Bianca Belair and SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks will challenge Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles at the WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.
The two teams have feuded for the past few weeks on SmackDown. Tonight’s show saw Jax and Baszler appear on Bayley’s “Ding Dong, Hello!” talk show segment until Carmella’s sommelier Reginald interrupted. Banks and Belair also interrupted, leading to a six-person match. That match saw Banks, Belair and Reginald get the win when Reginald pinned Jax. WWE then announced the title match for Sunday.
The winners of Sunday’s match will go on to defend against Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez on the March 3 edition of WWE NXT.
The 2021 WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view will take place this coming Sunday, February 21 from the ThunderDome at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL. Below is the updated announced card:
Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Title Kofi Kingston vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton vs. Sheamus vs. AJ Styles vs. Drew McIntyre (c) Sheamus will enter the match last.
Elimination Chamber Match to Earn a Shot at the WWE Universal Title Kevin Owens vs. Jey Uso vs. King Baron Corbin vs. Sami Zayn vs. Cesaro vs. Daniel Bryan Winner will earn a WWE Universal Title shot later in the night.
WWE Universal Title Match Winner of the SmackDown Elimination Chamber vs. Roman Reigns (c)
WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles Match Bianca Belair and SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler (c)
RAW Women’s Title Match Lacey Evans vs. Asuka (c) Match likely to be changed due to Evans’ pregnancy.
Triple Threat for the WWE United States Title Riddle vs. Keith Lee vs. Bobby Lashley (c) Match could be changed due to reported injuries to Lee.
The highly anticipated women’s singles semifinal at Rod Laver Arena had a noticeable buzz from crowds returning to the stands for the first time after a five-day lockdown, the result of a small coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne which led the state government to impose snap Covid-19 containment measures.
Osaka won the match 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the Australian Open final for the second time. She has now won 20 consecutive matches, last losing in February last year.
“I don’t know if there’s any little kids out here today, but I was a little kid watching her play,” Osaka said of Williams on court after the win. “Just to be on the court playing against her for me is a dream.”
Williams, 39, embraced Osaka after the match. She then waved to the crowd as she departed, putting a hand over her heart.
Williams was asked in a post-match news conference if the gesture meant farewell.
“I don’t know. If I ever say farewell, I wouldn’t tell anyone, so,” she said.
Visibly emotional, Williams left the news conference after the next question.
After the news conference, Williams posted the following on Instagram: “Melbourne and my Australian fans- Today was not ideal outcome or performance but it happens… I am so honored to be able to play in front of you all. Your support -your cheers, I only wish I could have done better for you today. I am forever in debt and grateful to each and everyone single one of you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I adore you.”
Williams’ last major title was at the 2017 Australian Open, when she was eight weeks pregnant. This is her first loss in an Australian Open semifinal, having previously gone 8-0 at that stage in the tournament.
Osaka, the reigning US Open champion and winner of the 2019 Australian Open, is undefeated in grand slam semifinals and finals. All of her career titles — including her three majors — have come on hard courts. She now has a 3-1 career record against Williams, including when she defeated Williams in the infamous 2018 US Open final.
Osaka is the heavy favorite in the final on Saturday. She will face No. 22 seed Jennifer Brady of the United States, who defeated No. 25 seed Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the second semifinal. In their last meeting, the US Open semifinals five months ago, Osaka defeated Brady 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-3.
At age 25, this will be Brady’s first major final.
BERLIN (AP) — It fits on a human fingertip, but this chameleon could make a big splash.
Scientists from Madagascar and Germany say a newly discovered species of chameleon is a contender for the title of world’s smallest reptile.
Frank Glaw, who was part of the international team of researchers that classified the new species and named it Brookesia nana said the body of the male specimen appeared to be just 13.5-millimeters-long (a little more than a 1/2-inch.)
That’s at least 1.5 millimeters smaller than the previous record holder, another member of the Brookesia family.
Glaw, a reptile expert at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology in Munich, said the tiny male and a slightly larger female were spotted on a mountainside by a local guide during a 2012 expedition.
“You really have to get down on your knees to find them,” Glaw told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday. “They are obviously camouflaged and they move very slowly.”
Glaw and his colleagues performed a CT scan of the female and discovered that it harbored two eggs, confirming that it was an adult.
For the male, the researchers took a close look at its “well-developed” genitals, which in chameleons come in pairs known as hemipenes.
They found that the genitals of the Brookesia nana specimen were almost one=fifth of its body size, possibly to allow it to mate with the larger female.
“I have few doubts it’s an adult male,” Glaw said. “If we had a pair mating it would obviously be better proof.”
Confirming Brookesia nana as the smallest reptile species will require finding more of them, which might take several years, he said.
The team’s research was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Chameleons are threatened by deforestation on Madagascar, which is home to numerous species.
