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LeBron James used his platform on Thursday to reject apparent calls for the NBA to cancel the 2019-20 campaign, which a report indicates is gaining popularity among some executives and agents. Several hours later, James decided to do something a little more fun than comment on the future of the league: Reveal a major bit of information about his upcoming Space Jam remake.

James and his production company, SpringHill Entertainment, are behind the latest version of the beloved 1996 film that starred Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes. Details have trickled out over the last year or so, including rumblings on some of the other NBA and WNBA stars who will have roles.

It is unclear whether or not the film will follow a similar plot to the original, but what we do know is that the logo will look a little different. James posted an image of himself to his Twitter account of a hat that features the logo and the apparent title of the movie — Space Jam: A New Legacy.

There’s also a new Twitter account for the movie, which has a header featuring a new poster.

The film’s release date has long been July 16, 2021, although it is unclear whether or not that will have to change due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption to the NBA calendar. Regardless, when the apparel blitz comes for the movie, at least we now know what logo is going to be plastered on everything.

Previously on the Ins and Outs of AEW Dynamite: The Inner Circle, who are extremely bored, organized a fake TikTok dance challenge for a tiny bottle of Walgreens hand sanitizer. Plus Matt Hardy revealed he can morph between “essences,” and MJF reported in about his career-threatening hangnail injury.

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 April 29, 2020.

All In: This Week In Rhodes Boys Pathos

As you can probably tell if you’ve ever read anything I’ve ever written, my favorite version of pro wrestling is the ’70s and ’80s southern American version built around stories of fired-up underdogs, violent and ugly hosses, consequential match-to-match storytelling, and emotional, bloody payoffs. Not everyone digs this. Our own Emily Pratt writes regularly about not enjoying this type of product, and I get it. I really do. There’s next to no place for it in the modern professional wrestling landscape. But AEW does it sometimes, almost exclusively with the Rhodes family, and it is my forever jam.

This week’s show uses the semi-finals round of the TNT Championship tournament to press all those buttons. Up first is Cody (Rhodes) vs. Darby Allin in the third match of their unofficial series. I’ve read some criticism of Cody going over again, because clearly Darby is one of the hottest young acts in the company and deserves a huge spotlight, but I like how they’re building it. The first match was built around Cody being a little overconfident and underestimating Darby, then getting too deep into the match to actually finish him off. It was Darby “going the distance,” a la Rocky. In the second match, Cody was forced to take Darby seriously, and respected him enough as a performer to wrestle him on the level and win with mostly counter-wrestling. In the third match — this one — Darby does better than ever, but makes … well, I won’t call it a “rookie” mistake, necessarily, but he starts rushing and gets ahead of himself. He could’ve tied Cody up in the Last Supper, which is how he’s been winning a lot of his matches lately, but he needs to prove to himself that he can beat Cody clean, and goes for the Coffin Drop. He hits it, too, but Cody uses his veteran know-how to roll over onto his side, slide Darby back onto his own shoulders, and pin him.

On paper I probably would’ve had Allin go over here too, but obviously the finale of the tournament is destined to be Cody vs. Lance Archer. That’s the primary story going into it, and it’ll be the primary coming out. So I think the callback to the Allin and Rhodes rivalry here was a good one, and gives Darby another thing to obsess about and plan over as he figures out how to make the transition from promising young star to Main Event Talent. It’s sports, y’all. Sports tropes and stories can be just as fulfilling on the wrestling show as soap opera plots, and, at least to me, are almost always more rewarding in the long run. Sports stories get endings, even if they’re just temporary. Soap opera plots just keep going, and there’s almost never a point, because there’s almost never an end.

On the other side of the tournament, we have Lance Archer versus Dustin Rhodes. I don’t think you need to be a Wrestling Journalist to know where this one is going.

The only thing Archer wants is a match with Cody Rhodes. Cody’s ducked him, kind of, claiming Archer can’t just waltz into the company without much of a North American resume to speak of and demand a match with an EVP. Then Cody’s on Dark wrestling Joe Alonzo for some reason, and there’s enough of a shade of grey that you start thinking maybe Cody is ducking him. Because why wouldn’t you duck him?

