Becky Lynch’s recent heel turn has surprised and excited fans (once again). While this villain arc grows, Lynch doesn’t feel out of place; instead, she feels very much at home. Talking to Cody Rhodes on his What Do You Wanna Talk About podcast, she opened up about a heel in wrestling and its evolving meaning in the sport. “I really love being a bad guy. I feel like I do more good being bad, you know?” she said. “I’m a better wrestler that way. I’m better at making people look good. I’m not a cool wrestler. I don’t have cool moves. I don’t like you, don’t do anything.” Lynch recently turned heel on the April 21, 2025, episode of WWE RAW, immediately after becoming Women’s Tag Team Champion with Lyra Valkyria. In a surprising turn of events, she attacked Valkyria, revealing she’d orchestrated previous backstage events, marking her fourth heel turn in WWE. She finds herself lucky not to have a “babyface”, which would apparently make it harder for her in the WWE. In her words, they have to be selfish and focus on looking great inside the ring, rather than becoming political. On the contrary, as a heel, her job is less stressful, as she only has to focus on making them look cool. Lynch has no qualms about being the villain, even if that means that she would be cancelled. It is a known fact that she does not shy away from controversy, including her recent comments about Ozzy Osbourne, which led to her facing criticism from his daughter, Kelly Osbourne, who called her a “disrespectful dirtbag”. But she is the least bit worried about being cancelled for her borderline unhinged comments. “Cancel me. Because I found that you really can’t be canceled unless you’re a piece of s---. If you just said something dumb one time, that’s not enough,” he said. “I want enemies. I started to dare. Go ahead, please cancel me.” “Disrespectful Dirtbag” Lynch’s comments at the recent live broadcast of RAW were rather unhinged, and that’s putting it lightly. Talking about why she wasn’t wrestling in Birmingham (Ozzy Osbourne’s hometown), she stated that the only good thing that came out of the city “died a month ago.” And unsurprisingly, her comment was met with clamorous booing from the audience members. This also did not sit well with his daughter, Kelly, who took to Instagram to say, “@beckylynchfanll, you are a disrespectful dirtbag! Birmingham would not pi-- on you if you were on fire. #birminghamforever shame on the @wwe for allowing such things to be said about my father and his home!!!”
Some previously accused Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski of sabotaging the development of rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders as Stefanski kept Sanders buried on the depth chart throughout the summer. A day after it was learned that Cleveland had agreed to trade Kenny Pickett to the Las Vegas Raiders for a 2026 fifth-round draft pick, Stefanski confirmed that Sanders will enter the Week 1 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7 as the Browns' QB3 behind starter Joe Flacco and fellow first-year pro Dillon Gabriel. During a recent chat with Jason Reid of Andscape, former NFL quarterback Akili Smith explained that the tape shows Sanders is behind as it pertains to playing the sport's most important position at the highest level. "If you take some time and break down the tape, and you understand what concepts they’re running, you see that Dillon Gabriel is ahead of Shedeur," Smith said. "No one who looks at the tape of those two and understands what they’re looking at could see it any other way. Gabriel is ahead of him, and a big thing is pocket presence. Shedeur took a sack in [the last preseason] game…it was ridiculous. You had all these people [on social media] blaming the line. He’s dropping back [too far]. He had to step up in the pocket or throw the ball away. It’s one or the other." Sanders took five sacks and completed just 3-of-6 passes for 14 yards in Cleveland's preseason finale versus the Los Angeles Rams on Aug. 23. Meanwhile, Gabriel connected on 12-of-19 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown in that contest. Smith is among those who believe Gabriel’s tape from August "is just better" than what Sanders produced. Sanders took an FBS-high 94 sacks over his final two college seasons before he fell to the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. In the eyes of some, his play against the Rams showed that it will take time for him to unlearn certain bad habits he picked up over the years. "Anyone who’s got such a long way to go has to keep his nose clean, not turn on the organization and keep working," Smith added. "He has to put everything he has into continuing to get better each day. And that way, even if it doesn’t happen in Cleveland, you’re still giving yourself a chance. You’d show other teams that you want this. You’d show how much it means to you. Then maybe it happens somewhere else." The Browns trading Pickett indicates they're dedicated to continuing their development of Sanders through at least the 2025 season. That said, the potential return of Deshaun Watson is looming over Sanders' status as Flacco prepares to start against Cincinnati.
