Previously on the Best and Worst of NXT: NXT went Inside Of Your House for a new Women’s Champion, falls onto broken windshields, and the televised emasculation of Tommaso Ciampa.

If you’d like to read previous installments of the Best and Worst of NXT, you can do that here. Follow With Spandex on Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow me on Twitter, where everything and everyone is terrible.

And now, the Best and Worst of WWE NXT for June 10, 2020.

Best: Everybody Wants Some!!

While not the strongest week ever from an in-ring perspective, this week’s NXT goes a long way toward re-establishing NXT as a cohesive universe wherein characters have diverse motivations and can think or feel more than one thing at a time. One of the strangest things about WWE’s interpretation of professional wrestling is their insistence that if someone’s got a goal or motivation, it’s all they’re ever going to think about. You have one thing you do on the show. You certainly can’t do two things. When your “story” of cause and effect is over, someone else is slotted into your role. Nearly every other major wrestling promotion worth its salt has tried to remember that these are supposed to be at least mildly complex human characters, even (and sometimes especially) the seemingly inhuman ones, and has learned the value of them interacting with an ARRAY of other characters, instead of just the one or two they’re focused on.

Pre-USA Network NXT was LOUSY with dynamic character goals. At one point Bayley, whose character could’ve easily been described and written off as “infantilized wrestler who likes to give hugs,” was managing two concurrent friend betrayals, a long-standing rivalry with a person she hates but has grown to respect for at least being forthright with her motivations, and the overarching idea of an NXT Women’s Championship win validating not only her spot at the top of the card, but her growing confidence in being a role model to the little Bayley fan in the audience and her role as a professional wrestler of worth in WWE completely. In comparison, what’s Io Shirai’s character right now? What’s her motivation? She’s great in the ring, but how does she feel about literally anything? Before TakeOver her only point of view was, “I will become the next Women’s Champion.” She did. Watching the video package about the title change only confirms that she’s good at wrestling, her win was kind of surprising, and she knows the other Japanese people at work. Even characters that’ve gotten more TV time in the USA era haven’t gotten any substantial emotional development. Rhea Ripley’s character went from, “seems cool, wants to beat you up,” to the more layered, “seems cool, might be kind of a dork, can’t beat Charlotte.” The characters are being defined too much by what they do, and not who they are while they’re doing what they do.

Anyway, not picking on the current booking. I’m just laying that out so I can compliment them for briefly remembering that human existence involves interactions with more than one other person at a time. Here’s a breakdown of the show’s major plot points, and how they connect.

• Adam Cole defeated Velveteen Dream in a title match at TakeOver, but struggled because Dream’s serial killer friend Dexter Lumis hid under the ring, attacked the Undisputed Era, and drove away with them in the trunk of a car
• Cole has a non-title match with Lumis on NXT TV, so he opens the show with a Ted Talk on the dominance of his title reign while dogging Lumis for being a weirdo and dealing with Roderick Strong’s kidnapping PTSD
• While Cole is dealing with Strong’s panic attack, Keith Lee passes by and makes it clear he’s coming for the NXT Championship
• Lee defeated Johnny Gargano in a North American Championship match at TakeOver, which might’ve settled the score had their significant others not gotten involved. Because of Mia Yim and Candice LeRae’s escalating beef, Lee and Gargano remain entwined and everyone agrees to a mixed tag match on NXT TV
• Finn Bálor defeated Damian Priest at TakeOver, so his next goal is to avenge a cheap loss to Cameron Grimes from a few weeks ago. Grimes is cocky as hell about it and not only puts himself over Bálor in an interview, but insults Priest on the way through. Priest shows up and punches him in the face about it
• Grimes starts pretending he’s got an injured jaw and can’t compete, but is found out when his rampant backstage horniness runs afoul of a William Regal Zoom call
• Bálor pins Grimes and announces that he wants Keith Lee’s North American Championship
• Lee gets pinned by Gargano in the mixed tag
• Cole defeats Lumis with help from his crew, but Lumis and Dream brawl with the UE after the match, and Scarlett shows up to make it clear there are at least two other musical theater majors who ALSO want the NXT Championship

