The Ringer: All Posts by Khal Davenport2024-03-01T06:00:00-05:00https://www.theringer.com/authors/khal-davenport/rss2024-03-01T06:00:00-05:002024-03-01T06:00:00-05:00Virgil Really Was a Wrestling Superstar
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<p>Mike Jones, the professional wrestler known best for his WWF run as Virgil, was more than just the silent bodyguard he portrayed during the late-’80s wrestling boom</p> <p id="er2kZz"><em>Update, Feb. 4, 2024: This piece was updated after publication with more information about Virgil’s age.</em></p>
<p id="6vOSzJ">While it has never been remembered as “the belt shot heard ’round the world,” the crowd erupted just the same when Virgil struck his soon-to-be-former employer, “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, with the Million Dollar title belt. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L40anYjEHlA">The first strike</a>, an accident, occurred during their tag team match at the 1991 Royal Rumble against Dusty Rhodes and his son Dustin, the latter of whom moved out of DiBiase’s grasp just in time for Virgil to land a clothesline on his boss. The mistake, occurring after months of miscommunication between the two, earned Virgil <a href="https://youtu.be/L40anYjEHlA?si=_f3Dr4LNz3h8GfLm&t=7">a beatdown</a> from DiBiase, who still secured a rollup pinfall on the American Dream. Post-match, DiBiase berated Virgil, calling him an “idiot” before barking at Virgil to grab the Million Dollar title and put it around his waist. You know what happened next: Virgil indeed <a href="https://youtu.be/L40anYjEHlA?si=T3WiGuh58VX5wHSg&t=42">retrieved the title</a>, only to bash DiBiase in the skull, giving any fan who daydreamed about ditching their current job the perfect payoff. Virgil’s active career in the squared circle lasted another nine years, yet this may have been the biggest moment in his professional wrestling career. </p>
<p id="gDJ1G5">Mike Jones, best known as Virgil, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/virgil-former-wwe-wrestling-star-dies-61-rcna140940">died</a> this week at <a href="https://www.observer-reporter.com/local_news/2024/mar/01/larger-than-life-mike-jones-wrestler-better-known-as-virgil-dies/">the age of 72</a>. Virgil was DiBiase’s manservant—a term from the 14th century that, even at the time, felt about as close as you could get to saying “slave” without actually saying it. Jones’s stint as Virgil during the latter part of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE#Boom_period_(1982%E2%80%931992)">WWE’s late-1980s boom</a> is memorable for the sheer fact that the company’s popularity meant that anyone associated with DiBiase—a character long <a href="https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe/wwe-news-ted-dibiases-character-was-based-on-vince-mcmahon">speculated</a> to be based on Vince McMahon himself, who was thought to have bankrolled a luxury lifestyle for DiBiase, with a manservant as a bonus—was destined to be the set-up guy for DiBiase’s schemes. Yet for some fans, cheering for Virgil was all we had.</p>
<p id="FMPsaw">Virgil the character wasn’t supposed to be the “star,” but Mike Jones the man made it hard to take your eyes off of him during a time when there were truly few Black professional wrestlers on screen during one of the biggest periods for the sport.</p>
<aside id="xcduML"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Ole Anderson Was the Ghost of Wrestling’s Past ","url":"https://www.theringer.com/wwe/2024/2/29/24086624/ole-anderson-wrestling-industry-past-four-horsemen-nwa-wcw"}]}'></div></aside><p id="BIoAGn">In the modern era, we always think about what the wrestlers had to overcome in real life to get where they are. Through that lens, every popular Black wrestler prior to the modern day was a massive success story. And considering where he started, Virgil was an absolute icon.</p>
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<p id="DliYqS">Mike Jones entered the World Wrestling Federation in a similar fashion to many of McMahon’s new hires in the 1980s. He’d first found moderate success in Memphis’s Continental Wrestling Association as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SojNDRLdtcY">Soul Train Jones</a>, holding the AWA International Heavyweight Championship and the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship (with Rocky Johnson). <a href="https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=21970">On one occasion</a>, Jones even challenged AWA mainstay Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA World Heavyweight title. McMahon acquired talent from all across the territories, and in 1986, Jones made his way to WWF, first under the name <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_-KCe5-H8U">Lucius Brown</a>. Then, in the summer of 1987, WWF introduced the first vignettes of Ted DiBiase under his new “Million Dollar Man” gimmick, with Jones in tow as his bodyguard, Virgil.</p>
