciding they want to team with OMEGA superstar THE SURGE, hand gesture and all.

WONDERFUL, YES!

Anyway, Hardy and The Boyz win, and Matt helps an apparently injured Marq Quen to the back. That frees up the ring for an attack on the Bucks by the glow up (?) version of The Butcher and The Blade, decked out in their best post-Memorial Day whites. At some point their gimmick changed from Steampunk Leather Daddies to The Backstreet Boys in the ‘I Want It That Way’ video, with Allie going from a Fort Frolic splicer to Carlita Caribbean Cool. And I think she wants to hook up with QT Marshall due to their shared love of taking one bite out of an apple during wrestling shows? I don’t know. Anyway anyway, The Revival — now known as “FTR” under the names Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler so their first names sound like Ax and Smash from Demolition — show up in a ’62 Chevy pickup truck and head to the ring. It’s obvious that they’re going to attack the Bucks, so they attack Cousin Butcher and Cousin Luwuk instead.

I think my favorite part of the debut (aside from it happening, and all the great tag team matches we’re about to get) is that FTR (no hashtag) took out The Blade with a spike piledriver. In case you weren’t aware, that was the signature finisher of The Brainbusters, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, and they’re using it to debut in the company where Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard work. Absolutely outstanding.

You know a quarter-hour worked when you leave it wanting to see everything again. I want more of The Revival in AEW, I want more Matt Hardy OMEGA tributes, I want more of Private Party and Joey Janela being buck wild in trios matches … hell, I want more of the Mr. Clean versions of The Butcher and The Blade. Really great way to open the show. Never again will I have to type, “Scott Dawson lost a 3-on-1 handicap match to Lucha House Party and is supposed to be the bad guy, somehow.” I can’t wait to see whether or not they can beat The Young Bucks at basketball.

Side note: As someone who loves Cody Rhodes, I can’t wait until FTR jumps him in the parking lot for that whole Fuck The Revival thing.

All In: Jon Moxley, Wild Card

Casino Ladder Match Novelty Poker Chip In The Bank winner Brian Cage makes his Dynamite debut by ending Lee Johnson’s whole career. Just a massive ass-whooping. Jon Moxley sits in on commentary in Charlie’s jacket from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, which feels closer to Dean Ambrose than Jon Moxley. Maybe it’s the hair? Can somebody cut Mox’s hair again so he stops pouring baby oil over his head and matting it down into thin-ass spit-curls?

After the match, Taz cuts a great promo about (1) how Brian Cage is a machine — this is the first I’m hearing about this — and (2) how at Fyter Fest, Cage is going to, “put his hand in your chest and pull your friggin’ heart out of your chest.” As long as he doesn’t kick his leg out of his leg, it should be fine. Cage getting the “win if you can, survive if I let you” catchphrase bequeathed to him by Taz is great, because that’s too good of a line to leave in storage, and Cage needs something to talk about beyond comparative machinery. I’m starting to feel like Cage is gonna take Mox to the woodshed at Fyter Fest. Anybody else?

All In: The Doctor Is In(sane)

Here we have Dr. Britt Baker DMD, with help from assistants Reba and Tony Schiavone, going full Chris Jericho conspiracy victim about her leg injury from last week. The general breakdown, no pun intended, is as follows:

• Kris Statlander is a liar — the exact quote is, “You being an alien is a crock of shit” — so she’s a conspirator
• Hikaru Shida carries around a weapon, so she’s a conspirator
• Nyla Rose is usually good at jumping off the top rope but wasn’t graceful while being indiscriminately slammed, so she’s a conspirator
• it all connects to referee Aubrey Edwards, who is always there when Britt loses or gets injured, except when she isn’t

And, for our second Charlie Kelly reference of the night,

What’s next, AEW instituting the “Wild Card” rule?

All In: The New Women’s Champion

Welcome to a new era of the AEW women’s division, where the champion is likable and comes to work every week! I like both Riho and Nyla Rose in certain contexts, but I’m not sure either of them ended up being very good champs. Riho never got a personality outside of occasionally tagging with Kenny Omega, and Rose just kinda yelled at people and licked her own hand. Shida’s proven to be a workhorse, especially during the pandemic, and is the kind of talent that gives you that joshi flavor of Riho and that hard-hitting style of Rose without any noticeable negatives. Hikaru Shida rules, is what I’m saying.

