A new report by Jonathan Givony of ESPN indicates that the highly-anticipated return of the Chinese Basketball Association will once again get pushed back. The league has not played games since January as part of China’s efforts to rein in the spread of the novel coronavirus, and basketball leagues worldwide have looked to the CBA as something of a test balloon for how and when it will be safe to re-launch a league on hiatus.
Its first attempt at getting back on the floor was supposed to occur on April 15, but that had to be pushed back to May 11 for a handful of reasons. Now, Givony brings word that a May 11 return won’t happen, either, and the CBA isn’t expected to be able to take the floor until potentially sometime in July. This comes after a call league officials reportedly held on Monday evening concluded with another suspension.
Via ESPN:
Further complicating matters is the entry ban that was implemented by the Chinese Foreign Ministry in late March on all non-citizens, including residents and foreigners with previously issued visas. Several players were unable to enter China, leaving many CBA rosters without one or both of the allotted import players.
No final decision on the CBA’s season can be made without government clearance, which won’t happen until mid-May at the earliest, sources told ESPN. The possibility of canceling the remainder of the season is still in play.
A handful of Americans — like Ty Lawson, Jeremy Lin, and Lance Stephenson — all play in the CBA. Givony mentioned that both the NBA and EuroLeague are “closely” monitoring the CBA for how its relaunch will go, although there is no word on whether or not those leagues’ returns will be held off until they get the opportunity to analyze any sort of restart in China.
Previously on the Best and Worst of Raw: It was the Raw after WrestleMania, Maggle! We found out there was a secret WrestleMania main event, we got some roster call-ups, trades and returns, and nary a beach ball was to be found. Will we ever have a #RawAfterMania like this again? Lord, I hope not.
One more thing: Hit those share buttons! Spread the word about the column on Facebook, Twitter and whatever else you use. Be sure to leave us a comment in our comment section below as well. I know we always ask this, and that this part is copy and pasted in every week, but we appreciate it every week. Up next is Money in the Bank, unless it isn’t.
And now, the Best and Worst of WWE Raw for April 13, 2020.
Worst: Who Are You And What Have You Done With Brandon?!?
Hi, everybody! Scott Heisel here. You might recognize my byline around these parts, especially if you enjoy me demanding Chris Jericho listen to Mariah Carey. Brandon recently moved across the country and is waiting for his internet to get hooked up in his new residence. Until then, you get me! Think of it like that time Sabu was supposed to main event December To Dismember but you got Hardcore Holly instead. You’re welcome.
So, why is WWE now considered an essential business by the state of Florida? Well, it could be because they’re trying to set the table for major league baseball to play a shortened season in the sunshine state, or, if you’re a conspiracy victim, it’s because WWE was in danger of breaching their live-TV contracts with USA and FOX, and Donald Trump’s head of the Small Business Administration, Linda McMahon, called Ron DeSantis to grease the wheels before her family declared bankruptcy. Honestly, it’s the flip of a coin with this administration at this point.
It is absolutely bonkers WWE is continuing to make their talent travel to a state with 21,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 just so they can keep their inflated TV contract money coming in. To put it into some sort of perspective, the entirety of Canada only has 25,000 confirmed cases thus far. This is wildly unnecessary and unsafe for everyone involved (including the camerapeople, producers and other backstage workers). Take the L, Vince, and run best-ofs for Stone Cold and the Rock and whoever else until we can start gathering small crowds in Full Sail Arena or the PC again.
As for the wrestlers themselves: Unionize already, for fuck’s sake.
Oh Yes, It’s Ladies Night, Oh What A Night
I don’t know if it’s because male talent are refusing to work in this climate, or if travel bans prevented international Superstars from making flights, or if just more female talent live closer to the Performance Center, but Raw was jam-packed with women last night, from in-ring promos by Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, to Zelina Vega becoming the most effective heel manager this side of Bobby Heenan, to three Money In The Bank qualifying matches. Let’s take a look at those, shall we?
By far, the Best of the three qualifiers is Asuka vs. Ruby Riott. The trash talk was flying between these two competitors early, which made it easier to tune out the commentary from 70-year-old heart attack survivor Jerry Lawler, the dictionary definition of “inessential worker.” (More on that later.) I enjoyed the submission-hold tradeoff at the end of the match, and while I never doubted Asuka would lose, it was nice to see Ruby get elevated to her level.