The park is seeking millions of dollars in damages, according to court documents filed on Tuesday in the US District Court of Utah.
Evermore Park is about a half-hour south of Salt Lake City and is based around the theme of a fantasy European village.
The lawsuit claims that the park and CEO Ken Bretschneider have invested approximately $37,000,000 in the creation and promotion of Evermore Park and the Evermore trademark.
It said that the park’s business and reputation have been hurt because of the album.
A spokesperson for Swift dismissed the claims in a statement and said the park was having financial difficulty before her album was released.
“The fact is, this frivolous claim is coming from Ken Bretschneider, founder and CEO of an experience park and according to Utah Business, ‘As of June 2020, at least five lawsuits have been filed against Bretschneider and the Evermore group by major construction companies like Sunroc, AGC Drywall and Construction, Geneva Rock, Mountain Point Landscaping, EME Mechanical, Kreativ Woodworks, and NFH Distributing (Beehive Brick and Stone).’ The companies claim ‘they are owed between $28,000 and $400,000.’ Utah Business says, ‘he owes millions of dollars in construction, mechanic, and landscaping fees to workers across the valley who have yet to be paid’ … with ‘a collection of more than 20 construction liens on the Evermore property.’ The true intent of this lawsuit should be obvious.”
The document says traffic to the Evermore Park website spiked after the album was released and that park visitors and fans on social media asked staff members if the park had collaborated with Swift.
The album also drove Evermore Park off the first page of Google search results, according to the document.
The lawsuit said that it has trademarks for the Evermore name on clothing, theme parks and entertainment services dating back to 2015.
It says that some of the merchandise sold on Swift’s website infringes on those trademarks and it is seeking $2 million for each of the types of goods and services Swift sold and other damages.
One day, I’m going to tell my kids about when players actually signed their LOIs on national signing day.
Word of the Day: Haptic.
TOUGH CROWD. Here’s a head-scratcher – last week, Ohio State beat Penn State and smacked Michigan State to extend its hot streak to six wins in seven games, earning the Buckeye a No. 7 ranking in the AP Poll.
… and their national title odds somehow went down.
Yes, last week the sportsbook BetOnline.ag gave Ohio State 33/1 odds to win the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. As of yesterday, that number is 40/1.
Now, to be fair, pretty much everyone else’s odds dropped too. Only the top-four teams and Alabama (which lost its last game by five?) saw their odds increase. So basically, bettors are just increasingly convinced that one of those teams will win the natty.
That’s fine. Keep doubting Zed Key and the Buckeyes. Before you know it, they’ll be cutting down the nets.
GOTTA DO SOMETHING. You could pretty easily make a solid top-10 list of the wildest and most completely unprecedented things to happen in college football in 2020.
But my personal favorite is when the NCAA gave every single player an extra season of eligibility without seeming to even remotely consider the long-term roster, recruiting and financial ramifications.
But now, almost six months later, they’re realizing there are going to be some problems in the coming years.
The transfer surge is expected to continue well into next year’s cycle, not only because of the one-time transfer exception but as a result of a COVID-19-inspired rule granting each athlete an extra year of eligibility. While the seniors who return for next season do not count against a team’s 85 scholarship limit, players from all future classes do.
…
For instance, players who were juniors in the fall of 2020 and would normally have graduated by the 2022 season will now have the option to return as fifth- or even sixth-year seniors. They’d count against the 85. Meanwhile, some freshman classes in 2021 will be giant: 25 incoming freshmen will be coupled with roughly 25 “COVID-shirted” freshmen (true sophomores who were freshmen during 2020) for a 50-person rookie class. That leaves 35 scholarship spots for three classes.
While teams can have 85 players on scholarship each year, they can sign only 25 new players a year. The 100 signees over four years leaves a 15-player wiggle room for natural attrition. New transfer legislation and the impending COVID-shirter wave is causing unnatural attrition.
In the 2022 and 2023 recruiting cycles, coaches have one of two choices: retain their scholarship players and add fewer signees, or push out scholarship players and sign a normal class.
“The biggest challenge are these juniors who are going to be seniors [in 2022],” says Coastal Carolina coach Jamey Chadwell. “Those are going to be hard discussions.”
The entire piece does a great job of highlighting how there already aren’t anywhere near enough roster spots available for kids thinking they’re going to transfers, and that’s before you give every player for at least four classes an extra season of eligibility and allow a free one-time transfer for all players.
Unless the NCAA does something about the 85 scholarship limit, this is going to be a complete disaster in a couple of years and is almost certainly going to cost some kids college degrees they otherwise would have received.
I’m all for giving players extra eligibility – that’s fine. But doing it without adjusting roster size limits at all is going to leave countless kids hung out to dry.
OBEY YOUR ELDERS. Aaron Craft hasn’t put on a Buckeye uniform in almost seven years and didn’t even play under Chris Holtmann, but you’d be mistaken if you thought he didn’t still have some clout in that locker room.
