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Major League Baseball and the players’ union have been at odds with each other for weeks regarding a return to play plan, most notably butting heads over the issue of compensation. Unlike the NBA, NHL, and other salary cap leagues where players are paid based off of a percentage split of revenue with ownership, MLB does not have the same agreement through collective bargaining.

The two sides initially agreed to split pay based on the number of games played in a shortened, restarted season, but owners have since issued new requests that players take an even larger pay reduction, trying to pit the highest paid players against lower paid players by issuing a tiered paycut that sees the smaller salaries cut in half and top salaries cut by more than 75 percent.

Unsurprisingly, players have scoffed at that demand and, as such, the two sides seem significantly further apart than the union and ownership in any other major sports league. On Wednesday night, Nationals star pitcher Max Scherzer offered an incredibly strong statement explaining that the players now believe there is no reason to discuss any further pay reduction structure with owners and believes the public should see full documentation on MLB’s financials because it would shift perspective on what players should be giving up.

If there weren’t significant pessimism about the ability of the two sides to bridge the gap, this signals just how wide it is and just how strongly players like Scherzer feel about their stance — and, as he says, he feels a lot of players are on the same page. Scherzer occupies a prominent position in the players union on their Executive Sub-Committee, so his statement isn’t just strong but comes from a big position in the union and indicates the players association won’t be coming with a counter offer in terms of pay reductions and a stalemate may just exist.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan confirmed the union will indeed be sending a new proposal to ownership later this week, but that they will not include pay reductions.

Here are your quick and dirty, editorial-free AEW Dynamite results for May 27, 2020. The show featured an Inner Circle Pep Rally, a Battle Royal to determine the Number One Contender to the TNT Championship, and more. Make sure you’re here tomorrow for the complete Ins and Outs of AEW Dynamite column.

AEW Dynamite Results:

— The show opened with the Inner Circle surrounded by boxes of “Inner Circle: Stadium Stampede Champions” T-shirts that they had printed before the match. Santana revealed that they’ve got a whole truck full of them.

— Broken Matt Hardy is excited to team with the Young Bucks, but at their request he reverts to an earlier persona.

1. The Young Bucks and Matt Hardy defeated Private Party and Joey Janela. Isiah Kassidy took a superkick and a More Bang For Your Buck and got pinned. After the match, Matt Hardy helped an injured Marq Quen to the back.

— The Butcher and the Blade attacked the Young Bucks in the ring. Then FTR (the Top Guys formerly known as the Revival) drove an old-fashioned truck into the arena and ran to the ring. After a brief staredown with the bucks, they attacked the Butch and Blade.

— Jon Moxley joined the commentary team and explained that he was there to watch Brian Cage in action.

2. Brian Cage (with Taz) defeated Lee Johnson. Cage threw Johnson all over the ring, then pinned him with the Drill Claw.

— Taz cut a promo about how Cage will tear Mox’s heart out at Fyter Fest.

— Britt Baker, with the help of photos, a cork board, and red string, claimed that her injury wasn’t an accident but a conspiracy, which Kris Statlander, Hikaru Shida, and Nyla Rose are all conspirators, with Aubrey Edwards as the ringleader. Doctor Baker said she’ll be back for All Out.

— Chris Jericho was yelling at Alex Marvez about how great their pep rally was going to be, when Orange Cassidy wandered through the frame behind him, angering Jericho.

3. Hikaru Shida defeated Christi Jaynes. Shida hit the Falcon Arrow to pin Jaynes.

— During the commercial break, we saw Hangman Adam Page and Kenny Omega watching the show from a sofa. Page noticed they were on TV, and stared into the camera.

— Cody Rhodes cut a promo about how he plans to do weekly open challenges for the TNT Championship.

4. Kip Sabian (with Penelope Ford) and Jimmy Havoc defeated SCU. Penelope Ford averted the SCU Later by grabbing Frankie Kazarian’s leg, and Jimmy Havoc pinned Scorpio Sky.