Archer ends up in a semi-finals match against Cody’s older, more seasoned, but more emotionally tumultuous older brother. In 100 out of 100 scenarios, this ends with Archer making Dustin bleed a whole bucket’s worth of blood and clawing him in the face while Cody gets increasingly worried and/or terrified at ringside. What I love the most about the match is that it fridges Dustin a little, yeah — he’s mostly here as a plot device for somebody else’s more important match — but it makes him look GREAT in the process. It goes over 20 minutes, and Dustin shows that he’s still good enough to go toe-to-toe with even the toughest and angriest guys in wrestling. And seriously, if you want Archer vs. Cody to be anything but a squash, you’ve got to show that Archer’s able to keep it up and win long matches against top-level opponents. If Cody and Dustin was a war, and you want Cody and Archer to be one, it only make sense that Archer and Dustin would at least be in the same ballpark. Plus, is there anybody as good at bleeding and making you feel badly about it than Dustin by God Rhodes?

So yeah, there’s some match ending drama revolving around QT Marshall, who should not face Lance Archer ever under any circumstances, wanting to throw in the towel. Cody arrives to stop him, and then Lance is like, “I’m gonna take the towel away and throw it at YOU, and then squeeze your brother’s face until he’s a bloodless husk.” Cody cradling his apparently dying brother in his arms while Archer stands there staring at him and saying mean shit and smiling is A++++ professional wrestling.

(Thank you for making my dorky, aging ass your target demographic sometimes, AEW.)

All In: The Spears Family Sharpshooter

Shawn Spears, confronted by the reality that the COVID-19 disaster has separated him from both Tully Blanchard and the quest to find a regular tag team partner, is slowly realizing he should cut the Librarians-level AEW Dark shit and start winning wrestling matches. This week he defeats Baron Black, not to be confused with Captain Britain villain the Black Baron, with the best looking “Hart Family” Sharpshooter we’ve seen on TV in ages. Possibly because every member of the Hart Family is either old, passed away, a complete nutcase, or Natalya.

Bonus commentary goodness from Chris Jericho and Skee-a-vone, who are slowly becoming the 2020 equivalent of Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon:

“Look at that, wow! Look at the control he’s got of his gluteus maximus there, Tony.”
“He was twerking! HE WAS TWERKING!”
“He wasn’t twerking, he was flexing! And looks who’s … Anna Jay in the background, he’s giving Anna Jay the best seat in the house, no pun intended!”

In Enough: Friends Vs. Roommates

It didn’t set the world on fire or anything, but Best Friends vs. Roommates For Some Reason in a no disqualification, no count-outs match with Penelope Ford and Orange Cassidy doing their things was a fun quarter-hour of plunder-based mostly-empty gym violence. It ended up playing a lot like a very low stakes TLC match with Orange (playing the role of Rhyno here) taking out SUPABAD and SUPABAD so Chuckie T could hit an Awful Waffle on Havoc.

This would’ve gone up a few levels with a crowd. That first AEW live crowd after quarantine is going to lose their goddamn minds about literally anything Orange Cassidy does, aren’t they? He’s going to turn his head slightly and they’re going to react to it like it’s Hogan vs. Rock at WrestleMania.

Additional Jobber Squashes Of The Week

Wardlow, who is already one part Goldberg and one part Brock Lesnar, adds some Batista to his moveset to defeat Musa. I guess it’s more Sami Callihan than Batista at this point, but Wardlow continues to be AEW’s best e-fed wrestler created by a 13-year old named “Wardlow” who just started watching wrestling. And that’s “Musa,” not to be confused with “Masa,” who is a fat ass.

In all seriousness, Wardlow’s got a tremendous upside, but at 6-2 260 he’s got an uphill battle to be the scariest monster in a company with Lance Archer, Brodie Lee, Jake Hager, and a number of other bigger, stronger, more threatening dudes that dwarf him. He’d already be a 3-time ECW Heavyweight Champion, though.

Speaking Of The Exalted One Mr. Brodie Lee …

Brodie’s full name with titles attached is larger than Marko Stunt. Join us next week when Marko tries a casadora on a full-sized grizzly bear.

