It’s okay if you’re a little fried right now. There’s a lot going on out there. We’re in the middle of a pandemic and we’re teetering on a massive recession (depression?) and people all over the country are taking to the streets to protest hundreds of years of systemic racism. Any one of those things would be a lot. All of them happening at once is something else entirely. This is not to say you shouldn’t engage with them. You should. You can devote your time and energy and resources to any and all of them. Donate money, join a protest, educate yourself and others. Be a helpful member of society for as many hours a day as you can without burning yourself out entirely.

It’s fine to take a breather every now and again if you need to, though, just to give your brain a break. You’re no good to yourself or anyone else if you don’t recharge the batteries once in a while. That’s all we’re doing here: giving you some options for recharging a little. Below, I’ve compiled a list of television shows you can try to flick on when you need a quick break. The best part: Every show on this list has three or fewer seasons. Again, there’s a lot going on in the world. It’s okay if you’re not prepared mentally to dive into 12 seasons of a bleak procedural. The second-best part: It gives me a chance to yell at people about watching my favorite shows again, which is a little bit of self-care for me.

This can be good for all of us. Let’s do it.

If you’re looking for funny shows about bummed-out people

Patriot is one of my favorite shows ever. It’s also one I recommend to people a little more cautiously than other shows. That has nothing to do with the quality of it. Patriot is so good. It has more to do with the deep, personal hurt and disappointment I will feel if the person I recommend it to doesn’t also like it. It’s also hard to explain. The show is about a very depressed spy who gets tangled up in an international espionage fiasco. He works undercover at a piping company. He goes to Europe. He shoots people. He sings folk songs. Sometimes his songs play in the background and only after about 30 seconds will you realize that the lyrics are narrating the action on the screen. It is profoundly weird and profoundly silly and sometimes just profound. Amazon canceled it after two seasons and, while I’m still livid about this, the two seasons out in the world are about as close as a show can come to being made specifically for me. It’s like the Coen brothers directing a John Le Carre story that was punched up by the team from Bojack Horseman. This is what I meant about it being hard to explain. Just watch it.

Speaking of very silly shows about depressed guys that only lasted for two seasons and sent me into a rage-spiral upon their cancellation, there’s also Lodge 49. Lodge 49 was also so good. The show followed a guy named Dud who recently lost his father and his purpose and was floating through life sipping mixed drinks from a giant jug he called Thermosaurus. He stumbled upon a mysterious lodge — think like a budget Freemasons — that he soon discovered was also full of people who were lost and searching for something. It’s about finding meaning in life through friends that can become like family, and it’s about wild road trips to Mexico, and Paul Giamatti shows up in season two as a prolific and unhinged author who occasionally heaves himself through a window. It’s a peaceful and relaxing watch that will sometimes make you cackle and sometimes make you tear up. Both seasons are on Hulu. You could do way worse.

If you’re looking for something a little heavier and timely that also stars Regina King

Want some shows that speak to the current moment but also feature very goofy gags about, say, cruise ships filled with lion-crazed sex cults or phrase like “squid pro quo”? Would it help if they’re both on HBO Max and star Regina King? Of course it would. Damon Lindelof is here to help, first with The Leftovers, a show about two percent of the world’s population straight-up vanishing one day out of nowhere and all the ways the people who survived it try to cope. The first season is heavy, man. The second season is as good a season of television as you’ll ever see. The third season wraps everything up — kind of — in a heartfelt and meaningful way and also features a bunch of jokes about wieners and the Wu-Tang Clan. There’s a lot going on. If you want to address the idea of a pandemic head-on, this notion that not everyone will make it through this stretch, The Leftovers is the best version of that you’ll find.

If you’re looking for something that addresses the other huge issue in the news right now, policing and systemic racism, then there’s Watchmen, another series from Lindelof that mixes the very serious with the openly ridiculous. The show opens with the Black Wall Street massacre in Tulsa and builds from there, filling its world with superheroes and racist cops and raining squid. I’m not a big comics junkie by any means but I was still hopelessly hooked by the very loose adaptation of the Alan Moore classic. Again, part of it was how well the show shifted gears. It shied away from nothing of societal substance but also featured, I swear, a fart by Jeremy Irons that lasted so long it required two separate on-screen captions. There are layers at play here. And, again, Regina King, who is so good in this show. Regina King is so good in Watchmen. There’s something very cathartic about watching her shout our language’s best cuss word over and over.

I feel this deeply right now.

If you’re looking for some soothing comedies about goofballs

But maybe you don’t want something about depressed people or something that hits close to home right now. Maybe you want to shut your brain down a little and just laugh. Maybe you want something soothing and funny that detaches you for a little bit. No problem. Allow me to introduce you to Detroiters and Joe Pera Talks With You.