Somewhere in the middle was Kairi Sane vs. Nia Jax. Again, the conclusion was foregone, but I’ll be damned if I Worst a segment that involves Kairi Sane channeling the spirit of Phantasio and incorporating the art of mime, as well as Nia Jax gaining a new, pun-based finishing move. (Her Samoan drop was called the A-Nia-Later, get it?) Plus, this gives Asuka a good reason to go after Nia in the Money In The Bank Ladder match, clearing a path for the obvious pick to win it…
…Sarah Logan! Seriously, how terrible was this Shayna Baszler vs. Sarah Logan match? What are they trying to do here? Shayna (who apparently is on Raw full-time now, based on her chyron) isn’t Brock Lesnar. If you wanted her to be the dominant face of Raw’s women’s division, why not just have her nuke Becky at WrestleMania? Why have her lose like a chump in eight minutes, only to (presumably) punk out the the best of Raw and Smackdown women’s divisions at Money In The Bank to get the briefcase? You’re making me hate Shayna Baszler, and not in the cool-heel way — it’s more of in the “I wonder what else is on right now” way.
Supplementary (and Accidental) Best: There was truly nothing more hilarious then Ring Announcer Greg announcing the wrong person as the winner of the match. The YouTube video above mutes his announcement, but we all know what we heard, Greg. #justiceforsarahlogan
As for the promos from Charlotte and Becky, I preferred the latter to the former (seriously, why is Charlotte cutting this promo on Raw and not on NXT?), though neither of them were essential enough to be delivered from anywhere outside of each woman’s home. Seriously, y’all. Stop making talent travel just to talk into a camera. They can do that in their living room. WWE literally made Rey Mysterio fly from San Diego to Orlando for a 75-second backstage promo. Stop doing this.
Best: Los Ingobernables De Orlando
Not only did Raw’s A and B stories dovetail together nicely this episode (a rare occurrence, to be sure), it also provided new WWE Champion Drew McIntyre with his (presumptive) Money In The Bank opponent in Seth Rollins and elevated a new main-event stable for McIntyre to be at war with in the Zelina Vega-led Los Ingobernables De Orlando, featuring Andrade, Angel Garza and extreme-sports Ken doll Austin Theory. It’s like an episode of Seinfeld in here! What’s the deal with the soul of beef, anyway?
Vega deserves a raise for how good she is putting over Andrade, Garza and Theory — in this online exclusive, she even references her real-life marriage with Aleister Black to justify how Theory will beat him next week in a MITB qualifier match. World-building, Maggle! I love it!
While I absolutely did not love having Andrade lose in a champion vs. champion match against Drew McIntyre in the main event (like, why not just have it get thrown out due to interference?), nor did I love the terrible dialogue given to Andrade (“No more señor nice guy,” seriously?), I do love how the match was built up throughout the night, with call-backs to Drew and Andrade’s championship feud in NXT, referencing Drew’s real-life injury and how it landed him on the shelf. WWE seems to be putting a lot into building up McIntyre as the new face of Raw, so hopefully the live audience will get behind him once he’s in front of one again. (If he keeps laying in those chops as thick as he was last night, it’s hard to imagine they won’t.)
As for Saint Seth, I am all about him leaning big-time into the “He is risen” schtick. Anything to keep Christians home watching TV and angrily writing letters instead of congreating in churches spreading COVID-19 is A-OK with me.
Lawler making comments about what makes a good marriage with no sense of irony is peak Lawler.
The Real Birdman
Kairi doesn’t use a bank for her money anyway
AddMayne
Endy_Mion
Jerry was off calling Ruby ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” but her asking for the “Real Asuka” definitely makes Ruby “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”
Mr. Bliss
Lawler’s jokes are in the age group most likely to die from Covid-19.
Clay Quartermain
I feel an opportunity to have every onscreen talent wearing a face mask made from XFL jerseys was missed here.
Baron Von Raschke
Tom: Ricochet talked about how he and Cedric have always wanted to form a tag team but the opportunity wasn’t there until Vince had ran their once-promising singles career into the ground and left them with no real options going forward and I can’t believe I’m saying this on the air I hope I don’t get fired and oh my god I fee so free it’s a joke that we are even doing this show, we should be doing BEST OF WWE shows with stuff that made you fall in love with wrestling in the first place…
Byron: Shut UP, PHILLIPS!
troi
Byron avoiding looking at Zelina’s butt like a man that knows she is married to a Dutch kickboxer
notJames
Austin Theory is Lance Storm without a personality.
King Of Smark Style
Is this live? Because if it was taped, they forgot to edit out this Nia Jax match.
WWE
Hold up: You seriously made me travel from Houston during a pandemic for *this*?