<p id="E3Qx4r">The Million Dollar Man was a pure heel, the kind of jerk who <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgj3_Wis6HU">buys out the pool for a day</a> just so he can have it all to himself. One memorable segment found DiBiase and Virgil holding a basketball (“Poor man’s sport, basketball, right Virgil?” DiBiase asks rhetorically) and <a href="https://www.wrestlezone.com/news/920879-exclusive-the-million-dollar-man-ted-dibiase-reveals-real-story-behind-boy-w-the-basketball-whatever-happened-to-that-boy-more">presenting a challenge</a> to a young Black fan in the crowd: Dribble the ball 15 times in a row, and you can win $500. (“I can tell by looking at you that you can use a lot more than 500 bucks!” DiBiase cracks.) Shawn, shy but determined to win that money, got 14 successful dribbles before <em>DiBiase kicked the ball away</em>.</p>
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<p id="es4vHi">The moral of DiBiase’s story? “When you don’t do the job right, you don’t get paid.” For a while, Virgil did the job right, putting himself at DiBiase’s beck and call and even having to wrestle some of DiBiase’s foes before they got a chance to face the Million Dollar Man. Speculation has always surrounded what Jones’s job actually was: Was he just portraying a manservant to an exceedingly rich asshole, or was there a more elaborate motivation for the gimmick?</p>
<p id="PtHPp5"><a href="https://prowrestlingstories.com/pro-wrestling-stories/wrestlers-names-ribs/">The rumor</a> has always been that DiBiase’s hired help was more of an elaborate dig at “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, a humongous star (and booker) of WWF’s opposition, the National Wrestling Alliance, particularly during the Jim Crockett Promotions era. Rhodes’s real name is Virgil Runnels Jr.—was it a coincidence that Jones’s character shared Rhodes’s real first name, or that DiBiase’s finisher was known as the “Million Dollar Dream”? McMahon has never gone on record confirming this, but it raises the question: How much faith could the promoter of the top federation in the country have in an employee if their entire gimmick is a lightly veiled joke on the opposition?</p>
<p id="Bmn6mF">Or maybe a joke on the audience, especially viewers like myself, who would scan <em>TV Guide</em> every week to program the VCR for whenever a show with “wrestling” in the title aired. At that time, there weren’t many Black faces in wrestling for Black fans to relate to, especially ones in actual title contention. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8q7m42Zn24">Bad News Brown</a> would hold his fist high in the air, but he was never a serious contender for the WWF Championship, even as a legit judo bronze medalist in the Olympics. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvBEvG8XShY">Koko B. Ware</a> was a high-flying sight to see, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHBKJdSAhQg">Junkyard Dog</a> reminded me of my uncles. When you consume pro wrestling on a massive scale, you gain an understanding of who is going to be advancing to the main event and who will be devoured on their journey. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Black talent could only get so far, especially in the WWF. (This was the time before <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB8DYpLAIfs">Ron Simmons’s</a> five-month WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign, which was such an anomaly that it was almost nine years before another Black wrestler, eventual WWE Hall of Famer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEIZA539fyo">Booker T</a>, would hold the title.) A Black man getting a big win wasn’t common in the WWF, which helped make the progression of Virgil and DiBiase’s story much more satisfying.</p>