Detroiters starred two people that comedy fans probably know well by now: real-life best friends Tim Robinson (I Think You Should Leave) and Sam Richardson (Veep), who played fictional best friends in charge of an independent advertising agency. It was so good and so funny. It had heart. It had a car that pooped out its tailpipe and an episode-long gag that led to a Blade reference. Every episode had something, most had plenty of things. You can only find it on Comedy Central’s website and app right now, which stinks, but it’s better than nothing. Let Detroiters settle your frayed nerves. Let the “Farmer Zach” episode bring you a tiny moment of joy.

But no discussion about soothing comedies is complete without a mention of Joe Pera Talks With You, an Adult Swim show — also only available on the channel’s site and app — that is unlike anything else I’ve seen on television. Most of the episodes are less than 10 minutes but they still have no interest in rushing. It’s totally in line with the style of its creator and star, comedian Joe Pera, a man who speaks deliberately by nature and uses it to lull you to sleep before punctuating it with furious fits of humor. There’s an entire episode about going to the grocery store. There’s one about him discovering the song “Baba O’Riley.” There’s a season-long arc in season two about him growing a bean arch in his backyard and it is legitimately more satisfying than almost anything you’ll see from almost any “it’s actually a 10-hour movie” season of television. The whole thing is like taking a Xanax and goofing with a very relaxed and funny friend. That’s the best way I can describe it, I think. It’s not perfect, but it’s close.

If you’re thinking about rewatching two perfect shows in under 14 hours total

I’m going to assume you’ve seen Fleabag and American Vandal. I’m going to assume this because everyone yelled at everyone else to watch both shows a few years ago and then both shows had a real moment in the zeitgeist. I bet if I went on social media and just wrote “Who drew the dicks?” I would get dozens of excellent replies. Both shows are perfect little two-season slices of comedy.

That’s why you should rewatch them. Rewatch them this weekend. Both of them. American Vandal’s two seasons on Netflix follow a teen investigative documentary team that tackles the dumbest possible crimes (graffiti dicks; poop cannons) with the utmost seriousness, somehow satirizing true crime from every angle while also chronicling a very real aspect of teen culture in the era of social media. It’s basically a magic trick. And Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s fourth-wall shattering masterwork that’s right there on Amazon, is even better. Two seasons, twelve total episodes, a combined runtime under six hours, a tightly constructed comedy delivery system. You loved Fleabag. I bet you don’t remember all of it. There’s a simple solution here.

Watch them both. Do it this weekend. Or spread them out and watch one episode per night before bed. You have options. But you should do it. Flip from one to the other every episode and see if you start dreaming about the Hot Priest vandalizing cars with drawings of cartoon penises. Probably better than what you’re dreaming about these days anyway.

If you’re looking for a truly insane diversion

It’s has been almost three months since I yelled at you about watching Zoo, so let’s strike up that band again. Zoo was a short-lived CBS drama about the animals of the world rising up against mankind. It was also the single most ridiculous show I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something because I also watched CSI: Cyber, a show in which James Van Der Beek saves a clearly fake plastic baby from drowning in a lake and then Academy Award-winning actress Patricia Arquette gives aggressive CPR to what is still very clearly a plastic doll. Topping that was never going to be easy.

This is a line of dialogue from the very first episode of Zoo.

Here is James Wolk — Bob Benson from Mad Men — backhanding an evil four-star general in the face and demanding to know the location of a mutated sloth that can cause earthquakes with his shrieks.

Here’s a dog named Pizza.

Everything that happens is somehow more insane than the thing that happens before it. The team pushes a car out an airplane and into a volcano to trick a flock of demon vultures into committing mass suicide. The evil four-star general who got slapped by Bob Benson later has hit heart kickstarted with a homemade defibrillator consisting of two plastic cups and a few dozen electrocharged mutant ants who had just tried to blow up Switzerland. There’s a character who starts as a blogger and eventually becomes what I can only describe as “if J.K. Rowling was also Batman.” At one point she gets swallowed whole by an invisible snake.

This isn’t everything. It’s not even close to everything. Zoo is the perfect show for this moment because it is the only show with more happening than our real world right now. Actually, no. Let me take that back. I don’t want to jinx it. The way this year is going, it would be silly to taunt the universe with “at least there’s no mutant animal revolution.” We already had a close call with the murder hornets.

Black celebrities may not always share the “correct” reactions to controversial situations — they aren’t superheroes, after all — but there’s one voice that has been the loudest in its absence. While Kanye West has become better known for sticking his whole foot in his mouth with regards to his political opinion than voicing the prevailing thoughts of the zeitgeist, after nearly two weeks of protests against police brutality, some are starting to wonder why he hasn’t spoken with his “dragon energy brother” Donald Trump, especially in light of the latter’s recent responses to the will of the people.

Among those pointing out West’s conspicuous silence are respected hip-hop journalists like Ebro Darden, who wondered, “And furthermore why is Kanye so quiet?” on Twitter earlier today. The responses have, for the most part, expressed relief — an understandable reaction considering he spent a year flaunting a “Make America Great Again” hat at public appearances and still seems not to get why so many fans were so disappointed in him over it. Darden also shared a post featuring a remixed version of the “Homer Simpson Backs Into Bushes” meme, that turned the titular cartoon character into an animated avatar of Kanye — complete with the red ball cap that caused so much trouble before.