She breaks in her AEW Women’s Championship reign on Dynamite with a victory over AEW Dark star Christi Jaynes, in gear that (intentionally?) makes her look like she’s wearing a Price Is Right name tag. We’re at the point in 2020 where a wrestling promotion running a competitive, five-minute women’s division match without a bunch of bullshit poured all over it feels refreshing, so Jaynes being a low-level but effective heel while Shida finds her footing, executes, and closes the deal is a good time. Honestly, I kept expecting Charlotte Flair to do a run-in and hold up the belt.

The only part of the match that didn’t work for me was this very visible adjustment to get into position for the running knee, wherein Jaynes walks to the center of the ring on her knees and then for some reason sits down. It’s not a major thing in the least, but it reminded me of when someone who’s supposed to be knocked out scoots into position to take a move off the top. Shida cleaned her clock, though, so it’s all good.

All In: The Cody U.S. Open Challenge

Promo of the night goes to Cody Rhodes, who uses his stance as a former John Cena U.S. Open Challenge challenger to pay it forward and do a weekly open challenge for his newly won TNT Championship. Honestly, I could listen to Cody explain why wrestling shit is important all day. Send Cody out to cut a five minute promo on The International and I’m all ears.

Low key my favorite part was him talking about how he didn’t get the “dominant gene,” and how how “Dustin got all the Dusty,” and then they cut to Dustin staring up at him all stoic and Brandi happily rubbing Dustin on the shoulder. That’s familial love, right there. My least favorite part was, “Do you know why Tom Brady is my favorite quarterback?” Because,

Mostly In: The Battle Royal

I love battle royals. I loved THIS battle royal. I like Jungle Jack Perry Boy winning, even though I was rooting for Orange Cassidy. One thing, though … what’s the point of doing a battle royal to decide who gets a shot at the TNT Championship if you’re going to have the TNT Champion announce a weekly open challenge? Wouldn’t it be easier to just wait a week and not have to go through a battle royal first? Although now that I type that, wouldn’t some combination of MJF and Wardlow be constantly accepting the challenge to hurt and dethrone Cody? Cody’s made a lot of enemies. Maybe it should’ve been an open challenge with qualifiers? I don’t know, I’m still trying to figure out how wrestlers arrange to have their music played for run-ins and surprise appearances, and how John Cena got through several month of open challenges without a bunch of preemptive sign-ups and a queue you have to book a reservation for weeks in advance.

Small request: can we explain to Jim Ross that Sonny Kiss isn’t a woman before the next battle royal?

All In, And Then All Out: The Inner Circle Pep Rally, Or, “Mike Tyson’s WWE Greatest Hits”

First of all, they used an image of Vickie Guerrero with pom poms as the thumbnail for this clip but didn’t actually include any footage of it, which is probably a good idea. Vickie is near and dear to my heart and I always like seeing her, but it … wasn’t great.

Second of all, the Inner Circle being the Inner Circle is always good. Surprisingly it’s Jake Hager who steals the show this week, reading an also surprisingly well-written poem that starts off as Inner Circle promotion and ends with him quoting Taken and Tommy Boy and threatening to psychotically hunt and kill The Elite in real life. Coming in a close second place is Jericho being gifted a framed, black and white photo of singer Marc Anthony, of all people, and happily responding with, “MARC ANTHONY? HE’S MY HERO! MARC ANTHONY! MUY BUENO, MUY BUENO.”

Then there’s the Tyson stuff.

As previously mentioned and without unnecessarily going into it at length, I’m not a Mike Tyson fan. To write about him at all in an entertaining way I have to remember that the casual fan who might tune in to a wrestling show they never watch to see a boxer from 30 years ago who’s more of an ironic Adult Swim reference than a participant in modern popular culture is not my demographic.