So instead of “this guy wants this title and this guy wants THIS title and this woman wants this women’s title,” you get the top two championships in the promotion weaved together by multiple, interlocking stories that work with new characters and existing character relationships that work to move the plot forward on a number of levels up and down the card. None of these characters are showing intense three-dimensional complexity to the point of making the program dense and only able to be followed by diehard fans — shit, I wish — but they’re clearly defined entities with clearly defined interests, motives, and ideas for what comes next. That allows US to have ideas for what comes next instead of just jumping to bored conclusions, and it’s a hell of a lot better than non-stop promo interruptions leading to singles matches leading to disqualifications leading to tag team matches.

Additional Notes On All Those Things I Mentioned Above

Maybe I’m just a slow learner, but I continue to be surprised at how little Dexter Lumis’ vague serial killer character worked as a bottom-card heel, and how brilliantly it works as a main-event babyface. I guess there’s a fine line between being a “tortured artist” who is psychotically into his hobbies and building ring announcer homicide shrines in your bedroom.

I also really enjoy that Karrion Kross and Scarlett can’t just use a normal hourglass to send dramatic messages, they have to use one that looks like it was built in Tulsa by Lady Trieu. They might be the most extra duo in NXT history, which is a major accomplishment considering Breezango are the current number one contenders to the tag titles.

Yimitless vs. Johndice is a fun way to spend 10 minutes, and it continues the trend of WWE dipping their pinkie toe into actual intergender wrestling. Apparently they believe you’ll be okay seeing a guy forearm and slam a woman in a wrestling match if you’ve spent years watching women kick and suplex the men. I mean, however we get there. Wrestling’s not real. Suspension of disbelief for a fictional TV show doesn’t seem as hard for everyone else as it does for wrestling, which is widely and objectively the most unbelievable shit on television.

Anyway, I kinda liked the finish her, even if it bugged me. In case you missed it and can’t click that video for some reason, John Wrestling goes for his slingshot DDT on Keith and connects, but DDTs him onto Candice. Keith is DISTRAUGHT that he landed on her in the middle of a match in a scenario he had no control over, and stands up with her in his arms like his wife just got killed in a movie. Johnny, understanding that (1) this is a wrestling match and (2) Candice LeRae is his very tough tag team partner, rolls with it and pins Keith mid-ethical-babyface panic. The announce team is like, OH MY GOD HOW COULD JOHNNY DO THAT, HE DIDN’T EVEN CARE ABOUT HELPING HIS WIFE~!! and all I could think was, “he probably just trusts her, and he cares about giving her the W.”

Finn Bálor vs. Cameron Grimes was fun while it lasted, as well, but can we take a minute to talk about Cameron Grimes’ voice? I don’t know why his elevated, affected North Carolina shout-speaking is so funny to me. I know he was raised down the road from the Hardy Compound and all, but his AW MAN LEMME TELL YA ONE THING style of confident yelping sounds like David Cross’ redneck voice. It’s like you’re about to step into the ring against Harry Connick Jr.’s character from Independence Day, and he’s got a HAT.

To briefly talk about the match, I continue to be real in love with the current NXT Prince Devitt-ass version of Finn Bálor. If this guy ever starts acting like a pandering sweetheart again it’ll be a crime. If you’re five feet tall and 110 pounds and your most marketable ideas are wearing belts on your head to pretend you’re a demon and riding to the ring on a friend’s shoulders in a jacket that’s also a Lite Brite, your wrestling needs to be IMPACTFUL and VIOLENT. If you do dramatic entrance poses and kick somebody’s ass, you’re an anime villain. If you don’t kick somebody’s ass, all you are is a poser.