However, Ebro may have a point. When ASAP Rocky was locked up in Sweden, Kanye was quick to take credit for prompting Donald to call up the Swedish authorities — a publicity stunt on Don’s part, and one that spectacularly backfired later — and West’s wife Kim Kardashian has become a vocal advocate for prison reform, which ties directly into some of the police’s tactics which are being called out now. If Kanye has Donald’s ear, you’d think he would try to bend it as Trump barricades himself in the White House behind newly installed fencing and calls for the military to shoot down protestors exercising their First Amendment rights — if only to rehabilitate Kanye’s own image, at least. Kanye has never been one to keep his opinions to himself, which makes his silence now all the more deafening.

See more reactions to Kanye’s absence from the discourse below.

While Alien: Covenant was originally intended to be the second part of a trilogy that kicked off with 2012’s Prometheus, the film underperformed when it hit theaters in 2017, and since then, Disney has gained control of the Alien franchise after its massive acquisition of Fox. In short, the odds of director Ridley Scott completing his prequel trilogy haven’t been looking great. Or so you’d think.

In a recent interview with the L.A. Times, Scott revealed that he’s still working on a sequel to Alien: Covenant:

“I still think there’s a lot of mileage in ‘Alien,’ but I think you’ll have to now re-evolve,” Scott said. “What I always thought when I was making it, the first one, why would a creature like this be made and why was it traveling in what I always thought was a kind of war-craft, which was carrying a cargo of these eggs. What was the purpose of the vehicle and what was the purpose of the eggs? That’s the thing to question — who, why, and for what purpose is the next idea, I think.”

While Scott’s quote confirms reports from 2019 that a Covenant sequel is in the script phase, it also still seems to be stuck there, which should temper expectations for Scott delivering a new Alien film anytime soon. On top of that, Collider reports that he still has to finish directing The Last Duel with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, which saw its production delayed by the pandemic, and then move quickly to Gucci starring Lady Gaga.

Of course, Alien fans could see a situation where Scott hands over directorial duties while serving as producer, which would echo the situation on Indiana Jones 5 where Steven Spielberg passed the reins of that classic franchise to director James Mangold.

(Via L.A. Times)

Last Updated: June 4th, 2020

There are endless facets to the food world. From growing food to processing to transportation to distribution to preparation to dining (plus all the people doing all of that work!) — there’s a ton to talk about. Committing a few hours to watch food documentaries that can help educate you on where your food comes from, the people who control it, and the folks getting those items to your plate will help deepen your knowledge base around an important subject.

What makes a good food documentary is a little hard to pin down. Like we mentioned, there’s just so much to talk about. So to make it a little bit easier, we thought we’d call out ten documentaries centered on food that we love — all currently streaming on Netflix.

The ten food docs below touch on each step of the food supply chain — from production and regulation to the people making food in the highest echelons to what food and drink do to your body. Hopefully, these food documentaries will layer in a little education about food while also entertaining you for an hour or so.

Food On The Go (2017)

Run Time: 66 min | IMDb: 6.3/10

As a lover of all things Italy, this documentary hit a very soft spot for me. It traces Italian foodways as they morphed during Italian migration to the Americas. The film follows the paths of various dishes from their source via migrant voices (mostly to Argentina) and shows how food is constantly evolving — much to the chagrin of the purists.

Food on the Go is a fascinating look at how even the most sacred dishes in food will always be changing and growing.

Add To Netflix Queue

What The Health (2017)

Run Time: 97 min | IMDb: 7.4/10

Directors Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn peeled back the very disturbing world of industrialized food and medicine that plagues the U.S. and much of the planet. The film dives into how the industrial food system is set up to keep us addicted and sick, and then how the industrial pharmaceutical sector rakes in the cash keeping us that way. This is a harrowing watch that should have you in the streets protesting America’s special form of corporatism — because it’s literally killing us.

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Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent (2016)

Run Time: 103 min | IMDb: 6.4/10

It’s getting harder and harder to watch documentaries like this. The sheer white privilege of famed chef Jeremiah Tower is a lot to handle in 2020. Yes, Tower is a great chef who ranks up there with other French-by-way-of-America masters but what does that even mean anymore? The film serves more as comfort food served to you by producer Anthony Bourdain who helps carry the narrative of the film — so if you need a dose of Bourdain, watching this is the way to go.

In the end, the film serves as a time capsule showing that being rich and white over the last few decades meant you could be an ass, and people will still love you and make documentaries about how great you are in spite of it.