I’m also going back and forth on how they ended Dynamite. In case you weren’t aware, Jericho brought up a 10-year old beef with Tyson from a “Guest Host” era episode of WWE Raw where Tyson betrayed him to side with the dorky old man version of D-Generation X and punched him in the face. This was oddly a followup to a moment from 12 years before THAT, where Tyson betrayed D-Generation X to side with his man Cold Stone at WrestleMania 14.

If you’ve never seen it, you can watch it below.

Tyson shows up with an entourage featuring Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, kayfabe inconsiderate Henry Cejudo, and, oddly, actor and Rebel Wilson’s ex-boyfriend Mickey Gooch. Words are exchanged between Tyson and Jericho, which turns into a shoving match, which turns into a pull-apart brawl. You may also recognize THIS as the same thing WWE did for the build to WrestleMania 14, with Tyson and Stone Cold Steve Austin getting into a shoving match and pull-apart.

Did they have Tyson do the two things he’d already done to make sure he’d remember what to do? I happily clap for the occasional old-ass Monday Nitro reference, sure, and I think I’ve exclusively loved everything Jericho’s done in AEW so far, but this specific brand of 50-year-olds redoing segments from 10-20 years ago in the main event is not my bag. Y’all trying to get booked in Saudi Arabia?

TL;DR: Wake me up when Mickey Rourke’s free to come back and wrestle Jericho as Randy the Ram. Or when Cesaro’s free from his WWE contact and can debut in AEW as Soda Popinski.

All In: Top 10 Comments Of The Week

Clay Quartermain

And the Revolt immediately challenge the Bucks to 18 holes of golf

Mr. Bliss

I cannot tell you how much I am in love with conspiracy victim Britt Baker right now. Jericho has a tear in his eye watching this.

SexCauldron

If you play Aubrey’s 3 count backwards she says: “Join the Dark Order”

Dave M J

I will buy 1,000 of those Inner Circle Stadium Stampede shirts if Chris Jericho’s mystery opponent next week is a guy named Glass Joe, and he spends the next few weeks beating Punch Out wrestlers to get ready for Tyson.

AshBlue

Jake Hager’s gonna show up at all the Uproxx commenters’ houses like Jay and Silent Bob at the end of their Strike Back movie.

The Voice of Raisin

Matt Hardy might be the first wrestler in history to un-Jannetty himself.

The Real Birdman

Jake Hagar with the Tommy Boy threat has me reevaluating my opinion of him

Endy_Mion

Sammy, Hagar with good lyrics for once.

Dark Order hiring QT as their IT guy, cause they know he’s familiar with Apple.

FeltLuke

Christie Jaynes should be the first female member of the Inner Circle. After all, she’s the master of a Brazilian holds.

That does it for this week’s column. Thanks for reading about Dynamite! It was a really good show this week AND pandered to casual fans, which means it’ll pull in 1/4 the rating of some terrible Smackdown. This is why we can’t have nice things.

Leave us a comment below, give the column a share on social media, and make sure you’re here next week for Cody Rhodes vs. Jackle Boy, a segment where Sammy Guevara rides his scooter through New York City while Chris Jericho jogs behind him, and more.

Like many recent performers who’ve been released from WWE, Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins appeared on Talk Is Jericho, where they talked frankly with Chris about their experiences in WWE. Hawkins and Ryder were two of the many Superstars WWE let go back in April, immediately before reporting record profits and little impact from the pandemic.

Zack Ryder has always been one of those WWE talents, like Rusev in more recent years, who fans claim WWE held down because Vince McMahon resented the fact that Ryder got over with fans on his own, rather than by following a WWE script. He was the first WWE Superstar to embrace YouTube, long before Xavier Woods came along, but his success there did not translate to success in the company. In fact it did seem to count against him in the company’s eyes.

On the podcast, Zack Ryder told the story of how he got himself over with his YouTube videos, and just when he thought Triple H was going to five him a rub for it, it went the other way.

So this is November. I start the YouTube show in February. So it’s almost a whole year of working my f–king ass off and just trying to get noticed. Trying . Trying. Trying. It literally took almost a whole year, and it was the fall time where I think eventually they said we got to shut these people up because I wasn’t even booked to these shows.