Best: We Don’t Just Escobar, We ARE The Bar

Probably the best moment of the episode is the Interim Cruiserweight Championship confrontation between interim champion El Hijo del Fantasma and daddy’s special boy Drake Maverick. Maverick got his job back by losing, Shane McMahon-style, and challenges Fantasma to a rematch. That’s when the mysterious Full Sail parking lot kidnappers arrive to right them both, and SURPRISE, it turns out the two masked men who’ve been abducting people are cohorts of the only other masked man who works there. Seems like your first plan would’ve been to ask the luchador about the other luchadores, right? If your best friend is a plumber and you get attacked by a bunch of plumbers while he stands around, you’re gonna naturally draw some connections. Quick question, though; if Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde were the masked men, who were the masked men that abducted THEM?

It’s at this point that Fantasma shockingly unmasks and declares himself Santos Escobar. No relation to Eric. FINALLY, a WWE character who is a handsome, arrogant young Mexican man who doesn’t wrestle in a mask despite being related to lucha libre royalty! WWE’s reaching Ryan Murphy levels of being obvious about their type.

Also On This Episode

International treasure Dakota Kai gets a strong and relatively easy win over Kacy Catanzaro, who is EASILY my favorite jobber in wrestling right now. Catanzaro’s gonna figure it out and really connect one of these days, and we’ll be better off for it. Here, NXT decides to pull an AEW by having the biggest person in the division (Raquel Gonzalez) abuse the littlest (Catanzaro) until Kayden Carter “makes the save.” That’s in quotes because she tried, but got REINA’d as well. I’m real ready for the top women’s division feud to be Io Shirai vs. Dakota Kai, if only for how well those sounds and syllables go together.

Speaking of women at the top of the card, here’s Robert Stone (brand) getting literally slammed into the garbage for trying to upgrade from Aliyah to Rhea goddamn Ripley. It’d be like Bobby Heenan getting fired by Buddy Rose and deciding he should try to manage Hulk Hogan instead. It’s not gonna happen, but hey man, nice shot.

Finally, here’s Indus Sher returning to the ring for the first time in a hot minute — the last time they were in a match on TV was over two months ago — and get to squash the all-star duo of Mikey Delbray and Mike Reed. Still tougher opponents than Ever-Rise. Indus Sher still kinda feels like one of those threatening under-card WCW teams that’d always get matches on Clash of the Champions but never won the tag titles, but anything that gets Malcolm Bivens on TV is a positive. Give him some mic time before and/or after these squashes, you bums.

Best: Top 10 Comments Of The Week

AddMayne

mfw it’s already almost 10 on a Wednesday

JayBone2

It only took a year and a half but it’s FINALLY happening.

notJames

Interviewer: Psycho Killer, qu’est-ce que c’est?
Ciampa: Fa fa fa fa, fa fa fa fa fa fa
Kross: Better fall fall fall fall, fall fall fall and pray…

The C Team

If Kairi Sane isn’t on NXT with her recorder to celebrate Io’s championship win then NXT deserves to lose in the ratings this week.

troi

Quick Cole turn the hourglass sideways so Kross never comes!

Dexter Lumis’s theme sounds like the opening of a true crime podcast.

Harry Longabaugh

A silent Ciampa doesn’t have time for Kross words.

Baron Von Raschke

Sam Shaw as the best new character on NXT is not something I would have thought possible…but…here we are.

Taylor Swish

Cam’ron Grimes sounds like a 2006 Pitchfork Best of List.

SexCauldron

Draw me like one of your Undisputed girls, Dexter

That’s it for this week’s Best and Worst of NXT. We’re not sure you ever actually read this part or do what we ask (or if you even scroll down through the top 10 comments of the week), but hey, it would really help us if you commented down below and shared the column if you liked or laughed at anything. The world’s tough, and that makes this kind of thing a lot easier.

Join us here next week for Imperium defending the NXT Tag Team Championship against Tyler Breeze and Fandango, Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox get a shot at the Women’s Tag Team Champions (come on, IIconics!), and Timothy Thatcher re-doing WALTER segments nobody watched on NXT UK. See you then!