— MJF said that since he’s undefeated, he shouldn’t even have to win a battle royal to get a title shot, but with Wardlow’s help he’ll do it anyway. Wardlow seemed reluctant to let MJF win if it comes down to the two of them, but he backs down.

5. Jungle Boy won the Battle Royal, last eliiminating Orange Cassidy, and became the Number One Contender for the TNT Championship.

— Vicki Guerrero and a bunch of cheerleaders introduced the Inner Circle for their pep rally. They’ weren’t in the best mood because they lost, but they gave each other presence to cheer themselves up, and Jake Hager read a creepy poem. Jericho said the gift he really wants is Mike Tyson’s head on a platter. Sammy Guevara revealed that the cheese platter and bubbly have already been consumed. Then Mike Tyson entered with his entourage. Jericho demanded an apology for being knocked out by Tyson years ago, and a brawl ensued. The locker room emptied out, and Jericho and Tyson were separated.

Here are your quick and dirty, editorial-free WWE NXT results for May 27, 2020. The show featured an “NXT Fight Pit” match between Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher with Kurt Angle as special guest referee, Charlotte Flair in tag team action, and more. Make sure you’re here tomorrow for the complete Best and Worst of NXT column.

NXT Results:

1. Interim Cruiserweight Championship Tournament Match: Drake Maverick defeated KUSHIDA and Jake Atlas. KUSHIDA had Atlas in an arm bar, so Maverick crawled over, put his arm over Atlas’ chest, and stole the pin. KUSHIDA’s legs were also covering Atlas, but it wasn’t mentioned. After the match, Maverick’s shook hands with his tournament finals opponent, El Hijo del Fantasma.

– Later in the show, footage revealed that Maverick pinned Atlas while Atlas was tapping out to KUSHIDA. Maverick wanted to win fairly, but KUSHIDA approached him and told him to win and keep his job. Maverick promised KUSHIDA the first title shot, should he win the championship.

– Charlotte Flair will defend the NXT Women’s Championship in a triple threat match against Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley at NXT TakeOver: In Your House.

2. Johnny Gargano defeated Adrian Alanis. This was the first match in the “Johnny Gargano Invitational.” After the match, Gargano and Candice LeRae were interrupted by a video of Keith Lee and Mia Yim mocking them over dinner. It also featured Tegan Nox bringing Lee and Yim a pizza. LeRae will face Yim next week.

3. Raquel Gonzalez defeated Shotzi Blackheart. Dakota Kai interfered, allowing Gonzalez to hit a powerbomb (of sorts) and win the match.

4. Charlotte Flair and Chelsea Green defeated Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley when Flair pinned Shirai with her feet on the ropes for leverage.

– Imperium cut a promo about being dominant NXT Tag Team Champions. Later, Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan met up for a drink and decided to go after the championship.

5. Tommaso Ciampa defeated Leon Ruff. Ciampa won with the Fairy Tale Ending. Scarlett stood at ringside and stared at Ciampa throughout the match. Karrion Kross’ giant face appeared on the video screen after the match and promised that at TakeOver In Your House, he’ll make Ciampa feel something he’s never felt in his life.

6. Fight Pit Match: Timothy Thatcher defeated Matt Riddle. Kurt Angle was the special referee. Thatcher lost teeth during the match, but was able to make Riddle pass out in a choke to win the match.

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Last week it was revealed that DC fans’ prayers were answered: They’ll be getting their own “Snyder Cut” of Justice League after all. While the main cast won’t be returning to shoot any additional footage, news of a rehabbed version of the troubled, underperforming 2017 all-star DCEU romp did remind people of one thing: Is Henry Cavill ever coming back as Superman? The answer, at least according to some sources who spoke with Deadline, is yes.

Granted, that doesn’t mean we’ll be getting a Man of Steel 2. However, there are a number of ways Cavill’s iteration of Clark Kent could return. It’s obviously too late for him to swing by Wonder Woman 1984, and he’s not going to be in the Robert Pattinson-starring The Batman. But he could, Deadline posits, appear in some of the other DCEU titles, from Shazam 2 to Black Adam to Aquaman 2.