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Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014)

Run Time: 90 min | IMDb: 8.3/10

Although this film is only six-years-old, it kind of feels out of date already. The thrust of the film centers around calling out environmental groups for not going harder against industrial agriculture and its devastating effects on the planet. It’s interesting to see heads of big groups like the Sierra Club or Green Peace scramble to cover when asked about that. Today, it feels like we are all much more aware of how industrialized agriculture has screwed us over. Still, this film serves as a good reminder if case anyone’s forgotten the facts.

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The Milk System (2017)

Run Time: 90 min | IMDb: 7.1/10

This is an interesting look at how bovine milk has become one of the biggest agro-markets on the planet. The film focuses on European milk production and trade but has tentacles that reach into the global world of milk (notably with the emerging Chinese market). You leave this doc somewhat baffled at how massive the milk industry is and how much it’s still growing, given the devastation it creates for animals and the environment — making it a worthwhile watch in our estimation.

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The Truth About Alcohol (2016)

Run Time: 60 min | IMDb: 6.4/10

This is a little bit of a departure. This doc is actually an episode from a British TV show called The Truth About…. ER doctor Javid Abdelmoneim dives into a subject from a scientific perspective to dispel hard-held myths and find out what’s really going on, in this case when we consume alcohol. This is a breezy watch that actually provides some useful information about alcohol consumption’s effects on the body and mind that’ll leave you rethinking that last beer in the six-pack.

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Barbecue (2017)

Run Time: 102 min | IMDb: 6.4/10

This documentary takes a long view of putting meat to fire. It’s an exploration of how humans all around the world share the tradition of barbecue — from starting a fire to cooking our food on a flame. It’s simple. It’s universal. And it’s delicious. You’ll definitely start planning your next barbecue while watching this movie.

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Sour Grapes (2016)

Run Time: 85 min | IMDb: 7.3/10

Most of the docs on this list highlight our shared love of food and the sweat, blood, and tears that go into making it. Not so with Sour Grapes. Instead, this doc is true-crime paired with fake wine. The film follows the true exploits of a rich Indonesian wine collector who made millions by scamming people with his vast and expensive collection. The guy would fill old bottles of wine with the cheap stuff, then forge labels to make them seem worth more than they were.

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A Tale of Two Kitchens (2019)

Run Time: 29 min | IMDb: 6.4/10

Chef Gabriela Cámara has been hailed as one of the most innovative women in the food and drink industry and this short doc — which comes in at just under 30 minutes — explores her dual heritage and how it manifests itself in her two restaurants in San Francisco and Mexico City. Besides showcasing how intrinsic Mexcian food is to the American diet, the film highlights the bond amongst Camara’s workers as she creates a community in both restaurants that withstands cultural pressure and political upheaval.

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Theater of Life (2016)

Run Time: 93 min | IMDb: 6.5/10

While most food docs focus on chefs building up their restaurants, competing with their contemporaries, or striving for Michelin ratings, this film looks at what happens when talented cooks use their skills in the kitchen to fight for change. Italian chef Massimo Bottura and 60 other famous chefs created a gourmet soup kitchen in 2015, using food waste from Expo 2015 in Milan. The documentary delves into our global problem with food waste, how it affects the environment, and how it can be simply solved if celebrities and people with a stake in the game get involved.

Add To Netflix Queue

Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly earned the rapper a number of accolades. The record was certified Platinum, awarded a Grammy for Best Rap Album and Album Of The Year, and then-president Barack Obama even named “How Much A Dollar Cost” as his favorite song of 2015. Now, people across the nation are finding the album still resonates amid the protesting taking place in response to police brutality and the murder of George Floyd. As a result, the album has impressively reentered charts this week.

To Pimp A Butterfly has managed to climb to No. 76 on Apple Music’s Top 100 charts and clocked in at No. 44 in the hip-hop charts, according to HotNewHipHop. The album’s charting placement arrives just behind Joyner Lucas’ ADHD, which was released just last week. Lamar’s album returning to the charts is an impressive feat, seeing as the album is five years old.

To Pimp A Butterfly is now heralded as a classic, but the recording process featured a few improvisations. One of Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly producers, jazz musician Robert Glasper, stopped by the Uproxx offices to speak with Talib Kweli on an episode of People’s Party last year. Glasper said that he was originally only supposed to work with Lamar on one song, “For Free? (Interlude).” But, after hearing his chops, Lamar eventually asked Glasper to lend a hand on nine tracks. Glasper also revealed that the piano solo on “These Walls” wasn’t was an improvisation. Unbeknownst to Glasper, Lamar had recorded his warmup and “they ended up cutting my warmup into the song and using it as a solo.”

Previously on the Ins and Outs of AEW Dynamite: Chris Jericho started (continued?) a feud with the final boss from an old NES game, Matt Hardy brought back OMEGA superstar The Surge, and the got damn Revival showed up.

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 June 3, 2020.

All In: Roll Model

You know you’ve got serious character momentum when you get injured and you’re still one of the best parts of the show.