Following public support for trans rights from Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, along with Fantastic Beasts lead actor Eddie Redmayne, Warner Bros. has addressed the ongoing controversy over J.K. Rowling’s anti-transgender remarks. Or did it?

The studio behind the blockbuster Potter films issued a statement, which doesn’t mention Rowling by name but asserts its support for diversity and inclusion after highlighting the need to confront recent societal issues without specifically naming those issues. Via IndieWire:

“The events in the last several weeks have firmed our resolve as a company to confront difficult societal issues. Warner Bros.’ position on inclusiveness is well established, and fostering a diverse and inclusive culture has never been more important to our company and to our audiences around the world,” the company said in a statement. “We deeply value the work of our storytellers who give so much of themselves in sharing their creations with us all. We recognize our responsibility to foster empathy and advocate understanding of all communities and all people, particularly those we work with and those we reach through our content.”

As of this writing, Warner Bros. and Rowling are still on track to deliver a third film in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. The author has served as the screenwriter for the prequel films that have had diminishing returns, and this latest controversy could raise questions about the future of the property going forward. Following Warner Bros. statement, IndieWire asked about its working relationship with Rowling. The studio declined to comment.

(Via IndieWire)

Jeff Hardy and Sheamus have a match this Sunday at WWE Backlash, and according to a report by Gary Cassidy of Sportskeeda, things will get heated – and a little gross – between the two beforehand.

The Sheamus vs. Hardy feud began on Smackdown when someone with red hair and a red beard framed Hardy of hitting Elias with his car while intoxicated, both a reference to Hardy’s real-life issues with substance abuse and a device to write the real-life injured Elias off of the show. According to Sportskeeda, this Friday’s episode of Smackdown will feature a contract signing that continues to reference Hardy’s history of addiction.

The plan is reportedly for Sheamus to demand Hardy take “a urine test as he refuses to compete against a ‘junkie.’” Hardy will pee in a cup, but then throw the pee in Sheamus’s face.

Usually, a caveat with reports like this is that WWE is known for re-writing segments shortly before they go on the air, so what’s planned on Thursday could easily not make it on screen on Friday. But since Smackdown is currently pre-taped, this segment is probably here to stay.

The biggest positive: It looks like Sheamus is the real villain of this story and we won’t get swerved by the also red-headed, red-bearded Sami Zayn coming back with no Intercontinental Championship and as a guy who frames people for drunk driving.

The Black Lives Matter movement may be centered in and stem from the US and America’s institutional abuses against Black people, but the movement has spread to become a global phenomenon addressing inequality and injustice abroad as well. A recent Black Lives Matter protest in London received attention from the participation of Star Wars actor John Boyega, and today, outspoken grime star Stormzy declared his plans to contribute to the cause to the tune of £10 million.

Stormzy issued a statement of intent via his #Merky label, writing that he plans to donate £1 million a year for 10 years to “organisations, charities and movements that are committed to fighting racial inequality, justice reform and Black empowerment within the UK.” He also included this would be part of a “lifetime commitment” to the cause of equality, justice, and empowerment.

“I’m lucky enough to be in the position I’m in and I’ve heard people often dismiss the idea of racism existing in Britain by saying, ‘If the country’s so racist how have you become a success?!’” he explained. “I reject that with this: I am not the UK’s shining example of what supposedly happens when a Black person works hard. There are millions of us. We are not far and few.”

““We have to fight against the odds of a racist system stacked against us and designed for us to fail from before we are even born,” he elaborated. “Black people have been playing on an uneven field for far too long and this pledge is a continuation in the fight to finally try and even it.”

Read the full statement below.

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

With 22 teams going to Orlando to resume the NBA season next month, there will be plenty of opportunities for the media to cover teams they haven’t had great access to since the spring. However, in an attempt to cut down on total bodies in the quarantine bubble down in Florida, the league is reportedly looking to allow only a small portion of those who cover the sport to actually interact with players and coaches in-person.