<p id="11WWdR">Fast forward to the 1991 Royal Rumble, which marked Virgil’s official split from DiBiase after blasting his boss with the Million Dollar title following the match. (Yes, DiBiase was the kind of jerk who couldn’t win the actual world title, so he had his own made.) And even if the crowd reaction wasn’t <a href="https://prowrestlingstories.com/pro-wrestling-stories/steve-austin-vince-mcmahon/">Austin-McMahon</a> levels of pandemonium, the tension between these two had been building for some time; spectators were ready to see Virgil lash out at DiBiase after all this time. This set the stage for Virgil to … be overshadowed by “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, who “mentored” Virgil leading up to the latter’s countout victory against DiBiase at WrestleMania VII. Virgil won the Million Dollar title at SummerSlam in August, but his Million Dollar title reign didn’t last long, as he would drop the belt back to DiBiase in November before feuding with DiBiase and the Repo Man for months thereafter. His WWF career was downhill after that, with the biggest highlight of the next three years of his in-ring career being <a href="https://i0.wp.com/thefwoosh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/WWE-Virgil.jpg?ssl=1">the candy cane-esque gear</a> he started wearing in 1992. </p>
<p id="DLMCf8">Now, there are no delusions here: Mike Jones was far from an elite wrestler, and his coworkers and wrestling fans alike have never been afraid of letting that be known. Without a Performance Center or developmental brand like NXT, most wrestlers learned on the road, where up-and-comers took their bumps and perfected their craft. If your job is to be some rich guy’s silent servant, how can you then be expected to cut quality promos? When you watch this video, does it sound like Virgil just got thrown in front of a camera after years of not speaking publicly? Because that’s exactly what happened.</p>
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<p id="9q67lS">Even if you want to argue that at least Virgil was employed for a good eight years with the WWF during a period of massive growth, that doesn’t mean he received any push to become a bigger (or at least better) performer. Virgil <a href="https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=456&page=22">lost</a> 86 percent of his bouts in 1988; in 1989, he lost 100 percent of his matches. (There were only four, but still.) Virgil was never seen as anything more than a servant, and when that job was done, there was no real investment in him as a performer or character.</p>
<p id="mn3XeL">After his time with the WWF ended, Jones would continue to ride the Virgil wave, heading over to the burgeoning independent National Wrestling Conference, which went from highlighting popular talent from Extreme Championship Wrestling to attracting former WWF stars like the Ultimate Warrior and, yes, Virgil. With NWC, Virgil was involved in a controversial angle where a white wrestler known as the Thug brought <a href="https://youtu.be/UuXSVnNpaUI?si=5iT44wTyzDk2Hshc&t=69">an individual dressed like a member of the KKK</a> to the ring in a match against Virgil. During the bout, Thug’s associate <a href="https://youtu.be/UuXSVnNpaUI?si=t5_EybnEyfN14Pn9&t=147">revealed himself</a> to be former WWF star Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart; Thug and Neidhart <a href="https://youtu.be/UuXSVnNpaUI?si=dS-6AmMpqcQgOo8Y&t=321">proceeded to hang Virgil from the ropes</a> with Neidhart’s white robe. In a profession where bookers openly admit to <a href="https://www.theringer.com/wwe/2024/2/29/24086624/ole-anderson-wrestling-industry-past-four-horsemen-nwa-wcw">allowing only</a> one Black performer to be the star of a territory at a time, there were only so many options for an undervalued performer like Virgil. </p>
<p id="ervRL4">Maybe that’s why, when WCW called in 1996, Mike Jones answered. He was more than ready to join the nWo faction as “Vincent,” their “head of security”—a jab back at Vince McMahon for “Virgil.” And of course the nWo’s head of security would be first in line to get demolished by the group’s detractors. It was Virgil all over again—he’d even reunite with DiBiase, who was now acting as a manager in WCW. Many of the old WWF hires were just playing the hits in this era of WCW, and Vincent was right there, ready to again take the beating for someone higher up.</p>
<p id="f8C5S0">Throughout his travels, Jones maintained his sense of humor. After his time with the nWo fizzled out, he joined the West Texas Rednecks stable, going by Curly Bill and embracing the anti-rap stance of the group. Once again, he played up a gimmick that didn’t reflect his real self, without breaking character.</p>