They’re chanting. They’re bringing these signs, I was incorporating that into my show. I had somebody who would literally watch RAW and Smackdown and find a Zack Ryder sign and screenshot it. Then I’d include all those signs in my YouTube show, and it would entice people to bring signs. So I was just trying to create as much momentum as possible.

Finally, I think they had to just put me on to shut everybody up, but now, the chants were getting louder and especially the match he’s talking about. It was a Ziggler vs. Morrison match. Listen, I don’t want to toot my own horn, but like I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about. Madison Square Garden, not only is it our home arena, but it’s The f–king Garden.

I go out there. The place is going nuts, and I get to the curtain. Triple H is like, “Come here,” and I’m thinking finally this is it. He’s gonna say, “Good job, kid.” This is what I’ve been waiting for like, how can you deny? This is Madison Square Garden, right? He pulls me aside, and I had just got fresh blond tips on my hair like that week.

So he asked me, “Why did you dye your hair?” I’m like, what? Madison Square Garden is chanting my name. You’re asking me why I dyed my hair. I’ve been dying my hair for months. It was just a fresh job like come on man. I thought he pull a come here like he would say, “Good job, man. Alright, we believe in you. Let’s go,” but it’s like you can’t go dying your hair like that or something like that.

Curt Hawkins added that one of the central backstage myths of WWE had to basically be abandoned because Zack proved it so wrong.

Chris can attest to this. Every year, as long as I was in WWE, after the RAW after Mania, we have this BS company everyone there at TV meeting where we say the brass ring is there. It’s yours. It’s a fresh year. Who’s gonna get it?

Ever since “Long Island Iced Z” and “Z! True Long Island Story,” they don’t even bother with that meeting anymore because they know it’s not true. It’s not true because even if you grab the brass ring, you’re going to get your hands smacked. You’re not going to have it.

Chris Jericho agreed, bringing up Daniel Bryan as another example.

If Vince doesn’t think of it, it’s not valid. It’s not real, and the same thing happened with Daniel Bryan when he first came in. I mean Vince did not like him because he was a vegan and all these other reason. He went and got over because he knows that how to get over, and they still resisted it for so long until finally they had no other choice.

I feel the same thing happened with Zack Ryder in that you got over so well. You gave yourself an internet title.

Zack then admitted that he wishes he’d spoken up for himself more directly at the time.

One of my biggest regrets is that I was too young and afraid to almost, not stand up for myself, but question like, “Hey, why is this happening?” I should have went right to Vince and said like, “Hey, I’m selling this merch. I’m doing this. I’m doing that. Why is this happening?” And I just took it.

Hopefully Zack lands somewhere that appreciates his ability to connect with fans, instead of holding it against him.

Not every professional athlete is given the chance to go home. For Taj Gibson, that opportunity was presented to him during the 2019 NBA offseason, when the veteran forward/center received a contract offer from the New York Knicks. Gibson, a Brooklyn native, put pen to paper on the deal, and prior to the NBA’s current hiatus, he served a steady hand in the frontcourt amid the team’s youth movement.

While Gibson has done plenty of work in the community over the years — he was awarded the key to Brooklyn during a ceremony last June, before he came to terms on a deal with the Knicks — there is no way he could have seen the hurt that New York has gone through over the last few months. The Big Apple was, for a stretch, the global epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, and of the more than 100,000 casualties that have occurred in the United States, more than 21,000 of them have occurred in New York county as of this writing.

As a result, Gibson teamed up with Knicks legend John Starks to raise money for the Robin Hood Foundation, a New York-based charity that fights poverty in the city. A number of other big names, including a host of athletes who represent the city, have joined in on the initiative, and according to the Foundation’s website, tens of millions of dollars have been distributed in relief funds.

Dime caught up with Gibson recently to discuss, among other things, his charity efforts at a time when his fellow New Yorkers need it the most.

How did you get involved with the Robin Hood campaign?