Almost every second of Dr. Britt Baker’s inspirational recovery video is funny to me. The fact that her wheelchair says “roll model” to begin with. Then there’s the gentle leg exercises, her dragging a single small weight behind her, needing a heavy weight switched out with a light one so she can feel good about herself, doing battle ropes by barely moving them up and down, and one final motivation in the form of Tony Schiavone to get her up a wheelchair ramp. I love that her leg is so injured she’s can’t use her arms, either. And then she turns around and does the Rosie the Riveter pose. Super funny.

If that’s not enough, she shows up in the crowd in the bed of a golf cart outfitted with feathers and sparkles, with a little sign on the back that says, “ROLE’S ROYCE.” Whoever’s in charge of the Britt Baker role model puns is working overtime. It has to be the same person who does Hangman Page’s chyrons. Somebody in the AEW creative hierarchy is truly funny as shit. 20 years of unchallenged WWE’s “humor” is one of the reasons I look at a flower now and go, “UGH, THESE FLOWERS ARE SO GROSS, I HATE FEELING GOOD AND BEING HAPPY. R-TRUTH DRESSED UP LIKE SHERLOCK HOLMES TO DO PHOTOSHOP JOKES ABOUT HOW SOMEBODY’S A HIPPO AND A CRYING BABY. AND HE SAID THEIR BREATH SMELLED BAD, AND THEN HE FELL DOWN. I DON’T WANT TO BE ALIVE.”

Sorry, I think I passed out there for a second.

But yeah, after Big Swole’s tough loss to Nyla Rose, Baker interrupts Swole’s interview by getting her assistant, Reba, to aggressively back up the vehicle into the security railing so she can puff up her chest from, again, a wheelchair on the bed of a sparkly golf cart. Before Swole can even finish fishing out a chair from under the ring, Baker’s tone turns to, “you can’t hit me, I’m injured!” She’s straight up fucking magical right now, and maybe the only thing that’s put a legitimate smile on my face all week. Thanks, Doc.

All In: After The Party It’s The Hotel Lobby

Speaking of Tony Schiavone, here he is interviewing the artists formerly known as The Revival in a hotel lobby. This does four really good things: establish who FTR f-t-are to an audience who might not know them, explain why they feuded with the Young Bucks for years only to end up in the same company and not fight each other, tie in the “fuck The Revival” gag from Being The Elite that created the “FTR” initials in the first place, and remind us that AEW’s tag team division is really damn good. In just this interview we get the thought of The Revival vs. Kenny Omega and Hangman Page, The Revival vs. Private Party, The Revival vs. LAX, and The Revival vs. the Lucha Brothers. I’m not sure my brain ever processed the fact that we’re gonna watch Rey Fenix bounce and tumble his way into a Shatter Machine, but holy shit am I ready for that match. I’m ready for all of them.

Also, you know, the Bucks. They didn’t attack them right out of the gate because they want them to heal up and be 100% so there are no buts or excuses. It’s an easy way to explain why they saved them from The Butcher and The Blade, too. It was their first day at work, their goal is to defeat The Young Bucks at 100%, and they need to make sure the Bucks don’t pull a Diamond Dallas Page and spend the rest of their careers wearing rib tape. Plus, that pivots right into FTR vs. the weird post-Memorial Day versions of Butcher and Blade. Love it.

Plus, like Dr. Britt, their interview connects to some in-arena content. Much like how DBBDMD was in the crowd watching the Nyla Rose vs. Big Swole match, FTR’s one of the many teams in the crowd watching Elite Wolfpac defend the AEW World Tag Team Championshp against Kip Sabian and Jimmy Havoc, who picked a really terrible couple of weeks to debut a team name with “Death Squad” in it.

Havoc and Sabian take the champs to something approaching The Limit, which probably shouldn’t happen given the established tier rankings and power levels of the champs in comparison to the challengers, but ultimately makes the Supabad Death Squad* look great in a loss. Now they can go into a match with, say, the Best Friends, and the competitiveness will seem a little more legit. I don’t know, it will in my mind, at least. At the same time I kinda feel like Kenny Omega should be able to beat Kip Sabian and Jimmy Havoc by himself, just in there spamming V-Triggers and Snapdragon Suplexes. Omega’s moveset has turned into Finn Bálor’s, where he finds a couple of moves that work — Dropkick! Sligblade! Dropkick! — and wins like 80% of his matches doing only those moves. Hey, I don’t blame him. Go with what works.

*call the team “Normal Adolescent Behavior,” because they’re the Havoc 2**
**how are these timely Havoc 2 references working out for you?

Mostly In: The Baddest Man On The Planet

As much as I’d like to see the UPROXX logo pop up on the spiritual successor to WCW Monday Nitro, I’d 100% rather see Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy than Chris Jericho vs. Mike Tyson.