Not to get too inside-baseball here, but there’s an organization for everyone who covers basketball for a living, called the Professional Basketball Writers Association. The same thing exists for football, the White House, and many other high-level beats. In effect, the NBA is working with the PBWA to categorize a small number of its writers as “first-tier,” and these folks would be able to take part in postgame press conferences and practices and everything that typically goes into covering the NBA.

Then, according to Robert Silverman at The Daily Beast, a smaller group of “second-tier” reporters would be around basically only in spirit. They would be able to be in the stands for games, but in order to mitigate the transmission opportunities for the coronavirus, these reporters would not be allowed to interact personally with players, coaches, or really anyone.

If you’re wondering what the point of that would be, you’re not the only one. That’s exactly what the PBWA is negotiating with the league right now. Not only the access to ensure local beat reporters and smaller publications have equal opportunity to cover the league, but also the affordability of all of this. The downside of trapping everyone at a luxury resort is that it’s expensive. Staying on-property at Walt Disney World for three months is not something in the budget for really anyone. These concerns may seem trivial, or something that only those who cover the league should care about, but if you’re a Spurs or Grizzlies or any other small market reporter whose local outlets may not have the money to cover the league, or would be blocked out as “second-tier” reporters even if they did make the trip, this is a decently big deal.

View Entire Post ›

With just a few releases to her name, Sir Chloe has been racking up quite a following over the last year or so. Her single “Animal” has garnered over ten million streams, and her latest release “Easy On You” is already making its way up the list of her popular tracks. While at first glance, Sir Chloe might seem like she would sound closer to a modern shock rocker like Poppy than a bona fide indie artist, “Easy On You” proves otherwise, with vocals that sound like The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan and reverb-soaked guitars.

To celebrate the new track, Sir Chloe sat down to talk misspelled tattoos, karaoke bars, and time travel in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.

What are four words you would use to describe your music?

Always mean never nice.

It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?

I can only hope we’re immortalized in sticky laminated books at karaoke bars.

What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?

New York for now.

Where did you eat the best meal of your life?

My house. Family food is my personal favorite.

What album do you know every word to?

The Party – Andy Shauf

What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

Pile in Burlington VT 2019

What is the best outfit for performing and why?

Jeans, t-shirt, stomping boots. It’s comfortable and easy to move around in.

Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?

Juno Birch @junobirch

What’s the last thing you Googled?

“misspelled tattoos”

What album makes for the perfect gift?

Sound And Color – Alabama Shakes

What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?

Sia, Selena Gomez, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler, the Creator, And The Kids, Car Seat Headrest, Whitney, Joy Division, Dolly Parton, Pixies, Her’s, Mitski, Omar Apollo, Angele, Ann Peebles, Lianne La Havas, Daniel Cesar.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Can’t say. Once I announce the winner, the contest is over.

What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?

I wouldn’t, time travel is scary and the butterfly effect is real.

What’s the last show you went to?

I saw Petey back in February at Hyperion Tavern in LA.

What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?

9 to 5.

What would you cook if Kanye were coming to your house for dinner?

Milk.

“Easy On You” is out now.

Not too long ago, Gal Gadot’s “Imagine” video (in which she and several famous friends, including Natalie Portman, Will Ferrell, and Jimmy Fallon sang the iconic John Lennon tune to, uh, fight the pandemic) got dragged online, and following weeks of police brutality protests, it’s happening again. Gadot is not involved this time (she appears to have gotten the message), but another gathering of celebrities has assembled, this time to “take responsibility” for unchecked racism and swear to help end it.

This PSA is actually part of a project (as detailed at the Hollywood Reporter) — hosted at the ITakeResponsibility.org website — that launched in partnership with the NAACP. The celebrities in this video, including Sarah Paulson, Justin Theroux, Stanley Tucci, Aaron Paul, Kristen Bell, Julianne Moore, Mark Duplass, Bryce Dallas Howard, Debra Messing, Piper Perabo, and Kesha, all pledge to stop “turning a blind eye” while claiming that they are, themselves, taking responsibility for letting racism fly (through inaction) in their presence. The website also asks users to take responsibility in various ways, and one has to make selections from a menu before entering the site.