All In: Making Wrestling Make Sense

Just wanted to take another moment to say how much I love these Technique by Taz segments. They exclusively make the product better. So much of professional wrestling is bullshit, so if you just take a second to explain some of the gestures, hand placements, and mannerisms, you can make even the most ridiculous wrestling things make some approximation of sense. You could just say “he picks them up and throws them at the ground,” but there’s real value in breaking it down further.

I always think about when Gordon Solie called a match between Tracy Smothers and a bear — not the one who will maul Marko Stunt next week, as this was from 30 years ago and bears only have a lifespan of 20 or so years — and turned what could be the dumbest and most carny wrestling idea into a compelling physical narrative.

“Bears of course are natural wrestlers, no question about this, they instinctively know a snapmare, a leg sweep, they don’t know some of the finer holds such as a Figure-Four, or what have you ,but all of the basic holds are natural with them. And this bear, although he’s very amiable by nature, once he gets competition, stand-up competition going, he just naturally wants to wrestle. And you can see there, he went for a leg sweep.”

NO HE DIDN’T. Haha, I love you, Gordon Solie.

Extracurricular Goofs Of The Week

Dr. Britt Baker DMD and the Inner Circle are neck and neck for me in the “most entertaining segment produced outside of QT Marshall’s plague-resistant gym.”

Britt’s — sorry, Dr. Britt’s — builds on her previous “role model” segments by expanding the geography of her office, introducing her “make-up artist” “Reba” (actually Rebel, aka TNA’s Rebel), and having her not even be able to get through her own self-aggrandizing puff-pieces without going into control freak mode and dumping on everybody. I’m disappointed that she was just straight up insulting Tony Schiavone instead of lovingly condescending on him for his own benefit, as she’s been doing, but maybe her character was having a bad day. I think my very favorite part, besides maybe her walking through the background and stopping to micromanage Rebel’s interview while still completely out of focus, is this poster which I not only want, but hope she actually has hanging up at the office:

Then we’ve got the MANITOBA MELEE, the Inner Circle’s followup to the critically acclaimed FlimFlam dance challenge. Just watch it, it speaks for itself. Participants in the Melee, if you’re wondering, are:

• The Inner Circle, obviously
• Librarian Peter Avalon, tripping over his patio furniture
• Jungle Boy, swinging in and accidentally creating the first vine Vine
• Sonny Kiss, who HOORAY finally made it onto Dynamite again
• Dr. Luther, who kinda loses that ORIGINAL DEATH DEALER aesthetic when you see him filming TikTok memes in a suburban neighborhood
• WCW alumnus and Inner Circle paterfamilias Ted Irvine
• Lou Ferrigno, winner of the El Dandy lookalike contest, with a taser
• Corey Taylor from Slipknot
• Duff McKagan from Guns N’ Roses, accompanied by Hanna-Barbera noises (?)
• Jay
• Jay’s hetero life-mate, Silent Bob
• Comedian Gabriel ‘Fluffy’ Iglesias
• Comedian Brad ‘Fluffy’ Williams
• Comedian Ryan ‘Fluffy’ Niemiller
• Living Legend Soultrain Jones
• James Garretson from Tiger King, sans jet ski
• a bunch of women in bikinis hanging out with James Garretson because he was on Tiger King
• Manitoba Melee winner Vickie Guerrero

I can’t wait to see how they keep topping these.

Finally, Jon Moxley gives the AEW Championship a great nickname (“Big Platinum”), puts over Renee Young, and reminds us that next week’s AEW Dynamite will be live. He doesn’t mention Jake Hager, thank Christ, says some threatening things about anyone who “steps to the champion” (guaranteeing that somebody jumps him next week), and reminds us to call our grandmothers. I wish I could, Mox! Look out for a random attack from Brodie Lee next week!

All In: Top 10 Comments Of The Week

SexCauldron

The Assassination of Tony Schiavone by the Dentist Britt Baker

Caz

brb, updating Vickie Guerrero’s Wikipedia page to mark her as 2020 Manitoba Melee Le Champeon

Baron Von Raschke

Lou Ferigno….with a taser…in the backyard!