Quick real-life politics aside you can skip if you disagree or aren’t interested, I promise it’s okay: Just want to say how sad I am that Chris Jericho is an “all lives matter” guy who blocks folks on social media for mentioning how black people are human beings and should be treated as such. It’s a sad followup to him having Don Jr. as a guest on his podcast and presenting dumb conspiracies and “alternative facts” while saying he’s “not a political pundit.” I will continue trying to disassociate non-fictional politics from the fictional characters I enjoy, and trying so, so hard to never learn what my favorites think about anything in real life.

Okay, you can read about wrestling again: Anyway, back to Orange. Orange Cassidy is great. I want to see random-ass bored Orange Cassidy be the Sting to the Inner Circle’s nWo. Just the one guy they don’t know how to figure out, because he won’t fall for their bait or goofy tricks. I also want to quickly note that I really liked the finish to the Cabana/Jericho match. Cabana did his Colt Cabana thing and was doing really well throughout most of the match, but he tried that corner bounce misdirection, slipped, and caught a Judas Effect to the face for it. I don’t know if the slip was intentional or not, but it really informed the finish.

Also Mostly In: Pretty Hate Machine

Brian Cage makes quick work of Captain Shawn Dean — Shawn Dean and Orange Cassidy should team up as “Naval Orange,” don’t @ me — to set up a Taz promo on Jon Moxley. There are very few people in the modern era of wrestling better at the “be threatening while standing with your nose practically touching the camera lens” style of promo than Taz, and he’s continuing to nail that Freddie Blassie type of manager who talks a big game not only because his guy could kick your ass, but because HE could as well. Adding Taz’s voice and storytelling know-how to Brian Cage’s athleticism and stupidly impossible action figure physique was a magnificent decision.

Surprisingly it was Moxley’s side of the promo I didn’t enjoy. He’s a great talker and carries his weight, but when he starts talking about “different things entirely” it sounds like he’s forgotten his lines and is trying to work through it as he goes. It was a mic drop that didn’t really deserve a mic drop. I dunno, maybe that’s just me. Not the best he’s been.

All In: Jungle Blood

oh wee oh wee oh

Finally we have the first defense of the TNT Championship, with Cody Rhodes going full tilt boogie to get the championship over, get his opponent over, and prove to the haters and doubters that he’s as good and vicious in the ring as his biggest fans say he is. As you might know from reading these columns, I’m a big fan of Cody’s work and don’t need convincing, but I like that he’s lacing up his worker boots and dedicating the next however many weeks of his life to making a name for his championship, and writing that name in his own blood.

Literally. Because of course literally.

The Rhodes bleed like most people sweat, it’s all good. Honestly though, it’s Cody’s fault for putting a guy against a wall and then trying to headbutt him. What was the POSITIVE outcome of that? You’re either headbutting a wall or headbutting a skull with a wall behind it. Punches, my dude, punches!

As for Jungle Jack Perry Boy, this was a really good episode for characters who don’t normally get the spotlight getting bigger spotlights. Colt Cabana got a competitive match with Chris Jericho, Orange Cassidy’s about to get one, Big Swole got TV time and a post-match promo, Jimmy Havoc and Kip Sabian came closer than you’d expect to winning the tag titles (not that AEW doesn’t love them some Kip Sabian content), and Jungle Boy got to take it to the EVP of the promotion and bloody him up in a title match main event. FTR used the week after they debuted to put over the entire tag division by names. It felt like a very subtle restructuring of the hierarchy. And yeah, there are still some people who don’t seem like they’re ever getting the opportunity they deserve — Sonny Kiss, I’m looking in your direction — but it accomplishes a hell of a lot of world building that doing The Elite vs. The Inner Circle over and over doesn’t. Plus, you might as well get some eyes on these people while the casual interest of Mike Tyson fans is still happening.

I don’t think I’ve talked enough about the match, but it’s good. It’s another one of those matches where Cody starts getting super aggro in situations where he doesn’t really need to, which I continue to hope is subtle ground work for an eventual (and inevitable) heel turn. With The Revival around, I want to see Shawn Spears finally get under Cody’s skin enough to turn him, giving us Cody plus Shawn Spears plus The Revival with Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson managing them.

P.S. every time a smaller guy isn’t afraid to bump on the top of his head for the Cross Rhodes, the move looks like a world-ender. You know you’re a rogue deep down when you’re wrestling a guy who’s smaller than you and calls himself “Jungle Boy” and it ends up involving top-rope-to-the-floor table falls and a straight-up brain spiking:

Hype to see who challenges for the TNT Championship next. Give me Cody vs. Sonny Kiss, Cody vs. Pentagon … honestly as long as you stay away from Jake Hager and maybe like, Luther, you’re going to make that title into can’t-miss TV. Cody vs. Marq Quen next week is going to BANG.

All In: Top 10 Comments Of The Week

Caz

JR: up next on TNT, Jungle Jack Reacher!

Jae-Su

Cody is basically becoming Bo Dallas and I’m ALL IN for that.

FeltLuke

The thing is, Rhodes men suffer from a rare condition called “Too Much Blood.”