Cavill was last seen making a surprise appearance on Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel watch party last week, in which the director broke the news about the reworked Justice League cut. For the last year and a half, the English actor’s place in the DCEU has been in question, and last November he said he hadn’t given up on reprising his most famous role. Of course, he should also be getting on Guy Ritchie to make another Man from U.N.C.L.E.

(Via Deadline)

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We’ve been waiting for it to happen since the moment they were finally released from their long-suffering WWE contracts, and Wednesday’s Dynamite finally gave it to us. The Revival of Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder are officially on the All Elite Wrestling roster.

The Butcher and The Blade (in their finest, post-Memorial Day whites) were attacking The Young Bucks when the artists formerly known as The Revival — now known as “FTR,” with the names Dax Hardwood and Cash Wheeler … Dax and Cash, like Ax and Smash, get it? — made the save. A black truck pulled up to Daily’s Place, and one of the best tag teams in the world finally stepped into the promotion where they’ll be able to make good on those Twitter promises and, God willing, have good matches again.

You can watch a clip of their debut below.

Really good to see the Shatter Machine again.

It’s interesting to see FTR finally show up after all this time to be in the same ring as the Young Bucks without attacking them, but we’re sure there’ll be time for that. The big winner here is the AEW tag team division, and a couple of former tag champs who’ll never have to shave each other’s backs and get “Ucey Hot” on their balls ever again.

It’s been almost two-and-half months since the NBA season went on hiatus amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is growing optimism that we’ll see a return to action sometime toward the end of July. The league and is working together with the owners and players to hammer out a scenario in which they might safely resume play in a bubble location, such as Walt Disney World Orlando.

But that doesn’t mean everything is going back to normal. Large-scale gatherings in public spaces are still mostly inadvisable, if they can be avoided, which is why we continue to see events all across the spectrum cancelled or postponed. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony, where Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and Tim Duncan are set to be enshrined, is the latest casualty.

The annual event was originally slated to take place at its location in Springfield, Mass. in late August, although officials had tentatively pushed it until October in the hope that things might get back to normal by then. That hasn’t happened, and so on Wednesday, Hall chairman Jerry Colangelo announced that the enshrinement ceremony will be moved until sometime in the spring of next year.

Via Jackie MacMullan of ESPN:

Jerry Colangelo, the chairman of the board of the governors for the Hall, told ESPN on Wednesday that enshrinement ceremonies for the Class of 2020, one of the most star-studded lineups ever which includes Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and the late Kobe Bryant, will be moved to spring of 2021.

***

“We’re definitely canceling,” Colangelo said. “It’s going to have to be the first quarter of next year. We’ll meet in a couple of weeks and look at the options of how and when and where.”

Each year, the Hall in Springfield hosts the three-day event that involves nearly 3,000 visitors, making social distancing measures nearly impossible. It figured to be a highly-emotional event, given the tragic passing of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant earlier this year. Colangelo also clarified that the enshrinement ceremony for the 2021 class will be held separately at a later date to be determined.

(ESPN)

Lindsay Lohan has been not-so-quietly attempting a comeback, releasing her first new music in fifteen years, doing talk show appearances, even saying she’d love to do a Mean Girls 2. One thing she won’t be doing is popping up on the hit Hulu series Ramy, but that’s only because she disappeared.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the show’s star and co-creator Ramy Youssef talked about some of the surprising appearances in his forthcoming second season. One was porn star Mia Khalifa. Lohan was almost another.

“We had an idea that it wasn’t just her, but we were interested in this idea of people that you don’t really think are Muslim,” Youssef told EW. “We actually cast Lindsay Lohan, because Lindsay had this whole thing about converting to Islam. And so we had cast Lindsay and I talked to her and she was down, and then, you know, like Lindsay does, we just kind of stopped hearing from her. [Laughs] I was trying to get ahold of her and she was on the call sheet, and I guess she couldn’t make it. I don’t know, I never heard from her.

“You can’t try and put Lindsay in a box, that’s what I know,” he added. “Lindsay is going to be Lindsay.” But Youssef says there are no hard feelings. “She is one of my favorite Muslims.”

(Via EW)