That is the most 70s game of CLUE ever!

JayBone2

MOX: CALL YOUR GRANDMA!
ME: They’ve both been dead for almost 15 years.
MOX: OUIJA BOARD!

Wendell Baugh

I like to imagine that at some point backstage Marko hit on Brandi and Cody has never forgiven him.

“Hey, we got this new guy Killshot McMurder. Who should his first match be agai-”
“Marko Stunt. Stunt/McMurder. Now.”

LUNI_TUNZ

This is like watching a Backyard wrestling Deathmatch on YouTube.

Two people literally throwing themselves into random objects for the enjoyment of like 15 people.

mikeybot

Brandi’s Dustin outfit is a lot better than her Cody outfit

TheGreenMiles

“He punched him in the face! I like that!” Jericho continues to be amazing simply by calling the matches like they’re real, it hurts, and he enjoys it.

FeltLuke

Jericho suggesting hitting the ref because there are no rules is a new peak for even him.

Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer

Okay, that rope walk moonsault was impressive

That does it for this week’s column. Thanks for reading about Dynamite! If you’re able to leave us a comment below, give the column a share on social media, and make sure you’re back here next week. Here’s what you’ll see:

• AEW World Champion Jon Moxley vs. Frankie Kazarian
• Kenny Omega and Matt Hardy vs. Le Sex Gods in a street fight
• MJF returns
• Marko Stunt wrestles a cinderblock tied to his ankles after being thrown into the ocean

See you then!

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There are plenty of movies associated with Gen X—thanks, John Hughes—but perhaps none is more definitive than The Goonies. I mean, a group of unsupervised kids exploring dangerous places and constantly arguing with each other while trying to stick it to The Man? What could be more Gen X than that?

(Also, I tried to show it to my Gen Z kids and they hated it. So yeah, totally a generational thing.)

All these years later (holy cow, 35 years?!) the original cast has been brought together by Josh Gad, whose voice you’ll recognize as Olaf the snowman in Frozen. And the reunion couldn’t be more perfect.

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The Goonies Are Back!! | Reunited Apart with Josh Gad

youtu.be

If you’ve wondered what ever happened to Chunk, Brand, Mouth, Data, Mikey, Andy, Stef, and the Fratelli brothers, here they are. Gad brought together everyone via video call—even Steven Spielberg who wrote the story the movie is based on.

It’s the reunion we didn’t know we needed. Chunk sitting on a throne. Josh Brolin looking like a silver fox. Corey Feldman barely looking like he’s aged at all. They share behind the scenes memories. They share little known facts about the movie. The cast even recreates some iconic scenes from the movie.

So fun. So nostalgic. Such a good way to spend 26 minutes of your Gen X-perfected pandemic home time.

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Sports leagues around the country are beginning to look forward towards a potential return, and are going through various planning stages and contingencies for possibly resuming seasons this summer.

While the NBA discusses the possibility of a bubble league at Walt Disney World, NASCAR is set to be the first major sports league to return to action, as they announced plans to run seven races — including four Cup series races — over the course of 11 days in late May. All seven races will take place at Darlington Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, keeping the teams all confined to the Carolinas for now and limiting the travel needed to make this happen.

The Cup series races will take place on Sundays and Wednesdays, with the first race a 400-mile event at Darlington on Sunday, May 17, followed by a 500 kilometer race on Wednesday, May 20. The Coca-Cola 600 will be next up on Sunday, May 24, followed by a 500 kilometer race on Wednesday, May 27. There will also be two Xfinity series races, one at each track, and one truck series race at Charlotte to round out this preliminary schedule. Sunday races will be on Fox, while the others will all be broadcast on FS1.

