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We publish a whole lot of content here at Cageside Seats. We’re also [looks around and whispers so the bosses can’t hear] not the only place producing wrestling content on the internet. So, as a service to you on the weekdays, we’ll be producing a wrestling newsletter, "Rude Awakening." Well, it will be a newsletter eventually: for now, it’ll just be part of your experience here at Cageside, collecting the news, recaps, and social moments from the greater wrestling universe daily so you won’t fall behind, with a newsletter format to come.
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The Hardy Boyz are currently a tag team in WWE after returning to the company at WrestleMania 33 just in time for the RAW Tag Team Championship match, which, by the way, they won. While they’re comfortable in this tag role now, given the fame it brought them and the WWE Universe’s familiarity with them as a unit, the Hardy Boyz 2 Men don’t expect to always be a duo.
In fact, Matt Hardy spoke to Sports Bible in an interview about that, among other things, with the expectation being that, at some point, each of the Hardys would be in singles feuds dealing with their own problems instead of permanently packaged as a team:
I think down the road there will be a potential for both of us doing our own things; we're both strong singles personalities in many ways, and I think as performers we've grown as we've got older; we've got smarter.
Wondering if this was going to be the case with them was legitimate, too, especially since WWE never figured out just how they were going to make Bubba Ray Dudley a singles competitor like he was with the former TNA. WWE would be foolish to not take advantage of the various feuds that Matt Hardy suggests he and his brother would be into as singles competitors. Bray Wyatt for Matt — presumably while broken. Seth Rollins for Jeff. Either of them against Roman Reigns.
There are so many fresh and new matchups here with the Hardys as singles competitors, that it almost seems impossible for WWE to not eventually use them this way. With Brock Lesnar only around on occasion and the main event always just an injury or two away from looking a little thin, having both of the Hardys around to go where they need to go — tag, mid-card, main-event — would be... well, you know.
Okay I can’t help myself it would be delightful.
- Thursday’s Rumor Roundup includes plans for TakeOver: Chicago and Backlash, but also a potential romance for Finn Balor. Like, a real one, not a kayfabe one.
- This week’s NXT was full of recaps, but it was also the best go-home show WWE has put out post-WrestleMania 33 as it set the stage for TakeOver.
- Good news, everyone! There is more Southpaw Regional Wrestling on the way.
- We fantasy booked The Rock’s presidency, because what else are you supposed to when rumors about a wrestler pop up?
- This week’s Impact preview wonders why we’re already getting a James Storm/Ethan Carter blowoff.
- Breezango are amazing. I’d say that’s all, but there’s a whole article about that topic for you to read.
- Erick Rowan got real creepy on Tuesday night during Talking Smack.
- In this week’s 205 Live recap, we see that the show might finally be getting ready to turn the page.
- WWE and the developer of Rocket League announced a partnership between the sports entertainment and esports giants.
- Al Snow said, thanks to a typo, he was arrested due to a traffic ticket he received a couple years ago.
- The Backlash card got a little longer, with two more matches added to the show. Here’s the (presumably) final card for Sunday’s SmackDown-exclusive pay-per-view.
- Paste Magazine published a feature on how the Young Bucks’ YouTube page allows them to tell the best stories in wrestling.
- Tom Holzerman writes, in wake of the signing of Io Shirai, that depth is still an issue in WWE’s women’s division.
- Stephanie McMahon doesn’t think WWE has any competition, but she doesn’t mean that dismissively. She acknowledges that other promotions — indies included — are raising the overall profile and popularity of wrestling. It’s just that, right now, none of them can touch multimedia giant WWE.