SexCauldron

If Billy Gunn could read he could peek at Arn’s gameplan

JayBone2

Arn carries around his playbook/Waffle House menu everywhere he goes cause it’s still only open for curbside pickup and Cody is tired of waiting at least 20 minutes each time for him to decide on what to get.

The Real Birdman

Welcome to the jungle, we’ve got fun sized games
We got a guy named Jungle Boy, but JR never knows his name
We got a dinosaur you can find, whenever you may need
If you got the money, honey here’s the son of Luke Perry

Wendell Baugh

Best part of Dynamite is the show always feels like it has forward momentum. Very few wasted motion. A backstage segment with Private Party ad Matt Hardy leads into Marq Quen being the first man to answer the open challenge next week. OC last week led to this segment leading to Best Friends and OC vs Inner Circle next week. An FTR sit down set the stage for a tag match next week. Always feels like things happen to build to the next thing.

That shouldn’t be praise, but it is given the alternative.

Mr. Bliss

Colt! The Dark Order literally turns people into furniture. Summer is coming and your name is Cabana! Put two and two together.

Baron Von Raschke

Alex is too big of a loser for the Dark Order to even consider recruiting

Dave M J

Person responsible for “Days since Cody has bled” sign: …sigh ::changes number to 0::

Additional notes:

• The Dark Order wants to recruit Colt Cabana, presumably so he’ll start the Dark Order podcast. “When Mr. Brodie Lee eats first, he always eats Omaha Steaks …”
• Fyter Fest is now a two-night, Clash of the Champions (or, more accurately, AEW Bash at the Beach)-style event happening over two Dynamite episodes in July. Good to know we’ve got something to look forward to between now and the next pay-per-view, which isn’t until September
• Next week’s show features Colt Cabana vs. Sammy Guevara, Marq Queen vs. Cody for the TNT Championship, FTR debuting against The Butcher and The Blade, and a trios match between the Inner Circle and the Best Friends + Orange Cassidy

That does it for this week’s column. Thanks for reading about Dynamite! Not the best episode they’ve ever done, but the main event did it for me and even the more milquetoast episodes of Dynamite are fun to watch. Leave us a comment below, give the column a share on social media, and make sure you’re here next week. See you then!

The free tier of the WWE Network was introduced earlier this week and with it, a staple of the streaming service was lost. The Network has dropped its “first month free” offer.

PWInsider pointed out this change, noting that the service’s billing page now says that “Billing starts on the date you subscribe or reactivate your account subscription.” So while a variety of older WWE-owned programming is now available without a subscription, those who want to subscribe to the Network to see the latest PPV will have to pay $9.99 for it.

The ads for the Network on the website reflect this new billing system, promoting that the WWE Network “includes every live WWE pay-per-view event at no additional cost – a great value each month” and “unlimited access to WWE’s premium content.” It also advertises “exclusive access to in-ring premier shows like NXT, where new Superstars amaze the WWE Universe every week and 205 Live” even though weekly NXT TV can be seen on USA as well as the WWE Network now.

This doesn’t impact the billing of regular WWE Network subscribers, but it ends the era of hearing those “get your first month free” sales pitches on Raw, Smackdown, etc., especially as pay-per-views approach. What’s next? No more $9.99?

The world of eSports is beginning to look more like the traditional sports landscape in a variety of ways. Competitive video games like Overwatch League and League of Legends are getting more airtime on TV, and the absence of sports in recent months thrust sports sims like Madden and NBA 2K on ESPN and showcased pro gamers in a new light.

As eSports leagues get bigger, though, one emerging trend is that they’re actually starting to look a lot less like the sports we’re familiar with. When it comes to fashion in particular, the eSports world has seen an influx of luxury brand influence and streetwear collaborations that have changed the look of competitive gaming in a big way. Some of these changes are more subtle than others. Louis Vuitton, for example, in 2019 made a case for the League of Legends World Championship trophy and released a digital capsule collection designed by Nicolas Ghesquière.

The trophy case is literally ceremonial, but the Summoner’s Cup joins other trophies like the FIFA World Cup, the Davis Cup and the trophies awarded to winners of the French Open at Roland Garros as prizes wrapped in the company’s signature wordmark. Deals like these work both ways: it legitimizes eSports in a distinct visual way, and these luxury brands see the huge streaming numbers eSports events get as an opportunity to get more eyeballs on their products.

“The eSports audience is global, highly engaged, and has grown to a scale that is on par with some of the biggest sports and entertainment audiences in the world,” said Naz Aletaha, head of global eSports partnerships and business development at Riot Games, which owns League of Legends. “Brands see value in reaching this increasingly hard-to-reach, digital-first audience by connecting with their passion points and elevating their gaming and eSports experiences.”

Aletaha related it to how companies partner with traditional sports leagues and teams. But for streetwear designers, the relationship is often more personal. Streetwear and music artist Joe Perez cited his love of Call of Duty first and foremost when it came to his decision to partner with its eSports league on a design project.