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<p id="KN8mXa">Virgil spent the rest of the ’90s in WCW, taking on a few more gimmicks before retiring from in-ring action in 2000. In 2006, he started making appearances again both in the ring and at wrestling conventions, which sparked Virgil’s second life. No, we’re not talking about that month he spent in WWE as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyy1S-QYsow">Ted DiBiase Jr.’s manservant</a> back in 2010, or Soul Train Jones’s sporadic appearances <a href="https://twitter.com/AEWonTV/status/1199856644609343488">in All Elite Wrestling</a>. We’re talking about the <a href="https://lonelyvirgil.net/">Lonely Virgil</a> craze, in which wrestling fans shared photos and stories of meeting Virgil at conventions and observing how lonely Virgil looked compared to his more famous peers. Jones’s middle name should have been Hustle; the man was notorious for his pursuit of the almighty dollar. The <a href="https://deadspin.com/our-readers-run-ins-with-virgil-pro-wrestlings-saddest-5915910">infamous tales</a> of fans meeting him in person painted a picture of a desperate man who was seemingly willing to do anything for a buck. (Do we have to remind you about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Wrestling_Conference#The_Ultimate_Return_and_KKK_controversy">the Thug-KKK incident in NWC</a>?) Even if you want to make fun of <a href="https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/04/8422f-15561902042166-800.jpg">that infamous “Virgil Wrestling Superstar” image</a>, you can’t take this away from Mike Jones: During the WWF’s boom, Virgil was one of a handful of Black faces on WWF television. He <em>earned</em> that title of “superstar,” even if he wasn’t <em>given </em>any opportunities to truly become one.</p>
<p id="Qo4hDQ">Is there a world in which Virgil could have become an R-Truth or the Miz, performers who have touched the main-event scene but will likely be remembered best for their character work and longevity in the middle of the card? Does that sound preposterous? It sure sounded preposterous when Mike “The Miz” was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRXOTH85fao">terrorizing his <em>Real World</em> housemates</a> with his turnbuckle dreams. And when he finally got to WWE, the Miz still had a long way to go; he was <a href="https://twitter.com/TheEnemiesPE3/status/1629869847835287553">kicked out of the locker room</a> while he was coming up. But two years after his main roster debut, he received multiple Most Improved awards for his work; two WWE Championship runs, eight Intercontinental title reigns, and two United States title runs are the highlights of the gold Miz has held since WWE started investing in him. Could Virgil have been a multi-time Intercontinental champion in the <a href="https://www.theringer.com/wwe/2022/11/11/23452218/bret-hart-shawn-michaels-wwe-montreal-screwjob-interview">Bret Hart</a>/Mr. Perfect era? A McMahon push wouldn’t have turned him into <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2023/3/3/23623004/bryan-danielson-aew-revolution-2023-career-longevity-interview">Bryan Danielson</a> in the skills department overnight, but Virgil could’ve been somebody’s tag team partner, possibly vying for the tag titles. Right?</p>
<p id="DlUCPi">Probably not. It was an evolving time, and issues of race in America were heated; Virgil’s split from DiBiase came a year before the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Virgil’s role as a “manservant” for DiBiase during that time hit a level of offensiveness that McMahon was too oblivious to notice or to recognize as an issue. This WWE was not the WWE that would have had Virgil move on to bigger achievements after sticking it to the man. It’s difficult being a true “people’s champion” when the establishment wasn’t built to even notice that potential in certain performers.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="rtrxgj">For a moment, Virgil was the most popular Black wrestler in the world. He tired of the years of flak he took from his employer, stuck it to him, and seized his most prized possession for a time. Virgil fought his hardest to defy the odds, but the system wasn’t set up for him to advance. Thankfully, we’ve moved past these obstacles—the pandemic era of WWE programming alone saw Black superstars like <a href="https://www.theringer.com/wwe/2023/3/31/23664045/bianca-belair-wwe-wrestlemania-39-journey-interview-shayna-baszler-becky-lynch-bayley-asuka">Bianca Belair</a>, <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2021/8/19/22633321/bobby-lashley-on-facing-goldberg-the-hurt-business-and-more">Bobby Lashley</a>, and <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2021/9/17/22679204/big-e-on-winning-his-first-wwe-championship">Big E</a> having credible world championship reigns. But for that brief moment in 1991, Virgil cracking DiBiase with that fugazi title belt was enough for us.</p>
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https://www.theringer.com/wwe/2024/3/1/24087048/virgil-obituary-wwf-ted-dibiase-bodyguard-million-dollar-championshipKhal Davenport2024-02-14T15:28:31-05:002024-02-14T15:28:31-05:00Should Rhea Ripley Challenge for a Men’s Title? Plus, Drafting the Best On-Screen Wrestling Couples.