Well, I’ve been talking to them for a couple months now, ever since I’ve been a part of the Knicks. I always liked how their organization was ran. They had a lot of stars and I was always just in tune with them for a couple of months — one of my best friends, Tameek Floyd, one day, introduce them to me. But then, this pandemic happened and the New York Knicks, they kind of reached out, Robin Hood reached out to the Knicks, and the Knicks and me were already talking about doing some positive things. So we just felt like, why not jump in and try to do something with Robin Hood? That’s how it all started.

And what’s been the goal with all of this?

Just to raise money for most of the starving families around New York. It was so many different fundraisers underneath one umbrella — it was from the Giants, from the Rangers, the Knicks, I was in charge of the Knicks with John Starks. The goal was to try to raise over a million dollars, they succeeded, that number, with a telethon.

It was a bunch of people just gathering up money and then trying to put it all in one. And then the telethon thing comes on, they shut down New York with all the television and everything, and callers would just donate $10. Most of the time, we wasn’t asking for much, mostly $5, $10 to a good cause, and we did that.

You’re a New Yorker. Do you feel some kind of added motivation in that to help out those in your city who are really struggling right now?

Of course, without a doubt. I always felt like this even before the pandemic happened, I always was helping out throughout Brooklyn in my neighborhood for like 10 years now, with my foundation, the Taj Gibson Foundation. Just the lowest scale, but as of late, I’ve been picking up, meeting people, networking, working with the NYPD, NYCHA, building it up to help people the best way I can. But since this pandemic, it’s been even higher — you got funerals, you got people needing money, people needing food, support, people being there for each other. There’s a lot going on in New York.

So when you first joined the Knicks, you gave a quote where you said you grew up a Knicks fan, and the one player that you mentioned in this quote was watching John Starks, so how special was it getting to work alongside him for this?

It’s dope have your name attached with John Starks in anything. Because I grew up watching him, he’s tough-minded guy. Over the years, even coming to New York to always play the Knicks, he always just talked to my family. He’s a great guy. When I became a part of the Knicks, I was running in to all the Knicks legends — Sprewell, LJ, ran into Pat Ewing in D.C. To see these guys and honestly have a conversation with them about basketball is just dope, it’s a great feeling.

So I’m from Jersey and it seems like there is something about John that made him particularly beloved among a certain era of Knicks fans. For the non tri-state people, could you explain why Knicks fans loved him so much?

I liked him because, when you look at the makeup of the old Knicks team, they were rugged and a grimy kind of team. They were hard-nose on defense and they were really physical and passionate. Every night they went on the court, you knew that they were going to play hard and I was a big fan of that. He was a very aggressive player and I just liked that growing up. It’s always those players on every team that you just root for no matter. He was one of them to the Knicks.

I’ve always thought there’s this really special sense among New Yorkers of being in it for one another. And you’re a well-traveled dude, is that something that is unique about people in the city?

Yeah, cause we can fit in anywhere. New Yorkers will go anywhere and just be like, you know what, you just adapt. People from New York just adapt. I’ve been able to adapt in different circumstances, but my hunger and my determination and my work ethic has always been a New York, grime and grit kind of style. I’ve been a blue collar guy my whole life. Being in New York kind of helped me with that.

NBA players are always able to use their platforms to help their communities and that seems like it’s a little more important than usual right now. Would you agree with that?

Of course, of course. Your platform, sometimes you take it for granted, because you don’t want to be so into social media, but then, you gotta think about the bright sides that come with it. You’ve joined forces with many different people that want to help and have the same kind of desire and the goal that you want to do, that you have as well. And with social media, you connect, get the word out there, build more bonds so you can even bring back more reinforcements to help the people that you’re trying to help yourself. That’s one of the main things I’ve been trying to do with my platform since I’ve been around this pandemic and the last 10 years working with my foundation and the kids.

It also seems really important to use your platform and to show other guys how they can use theirs. What do you tell younger dudes finding their way in the league about why it’s so important to be able to give back like this?