Several positive — and surprising — developments have helped push the Boston Red Sox into playoff contention this season. The Sox enter play on Friday with a 75-60 record, which gives them a 2.5 game lead on the first wild-card spot. Since trading Rafael Devers in mid-June, Boston has one of the best records in baseball behind only the Brewers and Blue Jays. Left-hander Garret Crochet has firmly planted himself in the AL Cy Young Award discussion. Crochet is leading the league in wins and strikeouts, while sitting third in ERA (behind Detroit's Tarik Skubal and Houston's Hunter Brown). Outfielder Roman Anthony has arrived and appears to be just as talented as scouts projected. His .865 OPS is second among rookies with more than 200 plate appearances, behind only the Athletics' Nick Kurtz. Meanwhile, at the back of the Boston bullpen, closer Aroldis Chapman is quietly having a historic season. The 37-year-old left-hander is putting up some of the best numbers of his career in his 16th MLB season after joining the Red Sox last offseason on a one-year, $10.75 million contract. Chapman has worked 52.0 IP on the year, collecting 26 saves with a 1.04 ERA and 0.673 WHIP. Chapman's 1.04 ERA translates to a 401 ERA+ -- a stat in which 100 equals league average, meaning he's been 301% better. Just three times in the history of the sport has a player finished a season with an ERA+ above 400: Robert Keyes (1944), Garnett Blair (1945), and Roy Parnell (1932). All three accomplished the mark while pitching in the Negro Leagues. Shane Bieber's 273 OPS+ in 2020 is the most recent instance where a pitcher was so significantly better than league average. Meanwhile, Chapman has allowed just 21 hits on the season, and only three of those have been home runs. Opponents are batting a mere .119/.183/.182 against him. He has walked 14 batters. Chapman's WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) would also be the best mark in MLB history. George Walker posted a 0.734 WHIP in 1940. Pedro Martinez nearly matched it in 2000, with a 0.737 WHIP. Set to reach free agency again after the season, Chapman could parlay a historic season into another substantial payday even at this late stage in his career. Jon Heyman at the New York Post reported on Thursday that the team would like to bring him back for next season and the early indications suggest the interest is mutual.
It may be no consolation to Dallas Cowboys fans, but their team did land an outstanding defensive player as part of the stunning blockbuster that sent Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers on Thursday. The Cowboys have traded Parsons to the Packers in exchange for a pair of first-round draft picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark. While Clark is nowhere near the same caliber player as Parsons, he has been one of the top players at his position in the NFL for several years now. Clark spent nine seasons with the Packers after they drafted him in the first round out of UCLA in 2016. He became a full-time starter in 2017 and has started every game in which he has played since. Clark started all 17 games for Green Bay the past three seasons and has missed just one game in the last four years. He had a career-high 7.5 sacks and nine tackles for loss in 2023, which is when he made his third and most recent Pro Bowl. The 6-foot-3, 314-pound tackle also made the Pro Bowl in 2019 and 2021. Almost all Cowboys fans would have preferred for their team to work out a long-term extension with Parsons. The tension between the two sides simply escalated to the point where a divorce became the most viable option. If the Cowboys felt they had no choice but to trade Parsons, they at least seem to have maximized the return. The future first-round picks will give them flexibility to build through trades and/or the draft. It should also soften the blow — even if only slightly — that they landed a 29-year-old player who has played like an elite defensive tackle throughout much of his career.
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