Hey @dwizthekid4 can we tidy the space up a bit?!
— Aaron Craft (@ACraft4) January 28, 2021
Hows this? @ACraft4 pic.twitter.com/ligleKBZLS
— Duane Washington Jr. (@dwizthekid4) February 2, 2021
Aaron Craft needs to return to the program as a team manager. I’m sure medical school and being a father is hard and stuff, but priorities are priorities.
THAT WAS QUICK. Yesterday, EA Sports announced it will once again be making a college football video game. And Ohio State’s graphics team wasted absolutely no time turning that into a recruiting opportunity.
! pic.twitter.com/dQucu22pi6
— Dallan Hayden1 (@DCH__2) February 2, 2021
The ABCs of Ohio State football – Always Be ‘Crootin.
SONG OF THE DAY. “Honeysuckle Rose” by Fats Waller.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. A trip down Afghanistan’s deadliest road… The case of the serial sperm donor… Why you should never ‘unsubscribe’ from illicit spam emails and texts… Psychological tricks for coping with a midlife crisis… Philadelphia’s “building ghosts” have a lot to say…
Ring of Honor is making their champions stay active. New contenders for Dragon Lee’s ROH TV Championship and Jonathan Gresham’s ROH Pure Championship have been announced.
First on the docket is Pure gold. Gresham and ROH Dojo coach Will Ferrara wanted to reward their students with an opportunity to earn a title shot. They proposed to the ROH board of directors that Joe Keys, Dante Caballero, Ken Dixon, and Eric Martin participate in a gauntlet match with the winner getting ranked #3 and receiving a Pure Championship contest against Gresham.
That bout took place on ROH Week by Week (starting at 16:25). Dixon defeated Martin via powerslam in the opening round. Caballero eliminated Dixon on a crucifix pin variation in the second round. Dixon demonstrated poor sportsmanship with an attack to Caballero after his loss. Caballero rallied back despite the pain, but Keys came out on top with an elevated single leg crab to win the gauntlet. Keys will get his chance against Gresham on next weekend’s TV episode of ROH Wrestling.
Dragon Lee is fresh off a successful TV title defense against Rey Horus, and Brian Johnson is fresh off signing a new contract with ROH. Now, the two will go one-on-one at a date to be announced. Johnson earned the opportunity by winning a fan poll as part of ROH The Experience.
ROH Week by Week also updated the singles rankings.
ROH World Television Championship 5. Bandido 4. LSG 3. Kenny King 2. Dak Draper 1. Tony Deppen Champ: Dragon Lee
Rey Horus’ loss to Dragon Lee gave him the boot. Bandido entered at #5. Everyone else moved up one spot accordingly.
ROH Pure Championship 5. Fred Yehi 4. Rhett Titus 3. Joe Keys 2. Josh Woods 1. Tracy Williams Champ: Jonathan Gresham
Flip Gordon was suspended from the Pure division after not respecting the rules in his win against Rhett Titus. Josh Woods moved up one spot, and Joe Keys entered at #3.
ROH World Championship 5. Jay Briscoe 4. Mark Haskins 3. Matt Taven 2. Brody King 1. Shane Taylor Champ: Rush
This is the debut of the world title rankings. All signs point to Shane Taylor being next in line for Rush, most likely at an ROH PPV. Mark Haskins and Flip Gordon both have previous title shots yet to be cashed in.
Would you bet any money on an upset victory from Joe Keys or Brian Johnson? Do you agree with the current rankings?
There’s a lot more at stake than just reputation for Tom Brady as he prepares to take on the Green Bay Packers in Sunday’s NFC Championship game.
Brady is set to earn $1 million in incentives if he takes the Tampa Bay Buccaneers all the way, earning the franchise it’s second Super Bowl win and it’s first since the 2002 season, ESPN reported, citing sources.
TOM BRADY, AARON RODGERS’ RECENT CONFERENCE TITLE GAME APPEARANCES TELL DIFFERENT STORIES
The 43-year-old quarterback, who has six rings from his time with the New England Patriots, would make $500,000 if the Bucs beat the Packers and he would earn another $500,000 if the Bucs win Super Bowl LV, ESPN reported.
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Brady previously signed a two-year $50 million contract with the Bucs during the offseason after 20 years in New England. Reports at the time indicated that the Patriots weren’t willing to give Brady the money he was asking for in order to stay.
Since joining Tampa, Brady has already earned $1.25 million in incentives in the postseason alone, ESPN reported. He earned $500,000 for making it to the playoffs, $250,000 for the wild-card win over Washington and another $500,000 for advancing to the NFC Championship game after beating Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints in the divisional round.
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Money aside, another Super Bowl victory would be record breaking for Brady. He would further his own record for most Super Bowls won by a player with seven rings which would also surpass the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Patriots with the most wins by a team at six.