Let’s just say that the video’s not being embraced too warmly on social media.

Despite the good intentions involved with those who made this video, people are cringing and wondering how Stanley Tucci ended up here, noticeably pulling his eyes away from the camera to read a script.

Others, including Justin Theroux and Aaron Paul, are being called out for appearing too actor-y. Lots of Jesse Pinkman jokes are going on here.

And of course, this has inspired one user to toss out a Breaking Bad take because, well, 2020 is just a difficult time, and some people want to embrace the chaos.

(Via ITakeResponsibility.org & Hollywood Reporter)

T.I. is once again butting heads with Black conservative leader Candace Owens. In the past, T.I. has critiqued Owens for her support of Trump and controversial views on systematic racism and now, the rapper seems to have lost hope for her.

T.I. recently sat down with Nick Cannon on Power 106 FM to discuss his role as a community leader and activist in Atlanta. The conversation turned to the nature of cancel culture, which T.I. experienced after being slammed for his views on his daughter’s virginity. T.I. said that the Black community must come together to uplift each other rather than discredit one another for having conflicting views. “We don’t all have the same views,” he said. “We don’t all have the same opinions of how to move forward on what’s gonna get us to our goal. But we all have the same fight. We’re all on the same journey.”

But T.I. said he draws the line of understanding at Owens. “Some severe cases, like Candace Owens, she got to go,” Tip said. “She can’t come.” T.I. even went so far as to say Owens is being paid off to discredit the experiences of Black individuals. “Somebody paid her to come out here against speak out against what the majority of us is standing for,” he said. “She ain’t a double agent, she’s their agent. You mean to tell me there’s no injustice against people of color you’ve ever seen, that you could speak out for? That white people are always right? You telling me law enforcement is always right? You telling me the United States of America has always been right when dealing with us? And that’s her story. You can’t trust that story because we have facts that show us otherwise.”

Cannon agreed, saying she doesn’t always stick to the facts and T.I. offered his explanation: “When this young lady was in college, something happened to her, an attack,” the rapper continued. “She called out to the community, and she got justice in her case. Ever since then, she seems to have forgotten that she’s black. She has turned in her black card and crossed over.”

This isn’t the first time T.I. has argued with Candace Owens over her views. At last September’s Revolt summit, T.I. fired back at Owens’ praise of Trump’s “make America great again” slogan. “When you say ‘make America great again,’ which period are we talking about?” he asked. “The period when women couldn’t vote, the period when we were hanging from trees, or the crack era? Which period in America are you trying to make America like again?”

Watch T.I. give his thoughts on Candace Owens and Terry Crews on Power 106 FM above.

The gaming community within the NBA is steadily growing, with the league’s hiatus only helping to give players more time to refine their skills on the sticks without basketball taking up so much of their time. J.R. Smith, for example, has long been an avid gamer, growing up with “Nintendos and Ataris” but has really gotten involved in recent years with the boom in online gaming.

“Where it got to the multiplayer level and being able to play online, it just blows things out of the water,” Smith told Dime. “But I’ve always been into games, like ever since as long as I can remember I spent like four, five hours a day playing video games.”

While he continues working out to be ready for a hopeful NBA return next season, Smith is also taking this down time to game more and joined the Call of Duty League’s New York Subliners to stream Warzone on the CDL’s channels a few weeks back. Smith held his own with the pros, but said it was a humbling experience to see how far he has to go to become an elite gamer.

After the stream, Smith spoke with Dime about the experience, the communal aspect of gaming, why quarantine has been so hard for him, thoughts on The Last Dance, and why he wants people to stop comparing greats like LeBron, Kobe, and Jordan and just appreciate what they all have brought to the NBA.

How was the stream and what’s it like playing with pro Call of Duty players?