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<figcaption>Photo by Louis Grasse/PXimages/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Ben, Khal, and Brian kick off the show by discussing what a WWE to AEW blockbuster trade would look like, plus Rhea Ripley, Chad Gable, and more</p> <div id="8lBky1"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 152px; position: relative;"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/5EN2xX9dYBcCqsPLB1Q2zW?utm_source=oembed" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" allow="clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="I2un9v"><br><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/5EN2xX9dYBcCqsPLB1Q2zW?si=657426dd993a4c7d&nd=1&dlsi=783357c7958e4173">Off the heels of NBA reports</a> coming out that the Golden State Warriors attempted a blockbuster trade to acquire LeBron James, Ben, Khal, and Brian kick off the show by discussing what a WWE to AEW blockbuster trade would look like (1:20).</p>
<p id="Ef1B8O">Then they get into the following headlines:</p>
<ul>
<li id="gP8SlQ">Rhea Ripley is open to challenging for a men’s title (8:50)</li>
<li id="pAzazE">Chad Gable wants to finish the story with Gunther at WrestleMania (18:18)</li>
<li id="OGHFhO">The Rock says it’s been decades since the business has been buzzing like this (28:32)</li>
</ul>
<p id="Q1JrmC">Then after the break, in They Said What?!, they react to Kaz’s hot take on <em>The Masked Man Show </em>when he fantasy booked the Rock to defeat Seth Rollins to win the World Heavyweight Championship (37:58).</p>
<p id="0SstF1">Then, they go to the Wednesday Worldwide Hotline and react to a couple of hot takes from you, the people, about Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill, plus the Rock, Cody Rhodes, and Roman Reigns after the WrestleMania XL presser (47:23).</p>
<p id="Vvievn">And as a Valentine’s Day special, the guys engage in an unhinged on-screen couples draft (57:34).</p>
<p id="CcDF7H">Finally, they talk through last night’s NXT (1:09:44) and preview tonight’s AEW ‘Dynamite’ (1:11:06).</p>
<p id="1E6ICP">Hosts: Ben Cruz, Khal Davenport, and Brian H. Waters<br>Producer: Brian H. Waters</p>
<p id="0g6lWa"><strong>Subscribe: </strong><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hs2BB22dp0KmTFpLsYcQc?si=P4-aMiodQLGR_7PSFebF9g">Spotify</a> / <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Fthe-masked-man-show%2Fid1211025769%3Fmt%3D2&xcust=xid:fr1571227719194ggb%7Cxid:fr1571832269979jdi">Apple Podcasts</a> / <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-ringer/the-masked-man-show">Stitcher</a> / <a href="https://www.theringer.com/rss/the-masked-man-show/index.xml">RSS</a></p>
https://www.theringer.com/2024/2/14/24073200/should-rhea-ripley-challenge-mens-title-plus-drafting-best-on-screen-wrestling-couplesKhal DavenportBrian WatersBen Cruz2024-01-23T15:29:45-05:002024-01-23T15:29:45-05:00The Biggest Questions About WWE’s Massive Deal With Netflix
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<figcaption>WWE/Netflix/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
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<p>‘Raw’ is coming to streaming. There’s plenty to sort out in the meantime. </p> <p id="MCdcDy">On the morning that the <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2024/1/23/24047973/oscar-nominations-2024-academy-awards-winners-losers-barbie">Oscar nominations</a> were announced, the biggest news coming out of the entertainment industry somehow wasn’t Greta Gerwig’s snub or <a href="https://theringer.com/2023/12/22/24011853/top-10-movie-scenes-of-2023-american-fiction-with-director-cord-jefferson"><em>American Fiction</em></a>’s surprising haul of five nods. It also wasn’t the announcement that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is <a href="https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/39368338/the-rock-appointed-ufc-wwe-tko-group-board-directors">joining the board of directors at TKO Group</a> (which consists of UFC and WWE). No, the biggest news is that starting in January 2025, WWE’s flagship series, <em>Raw,</em> will be moving to Netflix.</p>