Well, you always try to tell them to get back because it’s like, somebody took the time out to put some energy into you. It’s a lot of little children, a lot of little kids out there that are looking up to us and we got to set the standard for them, you know what I’m saying? Especially in New York where the standard of making it to the pros or making it to play division one basketball has kind of slacked off a little bit. You just got to just be there, got to kind of coach them, kind of give them an insight like, yo, this is good for you, this could help you. I see young players are really into it. Some of the guys, a lot of guys in my team, that’s all they do. That’s how we communicate. We laugh at jokes and everything through social media.

Aside from the charity work, what all have you been doing to keep yourself busy as we’re trying to wait everything out right now?

Well, just try to stay in shape. It’s nothing like basketball shape, but when you’re in New York, they shut everything down. It’s not really too much you can do, but just staying shape. The Knicks send workouts — a lot of biking, but mostly just staying home and staying ready, staying healthy because you never know. Anything can happen in this pandemic, but so far, it’s been okay. But the main thing right now is just a lot of Zoom meetings with friends, family, my teammates, coaching staff. This has been a weird but fun … It’s kind of weird, but the fun part about it, you learn new things. I’m having meetings on Zoom a lot with my teammates. So it’s a new way as far as getting to know each other.

You’re the longest-tenured dude on a team with a bunch of young guys, and obviously none of us have all the answers, but how do you act as a team leader in the middle of something that none of us have ever experienced before?

First thing is try to stay in tune with the team, make sure you always be a part of the team. Sometimes those things just come to you — sometimes you’re never really trying to be the leader or anything like that. It just comes natural because when you’re a giving person, as a team-first kind of a person, those things kind of build strong qualities in you, so guys kind of respect you a little more, guys kind of feel they can always count on you to ask you questions and count on you to just be there for them. And it just comes like that, just having a personality like that, I guess, for me personally.

Beyond all of this, you’re living out every single New York kids dream in that you are playing for the Knicks. How’s your first year been back in the city and what’s it been like after a decade-plus to finally get to go home?

Well, it’s a weird feeling. I used to ask guys before before they went back to New York to play, “What is it like? What is it like? What is it like?” And for years, I used to always look at them like, oh man, they’re lucky they get to go back home and play. That’s awesome. I was like, I wonder if it will ever happen, but then it happened. It has its good and it has its bad. Being home, you always have a thousand phone calls. Then at the same time, you got to still lock in and be able to play, and it’s tough, because you’re a pro, you got a lot of things you have to be attentive to.

But so far, it’s been great. I can see my family, my dad, he’s still recovering from a heart transplant, brand new heart, which I’m happy he’s able to get thanks to the great doctors at Mount Sinai, New York. So I get to see my family all the time. That’s one of the bright spots that would be in this pandemic, seeing all distant relatives, people I grew up in my neighborhood, people where I grew up that used to work at the local stores, essential workers. A lot of the older generation are slowly dying from this disease. And every day, it just makes me think like how appreciative I am to be able to play in New York and be around my family at this crazy time.

A really fun quote that you gave when you joined the Knicks, you were mentioning that Thibs said to you, if anyone is capable of playing in New York, you’re a New York style player. How do you and Thibs define that?

I guess it was just from him talking through all the years, when he was with the Knicks. One of my favorite players was LJ. I just appreciated how he played, especially when his back was hurt, all those years in the Knicks. And Thibs, we just always just talked about being tough. Like, you can always count on me just to stay focused, be tough, and have that mindset of every game, just knowing that you’re going to play hard, do whatever it takes to help the team, be a strong leader on the court, strong leader off the court, always have a solid mindset of just being that guy for your team. Being that guy that you can always count on, like he’s going to be there to always have your back.

Hey friend,

Do you remember me? It’s been a while, I know. I sat behind you in civics in junior high.

Do you remember me? You were my base on the cheer squad, and once you caught my head just before it hit the ground after a long day of stunting.

You don’t remember? Our boys played together on the soccer team in 4th grade.

We drank wine out of solo cups in college together.

You totally remember. My vernacular is so similar to your own that it’s a running joke that I’m not actually Black, but I am.

And so are my boys.

---

Friend, I don’t get deep enough with you and it’s not your fault. I just see the quick twist in your face that quickly screams “I’m uncomfortable” when I broach the subject of race.