Man that sh*t was dope, man. Because for me, playing with them is like regular people playing basketball with me. So, like, as a person who really watched people’s YouTubes and streams to try and get better at the game — and I feel like I’m an avid gamer — it’s like being a kid in a candy store playing with a bunch of pros. Like, I’m used to playing with my boys, and it’s just like, some people’s skill levels just aren’t there, some people’s attention span just isn’t there, and at the level that I would like to play at, it’s just refreshing. At the same time, it’s humbling, cause I’m like, “I got a long way to go.”

When you play with pro gamers, what are the things you’re able to pick up and see as the differences between what they do and their approach compared to a casual gamer?

Well, when I was asking them about the keys — there’s certain keys you can get to go in the bunkers and stuff like that, and they don’t even go for those. They just going for kills and wins. Now, we’re playing to try and reach a certain goal, but sometimes you get caught up in going for certain parts of the game and it gets all strategic. But when you play with them, they’re going for straight kills and kill as many opponents as they can, and at a high rate as well. One person can go over there and get two or three kills or even a whole team wiped, and it’s like, just one person on one side. On the team I play with, the whole team has to go over and fight the other team.

Are there guys in the NBA you enjoy playing with? I talked to Devin Booker about some of the guys he plays with and know a lot of guys play. Who are some of your favorite guys in the league to play with, cause I know there’s an avid gaming community in the NBA?

You know what’s funny, I never really played with guys , not Call of Duty. I played 2K with Kyrie before and stuff like that, but I’ve never played Call of Duty with any of those NBA guys. I think they running from me.

I see you’ll hop on social media at times and see if fans want to play online with you, whether it’s COD or 2K. Do you feel like gaming has helped you build more of a connection with fans and how important is having that sense of community, especially over the last few months where we’ve all been isolating and under stay-at-home orders?

Yeah man, it’s funny because for me it’s a blessing in disguise with all this staying at home and everybody being on games and stuff like that. It’s like, all my friends are back home in a tough neighborhood, and you know, when you go outside you can get in trouble and other things. So having my friends being online consistently has been huge for me. So that’s what’s been my main focus, honestly, is just trying to get my game up. Trying to get my channels poppin’ so people can tune in and see what’s going on, just watching and kicking it.

How have you been holding up these last few months? I know you’ve got some young ones running around and that’s always an adventure, but you’re also training and trying to keep in shape. What’s the isolation period been like for you?

It’s tough, man. So I’ve been in L.A. I actually just got back from New Jersey yesterday, and I’ve been in L.A. for the previous three months before that, and I hadn’t seen my kids cause they’re in New Jersey. So it’s been tough because of the travel situation and stuff like that, not knowing what’s going to happen and schools and everything being closed. So it’s been tough for me because I’m all the way out here and my kids are in Jersey, and the fact that I’m out here training and stuff, and they’re just finally home. They’re out of school and have all this free time, and I gotta miss months of that because of something like this cause airports were shut down for so long and I couldn’t travel, and you didn’t know if you could actually go outside and if you’d catch it or not. So it kinda spooked me a lot with that, so it’s been crazy.

I do want to talk a little basketball. Any player on a championship team has a special connection to a city and its fans, but especially so in a place like Cleveland winning the first title the city’s seen in decades. How would you describe your relationship with Cleveland and Cavs fans after that 2016 title?

I mean our connection is just remarkable, man. Just the team and the city, was just a perfect fit. Especially going in as an underdog to Golden State, just a big powerhouse in the West, won so many games and stuff like that, and Cleveland being a blue-collar city, you know, hard work and hard-nosed, and we were that team in the East — diving for loose balls, getting loose balls, and playing physical — so it kinda coincided so well. Even now, we get so much love and so much strength when we go back.

Do you still have a shirtless JR t-shirt?

[Laughs] I still have a few, but I don’t wear ‘em. My mom will give ‘em out for family and stuff like that and the kids.

I know you were watching The Last Dance what were your biggest takeaways from that and all the Jordan footage we got out of it?