How this experiment goes will be watched closely by other leagues, who will want to see how successful this kind of sporting event can be and they will be watching over the weeks to follow to see if it was able to be safely done. The risk in this is that while the drivers are secluded to their cars, they each have large pit crews that work close together and in tight proximity. If it works and there are no COVID-19 outbreaks inside those crews, other sports leagues will surely look to NASCAR’s plans and try to mimic them however possible to launch summer returns to action.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air cast reunited on Will Smith’s Snapchat series Will From Home, but it’s not a complete reunion, not without James Avery, who sadly passed away in 2013. The actor, best known for playing Philip Banks on the NBC sitcom and voicing Shredder in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, had a tremendous impact on Smith, who got emotional watching clips of his on-screen uncle.

After playing a montage of Uncle Phil’s finest Fresh Prince scenes, all Smith could say was “James Avery” over and over again, while his co-stars wiped tears away.

“Some of my greatest lessons in Acting, Living, and being a respectable human being came through James Avery. Every young man needs an Uncle Phil. Rest in Peace,” Smith wrote following Avery’s death. He included a photo of Alfonso Ribeiro, Karyn Parsons, and Tatyana Ali, all of whom were in attendance during the recent reunion, and added, “This photo was the last time we were together.”

As for how Smith brought everyone else together, he called what’s happening in the world a “beautiful pause button for us to stop and think about what’s really necessary. How often do we even pop on a call and say, ‘Hey, how you doing?’… Of all the things I have ever done, nobody brings up things more than they do about the Fresh Prince.”

You can watch the tribute below, and the entire episode here.

Add another name to the deluge of talent let go by WWE during the COVID-19 pandemic as the company announced that former Intercontinental and two-time Tag Team Champion Curtis Axel has been released. And starting this moment … from now … from this moment on … this’ll be the moment … starting now … of the Revelation … of McGillicutty.

WWE released the following statement, which I think really touches on the difficult emotions that come with releasing the grandson of a wrestling legend and the son of a WWE Hall of Famer:

“WWE has come to terms on the release of Curtis Axel. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”

The grandson of The Axe and the son of Mr. Perfect, Axel (real name Joe Hennig) joined WWE developmental in 2007 and debuted a a participant on (and eventually the winner of) the second season of the ill-fated game show version of NXT. Axel’s WWE run included membership in the “New Nexus,” a brief stint as both the Intercontinental Champion and a “Paul Heyman Guy,” a popular Hulk Hogan impersonation gimmick that hit the bricks when Hogan was temporarily wiped from the company’s history, and a surprisingly thorough tag team alongside fellow underappreciated third-generation talent Bo Dallas.

We’d also like to wish Hennig the best in his future endeavors, which hopefully don’t involve being beaten up by Snoop Dogg.

There’s a lot of beer sitting on the shelf or in kegs right now, with millions of gallons in danger of getting wasted. Meanwhile, May is that time of year when craft beer releases kick into high gear. Plus the quarantine has left us in dire need of excitement and new experiences. Three factors that act as a call to action. A rallying cry.

Find new beer this month! Drink it!

If you’re a beer lover, ’tis the season to visit your local brewery and support them in any way that you can (most likely via whatever carry out service they offer). Brewers are having a hard time and there’s no sign of that stopping anytime soon. So get to drinking.

Hopefully, the eight beers we’re calling out this month will pique your interest and help you find something exciting near you. These picks are regional craft beer releases from breweries that we vouch for (we weren’t able to taste them all this month because of the lockdown, so we’re offering tasting notes from the brewer). Each one offers something unique to savor as summer draws near.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST DROP: Alaskan Handcrafted Pilot Series Pineapple Jalapeño Gose

Style: Gose
ABV: 5.8%
Brewery Location: Juneau, AK

The Beer:

This gose is part of Alaskan’s much-sought-after Handcrafted Pilot Series. These are one-off beers that you may never see again. This German beer was brewed with pineapple, ghost peppers, and jalapeno to add a seriously fruity and vegetal depth to the salty and herbaceous style.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“The aroma is dominated by raw jalapeno and juicy pineapple, with a hint of smoke. The flavor is a perfect balance of sweet and heat. The pineapple balances the subtle heat and pepper character, with a light sourness that fades into a sweet finish.”