Discomfort I can deal with most days, but some days it’s more than discomfort. Some days it’s disbelief, and that hurts more, so I don’t tell you.

I don’t tell you the fear I feel on a daily basis as my boys continue to grow. I don’t tell you that all on their own they’ve developed a healthy fear of the police, and even the school resource officer.

I don’t tell you that my oldest son has said “the SRO treats the Black kids meaner. It gives me anxiety.”

I don’t tell you that even though we are careful not to watch these awful videos of unarmed people getting shot, your children are showing them at school, and my children have noticed the theme.

I would never tell you that as they shoot up to be as tall as I am, soon to tower over me, that my mama heart breaks for reasons you’ll never fully grasp.

I’d never tell you that at the ripe age of 14, my son “fits the description,” and his brother is not far behind.

I would never tell you that, because you can’t imagine that being truth. You know my boys. You know their hearts. You know they’re the sweetest, most respectful and helpful children you’ve met. The thought of anyone seeing them as a threat just does not cross your mind.

I love you for loving my boys, I do. But I need you to love them enough to demand change so parents that look like me aren’t afraid our children aren’t going to make it home.

I need you to love them enough to not just see them as your sons, but to see all boys that look like them as your potential sons.

I need you to love them like you love your own sons, because this world doesn’t. Love them because my mama heart cannot handle another man being shot that looks like my brothers, cousins, uncles, and sons.

Love them because my son has said the words “I can’t breathe” when talking about how seeing a police car makes him feel.

Love them because my big brother likes to jog.

Love them because my younger brother has the best contagious laugh you’ve ever heard.

Love them because my baby brother has the sweetest soul, but it takes him a while to say things. He gets excited and his stutter gets in the way.

Love them because the movie American Son is so many Black mothers’ realities.

Love them so it does not become my reality.

Love them and demand America do the same.

You know me. I’m your friend.

This post was originally published on Jacalyn Wetzel’s blog, Stop Yelling Please. You can read it here.

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It’s been a weird 2020 for AJ Styles. The two-time WWE Champion started the year off getting injured at the Royal Rumble. He then got punked out by the Undertaker not once, not twice, but three times (with the third time also doubling as his first boning). Maybe AJ just wasn’t meant to be on Monday Night Raw.

Styles, who is a ghost, recently appeared on Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast where he not only discussed his feelings regarding his trade to Smackdown, but the loss of his O.C. stablemates Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, who were among the massive roster cuts WWE made in April, despite having just re-signed big contracts in mid-2019:

“I think they’re doing a good job [on Smackdown], so I’m excited about that. Doing something different is good for me. I needed a change. Losing Gallows and Anderson really hurt me. Getting away from Raw helps me get over it — I don’t know if I’ll get over it, but it helps change the atmosphere around me and to do something different. My whole time on Raw was basically with them. To get away from that and get to SmackDown, where I’ve had a lot of success, it’s a good thing.

“I brought their names to WWE and when they got released, I immediately felt responsible for them because I helped them get here and I wanted them to stay. I thought, if I hadn’t encouraged them to stay maybe they wouldn’t be behind right now. A lot of it fell on me and I felt like I let them down. I talked to them about this and I was just crushed. I’m the oldest and I didn’t take care of them. That really bothered me. And it still does.”

To their credit, Gallows and Anderson seem to be taking their releases in stride, promising a tell-all episode of their Talk’n Shop podcast dropping the day their non-compete clause ends, on July 18.

(h/t Fightful)

Another day, another return for a major soccer league in Europe. This time, it’s England’s Premier League, as multiple reports indicate that the world’s top footballing league has a date set to restart following its hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Prem is slated to make its return on June 17, a date that reportedly received the green light during a shareholders meeting on Thursday. According to ESPN FC, a pair of matches will occur on that day — Manchester City hosting Arsenal and Sheffield United traveling to take on Aston Villa — before an all-out sprint will occur. The proposed end date is August 1, with the English FA holding one last match, the FA Cup final, on August 8.