Man, from watching all of the tapes growing up — Come Fly With Me, all those — and then watching this, it kinda felt sad because it was a capping of his legacy. You know, he’s already in the Basketball Hall of Fame and all that, and then he finally comes out with the documentary and it’s the last thing that we ever see or hear from Michael Jordan from like himself and out of his words. I took it like it was kind of sad seeing something that I didn’t really think about until it actually came out and I actually watched it, because obviously with the anticipation of it coming out everyone was like, “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. Let’s see it, let’s see it.”

And now, when I was watching it, it was just like, some of the stories and stuff like that it was like, damn, that’s exactly what happened. That’s it? That’s no more Bulls nothing? Y’all gonna stop showing highlights or something? What’s going on?

The practice footage was really interesting and a rare look for fans at that part of the NBA. No one is compared to Jordan more than LeBron, but when people talk about that hyper-competitive style they talk about Jordan and then Kobe, but I know LeBron has that kind of drive even if the public facing image doesn’t show that as much. How would you describe what LeBron was like in those moments, in those closed door settings and practices, because he’s also a super-competitive person?

I mean, for one, LeBron practiced every day. So whenever people always try to talk about the rest thing and stuff like that, for the miles that he’s done and still to compete with his peers day-in and day-out on a game level as well as in practice, there’s a lot to be said for that. And then just the way he attacks the game with his mentality. He knows he’s great, but his greatest aspect is he knows how to play the game the right way. Now Jordan, in my eyes he’s the GOAT, he attacked it like, I’m going to win this game or I’m going to get us over the top every single time. And Bron’s mindset is, the team’s going to get us over the top every single time.

I understand in a way, any other time someone like Kobe, they would always say, “Kobe’s selfish. He’s this, he’s that,” before the last couple months and a year and a half seeing Kobe off the court. Nobody was, like, the biggest Kobe fan as far as his mentality and his quote-unquote “person off the court” cause they didn’t know him. Everyone was scared of him and thought he was just this wild, vicious person that was just a fierce competitor, and they didn’t know until unfortunately after the situation that he was a great person, a great dad, he had a great family, he coached his daughter’s team, stuff like that. So it’s just stipulations come out through people’s careers because we only see them for that two and a half hours on the court or on TV and we just judge them off of that instead of knowing them as a person.

Like, Jordan’s so high on a pedestal people feel they can’t relate to him. When this guy first came into the league he got a regular apartment, he drives a regular car, and does regular things just like everyone else. It just so happened he excelled and was so amazing at what he did that people put him on a pedestal to where they try to tear him down as much as they possibly can. And within all of the greatness we seen from The Last Dance all you hear is, “Oh well he called Horace Grant a snitch,” and this and this, and creates so much turmoil within it, and then you compare legacies. It’s like, why can’t we appreciate what his greatness was and what he created, because realistically, he paved the way for so many — more than anybody in basketball history he paved the way. He changed everything. So why can’t we just respect him for that instead of trying to compare his greatness to anything else? I think that’s the biggest thing I took away.

To bring it full circle, you mention fans don’t get a chance to get to know athletes through the games. Like, you see what you see, but is that something that you like about when you have these avenues like Twitch streaming and fans get the chance to see you off the court, talking, being a regular person and doing things regular folks do. Is that something where you think gaming and being able to stream is something that can help bridge that divide a little bit?

A hundred percent, especially with gaming. So many kids and so many people are playing a game. I think I seen this a week or two ago where like, 60 million people are playing Call of Duty. I mean, you come in contact with so many different people and so many walks of life. I’ve created some great friendships that I truly value off of playing video games and stuff. It’s crazy because for so long you heard your parents saying, “Get out of the house, stop playing video games,” and there’s like, 13-year-olds making millions of dollars playing Fortnite. Like what are you going to tell him? You going to tell him to go to college? I made a million dollars, what are you going to say? You gotta clean your room? Mom I just bought this big ass house, I’ll get a maid and everything else, you gonna tell me to clean my room?

[Editor’s Note: This interview was edited and condensed for clarity]