“I kind of got involved myself about a year and a half ago and kind of got lost in the world,” said Perez, Kanye West’s former art director who has also designed album covers for stars Billie Eilish and Janelle Monáe. “I started learning about the culture that’s involved in Call of Duty and how it brought in people from different cultures and backgrounds together. And I really liked that part of the game and the platform.”

Perez designed a limited run hoodie for Call of Duty League’s inaugural season, which had a worldwide tour moved online-only due to the coronavirus pandemic. The two working together is another example of a mutually beneficial partnership at play. His name is significant in the streetwear scene, which lends the upstart Call of Duty League some credibility in a highly competitive fashion world. And for Perez, it’s a chance to transform an industry whose early eSports “jerseys” looked more like NASCAR fire suits or ad-filled pro bowling gear than something LA Lakers star Kyle Kuzma would wear casually.

“When it came to eSports and Call of Duty League, it is like a startup,” Perez said. “It gave us a starting point where we could built it up and kind of cross-pollinate the two cultures: this second culture kind of being the streetwear that I help build with Virgil (Abloh) and Kanye while I worked at Kayne’s studio.”

Perez noted his work with Virgil, the Pyrex and OFF-WHITE founder, and the “design language” that comes with streetwear. Bringing that influence to a largely unexplored market, the thinking goes, would undoubtedly stand out against other products leaning heavily on traditional sports design.

“A lot of esports leagues had jerseys and tee shirts and merch that felt very sports-oriented. And, well, that’s great, but what does the eSports language look like? We already know what the sports language looks like, from anywhere from Formula One racing to NASCAR to football. We know that language,” Perez said. “But here what was an interesting challenge was we had the ability to build that from scratch. That’s why I really wanted to get involved.”

One particular advantage was the time he had to develop something that felt authentic to both the pros competing and the fans who have grown up watching Call of Duty evolve into a pro touring league. Other projects he’s worked on develop at a much faster pace — album art often needs to come together in a matter of days, and tour merchandise sometimes gets a week of break-neck development at most. But Call of Duty League offered more time to build something new and apply it to other pieces of merchandise that reflected what many fans are already wearing.

“We have liberties to kind of redefine what (Call of Duty) looks like. The one-off special drops of this nature and each platform has its own personality and culture that comes with it,” Perez said. “So it’s really important to kind of digest that and put that into the merch so the fans feel like they’re getting not only a piece of the league and a piece of the brand but the personality of the game.”

And to be sure, the sheer variety of games and players in the eSports scene does make for different results across the industry, letting companies and sponsored gamers create special collections that cater to their own fans and causes. Call of Duty League’s Chicago Huntsman may honor Michael Jordan with a shirt extremely influenced by Chicago Bulls nostalgia, for example, but FaZe Clan’s merch runs a much more varied gambit in the different leagues in which they own teams.

Andbox, which owns Overwatch League’s New York Excelsior, has even developed a line of apparel and fragrance around Overwatch star Jong-ryeol “Saebyeolbe” Park. The SBB Collection includes a cherry blossom-inspired hoodie, bomber jacket and shirt. To his fans, the limited run of merchandise is instantly recognizable and contributes to a good cause, but to those outside of the eSports world it would look nothing like sports merchandise.

Andbox designed the collection to release much like major fashion houses reveal their products, and the limited run of merch follows streetwear sensibilities more than anything you’d see from the traditional sports world. And for designers like Perez, the merging of eSports and high-end fashion has been a long time coming.

“This is something that I’ve expected for years, quite honestly. I knew that in entertainment there’s this evolution going on that’s emerging between films and interactive and this culture that’s emerging with video games online and with Twitch,” Perez said. “It’s the most exciting as a designer and creative director to see a new frontier kind of blossom. Obviously you want to be a part of that and help define that. And through that you can kind of inspire and dictate the language for another generation so that challenge always excites me.”

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Thanks in part to social media, many things that would have been considered non-controversial in the past have now been given greater meaning. More access to information — and the need to project the right “brand” — means almost everything is politicized, from the music we listen to, to the food we eat. DaBaby is finding that out now, as a recent post of his on Twitter has many fans crying “fowl.”

The North Carolina rapper probably didn’t mean to make any political statements when he posted himself cuddling up with a freshly-bought bag of Chick-Fil-A on Wednesday, but thanks to increased awareness of the restaurant’s founders’ political donation history, there are many in the hip-hop community who consider the chicken shack persona non grata (Kanye notwithstanding). Those fans let DaBaby hear about it in their replies to his post, calling him out for “supporting” the brand — especially at such a sensitive time when protests against police brutality continue across the nation.

DaBaby responded to the backlash, wondering whether his critics were just bored and joking that “I ain’t know n****s couldn’t eat Chick-Fil-A during the protests,” setting off another round of angry replies from his followers.

See DaBaby’s original post, the responses to it, and his eventual reaction above.