Via ESPN:

Several clubs are thought to have expressed a desire for four more weeks’ preparation having only approved contact training in a vote on Wednesday, but the league’s desire to resume sooner in addition to pressure from UEFA to complete domestic matches by the beginning of August forced a compromise.

In terms of crowning a champion, few leagues need to resume less than the Premier League. Liverpool sits atop the table on 82 points, with Manchester City (57 points) being the only club that can mathematically catch them. That, however, is not going to happen, as the Reds need six points from their remaining nine matches in order to clinch the title. Having said that, there are still a handful of other things that need to be decided, primarily positions for next year’s various European competitions, so instead of going the way of France’s Ligue 1, the Premier League will make its way back in less than a month.

Last year, global superstar Rosalía joined forces with Travis Scott for his “Highest In The Room” remix off his EP Jackboys. The duo apparently enjoyed their time working together as they’ve now come together once again for a new single. Titled “TKN,” the track boasts an irresistible beat and Scott even tries his hand at rapping in Spanish.

For the track’s accompanying video, the duo enlists the help of the youth. Filmed prior to quarantine and directed by Nicolás Méndez, the visual opens with a stampede of school children rushing through the streets. Joined by their leader Rosalía, the large hoard of kids erupt into coordinated dance in line with the track’s hard-hitting rhythm.

In a statement alongside the track, Rosalía praised Scott for his work: “Travis is an artist who I’ve admired a lot since the beginning of his career and I can’t imagine a better artist to collaborate with on this song. I feel that now is the moment to release this song, after so many months of staying indoors, missing freedom or being with people we love. I hope ‘TKN’ gives you energy, makes you dance, and gives you strength if you’re going through difficult times. With all my love <3.”

Watch Rosalía and Scott’s “TKN” video above.

A judge has ordered Rich The Kid to pay over $300,000 after his landlord sued him for skipped rent and damages to a Hollywood Hills mansion. According to legal documents acquired by Bossip and reviewed by Uproxx, Rich was sued in January of 2019 for failing to pay $22,500 in rent — an amount which ballooned when the chairman of the trust that owns the mansion alleged that “special damages” had occurred while he was in residence.

Haikuhe Chichyan, the trustee, reported that in addition to the initial back owed $22,500, Rich and his entourage used $7,376 in utilities, while a $2,500 late fee was tacked on when he failed to pay. However, Rich either didn’t have the $32,376 or thought other things were more important than catching up on his rent, as he failed to respond and the judge issued a default judgment against him, ordering him to pay the full amount of $323,214. Among the damages alleged by Chichyan, Rich and his friends broke the saltwater pool system by overheating it to almost 100 degrees, destroyed the entertainment system, and let dogs poop on the hardwood floors.

That’s not the least of Rich’s money troubles to date. Earlier this month, it was reported that he was also being sued for $234,000 for an unpaid jewelry tab, as well as by his management company for $3.5 million. At this rate, he may need a name change — and that house from Parasite to hide in from all these bill collectors.

Read the case documents here.

Lisa Kudrow launched into living rooms on Jimmy Kimmel Live! from home to promote her Space Force role, which teams her up with The Office‘s Steve Carell and Greg Daniels. Kudrow’s role in the Netflix series is a small one, but she’s one of the most recognizable faces of the ensemble cast and is very enthused to promote the gig. In addition, the former Phoebe Buffay is anticipating the Friends cast reunion for HBO Max, so she related a story to Kimmel about how Matthew Perry was nice enough to gift her with a prop from the beloved series.

Oh, look… it’s right there on the shelf: the “Cookie Time” prop from Monica’s kitchen

However, Kudrow immediately suspected that Perry may have lifted the clock, rather than go through more orthodox channels to give it to her. Is she correct?

“I think the first thing I asked was, ‘This was so nice.. did you get permission?’” Kudrow explained to Kimmel. “I mean, my car used to get searched every night when I left.”

Hmm. Well, it’s certainly possible that Perry may have pulled some strings with producers, but it certainly produces a better story if he simply decided to lift the thing. Years prior, Kudrow had fully mistaken the prop for an actual clock while gesturing toward it during a scene, so it does make for a nice memento.