SOUTHWEST DROP: Sierra Nevada Summerfest

Style: Lager
ABV: 5%
Brewery Location: Chico, CA (& Mills River, NC)

The Beer:

Summerfest is a classic Bohemian pilsner from California. The beer is a yearly drop that never disappoints, especially as the weather heats up. The combination of Two-row Pale, Pilsner, and Munich malts act as the perfect base for the Perle, Saaz, and Spalter Select hops.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Crisp, golden, dry, and incredibly drinkable, Summerfest has a delicate and complex malt flavor with spicy and floral hop character—the perfect warm-weather beer.”

ROCKY MOUNTAIN DROP: New Belgium Sparkling Lime Lager

Style: Lager
ABV: 4.4%
Brewery Location: Fort Collins, CO (& Ashville, NC)

The Beer:

Sparkling Lime Lager is the latest drop from New Belgium’s Up Next Series, which highlights the changing seasons of beer. This light and fizzy lager leans into citrus with an almost hard seltzer underbelly. That is, it’s the perfect sunny day sipper.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Citrus and sunshine make a fantastic combination. The only thing missing is Sparkling Lime Lager. Bright, bubbly, packed with lime flavor, and brewed for crushing. This refreshing lager was made for soaking up the sun.”

SOUTHERN DROP: Creature Comforts Tastes Like Flowers

Style: Saison
ABV: 6.4%
Brewery Location: Athens, GA

The Beer:

It’s that time of year again. Tastes Like Flowers is back! Spring flowers are harvested every year and added to Creature Comfort’s signature saison. This makes every year’s edition slightly different but always special.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“The 2019 Spring flower harvest offered calendula, chamomile, and yarrow, which present a beautiful bouquet of floral intricacies in this annual saison.”

MIDWEST DROP: Bell’s Flamingo Fruit Flight

Style: Tart Ale
ABV: 5%
Brewery Location: Comstock, MI

The Beer:

Flamingo Fruit Flight is the perfect summer sipper with a real tart edge with a sweet fruitiness. The beer is made with fresh passionfruit and lime zest, adding to the depth of the tropical and citrus nature to the beer.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“It is brewed with passionfruit and lime zest, resulting in a tart blend of tropical, citrus flavors, and aromas.”

NORTHEAST DROP: Trillium Goody Trill Shoes

Style: Kölsch
ABV: 4.8%
Brewery Location: Boston, MA

The Beer:

Goody Trill Shoes is a carry-out only offering from Boston’s Trillium. The beer honors Exhibit A Brewing’s award-winning Goody Two Shoes kölsch. Trillium’s version is brewed using Pilsner, Valley Vienna, and Acidulated Malt from the venerated Valley Malt in Upstate New York with Saaz, Hallertauer, and Magnum hops added to the mix.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Goody Trill Shoes pours a brilliant straw-gold color with a fluffy, bone-white head. Nuanced aromas of crisp water crackers, toasted grain, and a lively lemon zest character entice the palate. Remarkably clean, with scrubbing carbonation and a dry finish that begs for another sip.”

WILD CARD DROP: Upslope German Style Pilsner

Style: Pilsner
ABV: 4.9%
Brewery Location: Boulder, CO

The Beer:

German Style Pilsner from Upslope is one of my favorite craft Pilsners. So, yeah, I’m partial to this return. The crisp nature and (near) session levels of ABV make this a go-to every summer.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Clean and crisp with an impeccably balanced hop profile. Pouring a brilliant straw color, it offers fresh and floral aromas from choice Loral and Tettnanger hops. The finish is dry and succinct with a refreshing crispness and snappy carbonation.”

INTERNATIONAL PICK OF THE MONTH: Brewdog Sonic Temple

Style: Session (NE)IPA
ABV: 5%
Brewery Location: Columbus, OH (UK)

The Beer:

Sonic Temple from Scotland’s BrewDog is a fruit bomb in IPA form. The addition of oats helps the beer mellow out and brings the ABVs down. The beer leans into a very hazy and fruity New England IPA nature with a hop profile that wallows in tropical fruit without too much alcohol punch.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Hazy yellow with rising tropical aromas, delivering a mix of pineapple, mango, and lime flavors. Brewed with oats for a smooth, bassy experience. Amped up hops, dialed down bitterness, big taste.”