<p id="G1afh8">The deal, <a href="https://variety.com/2024/biz/news/tko-stock-netflix-deal-wwe-monday-night-raw-1235883152/">reportedly</a> valued at $5 billion over a 10-year period, will not only make Netflix the home for <em>Raw</em> in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and the U.K.—outside the U.S., Netflix will also be the home of <em>SmackDown</em>, <em>NXT</em>, and WWE’s premium live events, including mainstays like WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam. The announcement finalizes the fates of all three of WWE’s weekly series in the U.S.—<em>SmackDown</em> is <a href="https://www.usanetwork.com/usa-insider/wwe-smackdown-is-coming-to-usa-network-on-fridays-in-2024">heading to the USA Network</a> in October 2024, and <em>NXT</em> will <a href="https://deadline.com/2023/11/cw-wwe-nxt-usa-network-pro-wrestling-1235595011/">make its CW debut</a> the same month—and comes on the heels of <a href="https://www.sescoops.com/news/amazon-prime-may-emerge-as-top-contender-for-wwe-raws-new-home">rumors</a> from earlier this January that both Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery were also entertaining the idea of getting into the wrestling business. All of this may come as a surprise to those who haven’t been keeping up with <a href="https://itrwrestling.com/news/everything-on-the-wwe-network-is-for-sale-wwe-president-nick-khan/">WWE’s heavy interest in selling off its rights</a>, but even if you’ve been paying attention, the idea that <em>Raw</em> will be showing up alongside <a href="https://www.theringer.com/stranger-things/2022/7/6/23195792/stranger-things-season-four-vecna-upside-down"><em>Stranger Things</em></a>, <em>Squid Game</em>, and <em>Bridgerton</em> is a lot to swallow. (Meanwhile, the announcement helped the TKO stock <a href="https://variety.com/2024/biz/news/tko-stock-netflix-deal-wwe-monday-night-raw-1235883152/">rise 18.1 percent, to $91.40 a share</a>, on Tuesday morning, which, unfortunately, is news you can no longer use.)</p>
<p id="P1ivnS">As we wait for more details on this massive deal—and, you know, the 11 months before we can actually cue up WWE on Netflix on a Monday night—these are the biggest questions to ponder. </p>
<h4 id="I9eOa9">What will happen to <em>Raw</em> in Q4 of 2024?</h4>
<p id="e7QIBt">WWE’s current deal has <em>Raw</em> airing on the USA Network <a href="https://corporate.wwe.com/investors/news/press-releases/2018/06-26-2018-215923315">until October 2024</a>. For those who don’t know how a calendar works, that means WWE’s flagship show will seemingly be without a home for the last three months of this year, which is also the time when WWE will be building up to its final PLE of the year, November’s Survivor Series. But what does that mean for WWE at the end of the year? It may have a few options.</p>
<aside id="5cMOFy"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Hang On … I Have to Have Peacock to Watch Chiefs-Dolphins?!","url":"https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/1/12/24035355/nfl-playoffs-kansas-city-chiefs-miami-dolphins-streaming-peacock"}]}'></div></aside><p id="zQp7OF">As WWE’s deal with Peacock isn’t set to expire <a href="https://411mania.com/wrestling/nick-khan-wwe-peacock-deal-now-undervalued/">until 2026</a>, there could be the option of running two months of <em>Raw</em> solely on Peacock, which isn’t a foreign concept considering the service has aired everything from WWE’s weekly talk show <em>The Bump</em> to its <a href="https://pwinsider.com/article/178834/wwe-streaming-2024-preview-special-on-peacock-today.html?p=1">recent 2024 preview special</a> to this coming weekend’s Royal Rumble. Most fans subscribe to Peacock to watch WWE’s PLEs anyway, so this might be the most seamless option. WWE is also sitting at more than 99 million subscribers <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ5v_MCY6GNUBTO8-D3XoAg">on YouTube</a> at the moment; <em>The Bump</em> also airs there, as do its post-PLE press conferences. But who knows: Maybe WWE is working on something specific to mark the first time in the history of <em>Raw</em> that it won’t be airing on linear TV. (There’s also the option for WWE and NBCUniversal to extend their deal to continue airing <em>Raw</em> on the USA Network until January 2025. Considering their history and the fact that <em>SmackDown</em> will be starting its USA run at that time, this option would work in USA’s favor.)</p>