And that was… a version of Raw, I guess! Sure, it was heavy on the mid-card and women’s divisions, and yeah, it lacked many big names from Raw’s side of the WrestleMania card like Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles, Edge, Randy Orton, Kevin Owens and the Big Show, but at least we got Jerry Lawler back, while putting countless WWE employees (and independent contractors) and their families at risk in the middle of a global pandemic. We’re putting smiles on people’s faces over here!
Thanks for reading this far, and hopefully we’ll have Brandon re-connected to the Matrix in time for next week, when we’re getting Rey Mysterio vs. Murphy, Apollo Crews vs. MVP and Aleister Black vs. Austin Theory in Money In The Bank qualifying matches. I can’t wait to find out who Greg Hamilton accidentally declares as the victor!
In a surprising move, Quibi is already accelerating its plans to make the streaming app available on TVs less than a week after launch. As one might suspect, the current health crisis isn’t exactly conducive to the brand’s “on the go” watching. Although, CEO Mega Whitman does her best to counter that line of thinking in a new interview with CNBC. “It turns out people have in-between moments at home,” Whitman said. “We don’t actually think it hurt us.”
Nevertheless, Quibi is making moves to get its bite-size content in front of as many as viewers as possible even if that includes pulling back on its initial pitch of being a mobile-only platform, which was apparently the plan all along:
With so many potential customers for Quibi working from home as stay-at-home orders sweep the U.S., Whitman said the company is accelerating its plans to enable the app to cast to TVs. While the feature wasn’t planned to be part of the launch, Whitman said it was always in the cards for later on.
Of course, the major question is if a TV-cast feature will entice new users to plunk down on yet another streaming service, specifically one that’s built around short bursts of content to view in line at the DMV or waiting for your coffee at Starbucks. Quibi could also be looking at a scenario where it launches its TV feature just as social-distancing measures are being lifted.
Despite some doubts around whether or not it was even a real thing, Quibi officially launched last week with a 90-day trial of its streaming service for mobile users. In that first week alone, the app was downloaded 1.7 million times and 80% of viewers were reportedly watching full episodes without tuning out, according to Whitman. Of course, the whole point of Quibi is that episodes are 5-10 minutes long, so that metric is relative, but it does show that the curious content app is finding an audience.
For many musicians, the time spent in quarantine is an opportunity to create new music. Take Charli XCX for example: The pop singer is recording an entire album from home with the help of fans. But other musicians, like Angel Olsen, are similarly trying out new tunes. Angel Olsen recently hosted the livestream concert Angel Olsen: Still At Home to benefit her touring crew and MusiCares’ COVID-19 Relief Fund. During the livestream, Olsen debuted two brand new songs.
The singer performed a full 18-song set live from her living room. With only a guitar, a piano, and her resounding vocals, Olsen pulled from her wide catalog for an array of hauntingly beautiful tunes. Along with playing her hits like “All Mirrors,” the singer performed a cover of Roxy Music’s “More Than This” and one of Bruce Springsteen’s classics. But fans who purchased admission to the livestream were in for an exclusive treat: Olsen debuted two new untitled ballads during the performance.
One of the new tracks was accompanied by warm piano chords. “You can take everything / I’m not looking back,” Olsen crooned. For her second new song, the singer opted for an acoustic guitar. “I don’t have an ending yet,” she said as she abruptly finished the preview.
Watch Angel Olsen perform two new songs as well as a rendition of her All Mirrors title track above.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Playboi Carti was recently arrested on drug charges in his native Atlanta after being pulled over by deputies over expired tags on his car. Now, those deputies are accusing the rapper of using some pretty vulgar language during his arrest, according to TMZ. According to a police report, Carti was fed up before he was even placed under arrest, telling the officer who pulled him over he “had a hot wife” and telling him he’d “f*ck” his daughter.
Carti was also reported as saying he didn’t care about the expensive sports car and that he’d just buy a new one anyway. Allegedly, he told the officers to take him jail, because he “didn’t even care anymore.” A press release shared by Sheriff Victor Hill of the Clayton County Sheriff’s Department advised that the rapper’s car contained 12 bags of weed, the drugs codeine, oxycodone, and xanax, and three guns. Carti was booked on charges of failing to display an updated license plate decal, improperly passing an emergency vehicle, and possession of marijuana before being released on bond.
The Die Lit rapper likely had plenty of reason to feel grumpy — after all, we’ve all got the quarantine blues — but also apparently has at least one thing to look forward to. During a recent livestream, Drake previewed a track that will apparently feature Carti, which will likely give the younger rapper the lift he needs to take his upcoming album, Whole Lotta Red, to mainstream levels of success.
Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.
While we’re at it, if you want more music recommendations curated by Steven Hyden delivered directly to your inbox every week, sign up for the Indie Mixtape newsletter.
The Strokes — The New Abnormal
On their first full-length album since 2013’s disappointing-but-then-reappraised Comedown Machine, The Strokes deliver some truly strange and ’80s-inspired synth-pop numbers, and a few undeniable bangers. While the band’s previous two LPs were criticized for documenting a band at their point of least engaged, Steven Hyden writes for Uproxx thatThe New Abnormal seems to have been “consciously constructed to be another ‘disappointing Strokes album’ that will sound better in about three years.” Now that’s a different, borderline genius type of forward-thinking.
Trace Mountains — Lost In The Country
After the disbandment of beloved New York indie rock outfit LVL UP in 2018, guitarist and vocalist Dave Benton didn’t take long to pivot to his solo sporadic project Trace Mountains. Lost In The Country is the debut full-length from the newly full-time project, and showcases Benton’s knack for catchy songwriting. Where Benton is usually writing about himself in his songs, the ten tracks on Lost In The Country see Benton turning the focus even more inward than on past projects.
Laura Marling — Song For Our Daughter
Song For Our Daughter marks Laura Marling’s fourth release since 2013, and seventh overall. Only thirty years old, Marling is still exceptionally reflective, perhaps aided by her pursuit of a master’s degree in psychoanalysis. Her newfound knowledge comes through in her music, and transforms Daughter into what Steven Hyden calls for Uproxx “a song cycle addressed to the child that she might have one day, in which the prospective mother unloads wisdom and warnings.”
Hamilton Leithauser — The Loves Of Your Life
You might know Hamilton Leithauser from his work with The Walkmen. The Loves Of Your Life is his second solo album, and each song was written about a specific person. In this way, the record works similarly to a photo album, documents of people, places, and things that you wanted to capture. It is chock-full of beautiful vocal melodies and harmonies that sound like they are soaked with love. Among the guest backing vocalists on the record are Leithauser’s wife Anna Stumpf, their daughters Georgiana and Frederika, and Lacrisha Brown, the girls’ former preschool teacher. More than an album, The Loves Of Your Life is a document of a tight-knit community.
Phoebe Bridgers — “Kyoto”
Phoebe Bridgers has been so busy collaborating with other artists recently — Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Conor Oberst, and The 1975, to name only a small handful — that it would be easy to forget that nearly three years have elapsed since Stranger In The Alps landed in our laps, the best indie album of the 2010s. Finally, Bridgers has announced her sophomore solo LP, Punisher. “Kyoto” features a soaring chorus and orchestral arrangements courtesy of Bright Eyes’ Nathaniel Walcott. “This is Bridgers’ first solo album in a few years, but she’s not going about it alone,” writes Derrick Rossignol for Uproxx.
The Beths — “Dying To Believe”
The Beths’ debut album Future Me Hates Me was one of our favorite indie albums of 2018, and we can barely contain our excitement for its follow-up. “Dying To Believe” is a very promising entry to The Beths’ catalogue, a beautifully-arranged power pop number wherein “vocalist Elizabeth Stokes reckons with the distance that inevitably comes between friends as life passes by,” writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx.
Varsity — “Runaway”
On their new album Fine Forever, Varsity decided to take some risks sonically. “Runaway” previews this approach, anchored by a driving bass line that lends itself to a dance-ready number with big guitars and shimmering guitars. Singer/keyboardist Stef Smith’s vocals really shine here, doused in reverb and complimented by a luscious saxophone solo.
2nd Grade – “Velodrome / My Bike”
You might be inclined to call 2nd Grade a Philadelphia supergroup, featuring members of Free Cake For Every Creature, Remember Sports, and Friendship. “Velodrome / My Bike” are technically two tracks, but they work together nicely, with the former flowing seamlessly into the latter. On the tracks, the band are “as honest as they are sarcastic,” writes Carolyn Droke for Uproxx. It’s this unique balance that makes 2nd Grade a band to keep an eye on in 2020.
Washed Out — “Too Late”
Although Washed Out has not announced a new album, “Too Late” marks Ernest Greene’s first new release since a handful of standalone singles in 2018. It’s a breezy, fun track that acts as a nice, temporary respite from the world around us. Maybe one day we’ll be able to listen to it on the beach, where it belongs.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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