These are Walter’s Sunday Nuggets Samps Edition featuring:
MLB Top-5 Power Rankings so far
A rant about the current build to WrestleMania 42 (this is my Sunday Nuggets, so don’t get mad, okay?)
A compilation of recommended reading from the WalterPicks team for the serious fan/fantasy player
We are hiring! A description of the roles we are seeking and how to apply…
MLB Top-5 Power Rankings 🚨
New York Yankees: The pitching’s been elite so far. The Bronx Bombers started the season as strong as they could’ve possibly asked for.
Atlanta Braves: Is there bias here? Absolutely. But Walt Weiss has managed the team very well so far, and it looks like the Braves have an absolute stud in Drake Baldwin.
Los Angeles Dodgers: They’re going to be top-5 in the power rankings all season. There’s not much else to say.
Milwaukee Brewers: The Brewers are always underrated heading into the season. It looks like they’ll be contending once again.
Cleveland Guardians: Cleveland’s played an absolute gauntlet so far, playing series against the Mariners and Dodgers. They’re 5-3, leading a weak AL Central. Also, Chase DeLauter is insane. Look at this swing.
WrestleMania Rant (It’s MY Sunday Nuggets okay?)
For those out of the wrestling loop, WrestleMania is the WWE’s version of the Super Bowl. Every year, the hottest, most impassioned, important, and exciting stories are expected to culminate at what WWE calls “The Grandest Stage of them All.” For WrestleMania 42, the execution of these yearly expectations has been, for lack of a better term, abysmal. We won’t dive into every match, but we certainly could.
For the sake of my Sunday Nuggets takeover, we’ll discuss the build for Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship.
These two have over twenty years of history. Their fathers are both hall-of-famers in the industry, and this is something that WWE used to help Rhodes get his feet wet within the company. Shortly after his debut, Rhodes joined Orton in a group called “The Legacy”. Orton took Rhodes under his wing and helped blossom his wrestling career.
These facts alone are enough to build an elaborate, meaningful storyline for their WrestleMania match two decades later.
The WWE decided to go in a different direction.
A month ago, Orton obliterated Rhodes, bloodying him in a vicious attack. He attributed the attack to hearing voices in his head. The voices that have guided him to commit some heinous acts throughout his legendary career. In addition to the voices, he had been seen taking on-screen phone calls from a mystery man who had been egging him on, urging him to act on what his voices were telling him.
Orton and Rhodes in The Legacy
Wrestling fans speculated that this voice could’ve been a litany of people, all of whom made more sense than who ended up actually being the mystery man, Pat McAfee…
McAfee, the former Colts punter and current ESPN host, has a brief wrestling history. But, he has ZERO history with either of the men in the main event match. He revealed himself as the man by attacking Rhodes and spewing nonsense that completely contradicts everything he’s ever said about professional wrestling. He was forced into a storyline that DID NOT need him in any way, shape, or form.
Reports indicate that the higher-ups at WWE wanted him thrust into this story to try to draw more eyeballs (this won’t happen; McAfee is NO draw).
As a lifelong wrestling fan, this was wildly infuriating. It turned a very exciting match/story into something I couldn’t care less about. Maybe the match will still be good, but that feels doubtful.
📚 Recommended Reading
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