<p id="IUztzj">I joked that WWE could <a href="https://twitter.com/khal/status/1749773599467090248">put <em>Raw</em> on the (free) CW app</a>, but barring that, the need to pay for an additional streaming service to watch <em>Raw</em> will be one of the biggest changes in all of this. In the past, if you (or your parents!) paid for a particular TV package, you were guaranteed new WWE content every Monday night. If you’re not paying for Netflix in January 2025, you’re gonna be SOL. Whatever WWE chooses, this stretch when <em>Raw</em> isn’t airing on USA will be the most important time to put over getting a Netflix subscription to watch <em>Raw</em>, the same way Triple H got the price of the WWE Network <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/hsayi0/triple_h_seamlessly_gets_the_wwe_networks_price/">over with the WWE crowd</a>.</p>
<h4 id="qS9f5F">Will <em>Raw</em> on Netflix continue to be a three-hour show?</h4>
<p id="swtyLL">Watching <em>Raw</em> on Monday nights can be a mixed bag, and a lot of that comes down to the length of the show. It’s been 11 (!) years since <em>Raw</em> added a third hour, completely astounding the healthy contingent who felt that two hours was already enough. Over the course of this decade-plus, the show has run the gamut: Some nights, you may have a great opening match, a great main event, and the appearance of someone like CM Punk to spar with Cody Rhodes. (Sidebar: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVpoENtTFOg">This segment from <em>Raw</em> this week</a> was destined to be Tuesday’s top story before Ted Sarandos and Co. finalized their offer.) Other weeks? Your significant other would rustle you from a slumber at 10:12 p.m., wondering whether you just want to call it a night.</p>
<p id="TspNgd">Will <em>Raw</em> on Netflix <em>need</em> a third hour? It depends on what that third hour will be used for or, more importantly, how it’s being looked at now. If the only reason WWE added an hour was to increase ad revenue while airing on a linear network, it may no longer be necessary. Netflix has also historically been <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-netflixs-algorithms-and-tech-feed-its-success-90632b92">driven by its algorithms</a>—surely it’ll take a data-driven approach to determine <em>Raw</em>’s ideal length.</p>
<p id="gXQOrs">Would Netflix force WWE to tighten up the running time if the algorithm says a two-hour <em>Raw</em> is preferred? For $5 billion, WWE would probably be willing to make <em>Raw</em> 30 minutes long if Netflix thought that’d work better. All jokes aside, one has to wonder how involved Netflix will be with WWE’s product. Netflix <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/15/netflix-cost-plus-model-tv-shows-revenue-upside.html">has been known</a> to give creators freedom—but only as long as they deliver eyeballs.</p>
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<h4 id="3IjDRh">
<br>What is the future of WWE’s massive library?</h4>
<p id="VbuILD">Where WWE goes, its library of classic pay-per-views, episodes of <em>Raw</em>, documentaries, and archival footage from defunct wrestling federations like <a href="https://www.theringer.com/wwe/2023/12/19/24007240/world-class-championship-wrestling-history-von-erich-family-dallas-texas">World Class Championship Wrestling</a> goes with it. Part of this Netflix deal points to that fact, at least for international members of the WWE Universe: Netflix will be where most WWE content resides, effectively doing away with the WWE Network, which continued to operate overseas long after it was shut down in the States. That’s a huge yet unavoidable change for those who don’t subscribe to Netflix.</p>
<p id="ujjyeY">Take that thought a step further, though. As mentioned earlier, WWE’s deal with Peacock lasts until 2026, meaning that Peacock will remain WWE’s main home for PLEs and legacy content for the foreseeable future. The question, then, is what happens <em>after </em>2026. With the gears already in motion to make Netflix <em>the </em>destination for WWE overseas, it’s only logical to assume that the two companies will want to do the same in the U.S. WWE has a lot to offer a streamer: a deep library of endlessly rewatchable content to get lost in. Plus, before its move to Peacock, WWE worked to <a href="https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/peacock-removes-racist-wwe-network-1234938063/">remove racist content from its archives</a>, which would allow for a smooth transition from one provider to another, if need be.</p>
<p id="9SvupH">All of this leads to one question I had even <em>before</em> this WWE deal …</p>
<h4 id="SKVzkQ">What is Peacock’s future?</h4>
<p id="I2tXUi">It’s safe to say that Peacock is now on the clock and must figure out a plan in the event that WWE departs in 2026. For viewers who bought Peacock only to watch new WWE PLEs and weren’t converted by series like <em>Bel-Air</em> or <a href="https://www.theringer.com/tv/2023/7/27/23808911/twisted-metal-review-peacock-tv-show-adaptation-sweet-tooth"><em>Twisted Metal</em></a>, there may be no reason to stick with the service if WWE jumps ship. Despite <em>some</em> success—Peacock has the English Premier League, and it did just set some records broadcasting its first NFL wild-card playoff game—Peacock has lived near the bottom of <a href="https://streamingguide.theringer.com/#streaming-wars">our Streaming Wars ranking</a> ever since it was launched in August 2022. Losing that WWE tab on the Peacock homepage would be devastating for a streamer that already needs a lot of help.</p>
<p id="4PeaXJ">There’s plenty of time to avoid this fate, but it’ll require NBCUniversal to do one of two things, and both of them will be expensive. Either Peacock needs to figure out how to afford keeping WWE PLEs on its streamer exclusively, or it needs to start investing in other top-tier streaming content. Of course, if NBCUniversal could afford to spend more money, it probably would’ve just outbid Netflix. </p>
<h4 id="W3IjpP">Is this just the beginning for Netflix?</h4>
<p id="XifGT5">In the larger content acquisition game, the live sports licensing race has turned out to be <a href="https://www.theringer.com/sports/2021/4/15/22385705/live-sports-streaming-wars-future-industry">the battle we expected it to be</a>. There was a time when the reported $200 million to $250 million a year WWE makes from its Peacock deal was unheard of, but as the landscape has changed, live sports have become more valuable than ever. Amazon already paid big bucks for its 11-year <em>Thursday Night Football</em> deal with the NFL, and that netted it only 16 Thursday night games in the 2023-24 season! Peacock paid $110 million for that one wild-card game! WWE is a well-oiled machine, guaranteed to produce hours of content every week. This isn’t Netflix’s first foray into <a href="https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/what-to-watch/every-netflix-live-stream-so-far-and-whats-coming-next/">the livestreaming space</a>, but it’s certainly its biggest so far.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="vPMdtL">Last fall, <em>The</em> <em>New York Times</em> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/29/business/nba-media-rights.html">reported</a> that the NBA could be looking to double the $24 billion that’s being paid between Disney and WBD to air games across their channels. Will Disney and WBD be willing—or able—to foot the bill? If not, will Netflix step up to the table? What’s happening in the wrestling world today could easily be a precursor for what happens across the sports landscape in the years to come.</p>
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https://www.theringer.com/wwe/2024/1/23/24048261/wwe-netflix-raw-deal-questions-peacockKhal Davenport2023-08-11T06:30:00-04:002023-08-11T06:30:00-04:00The Best Pop Culture Jerks Bracket: Cartman Beat Larry David by One Vote
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<p>After possibly the slimmest margin of victory in Ringer bracket history, Cartman faces Shooter McGavin for the right to be crowned the best pop culture jerk of all time</p> <p class="p--has-dropcap" id="cYuWyf">What would a showdown of pop culture jerks be without one truly jerk move in <a href="https://www.theringer.com/pop-culture/2023/8/10/23827764/best-pop-culture-jerks-bracket-final-four">the Final Four</a>? Early in that round’s vote, it became clear that <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2023/8/10/23827263/shooter-mcgavin-happy-gilmore-christopher-mcdonald-jerks-week">Shooter McGavin</a> would rout fellow 1-seed Biff Tannen, but on the other side of the bracket, Larry David was deadlocked with the 5-seed who could, Eric Cartman. For hours, the adversaries were split roughly 50-50, but after carefully tallying the votes and diligently following our special election recount protocol, we are stunned to announce that Cartman—freaking Cartman!—edged his way into the Jerks Bracket final … <em>by one vote</em>. </p>
<p id="5OErBl">By a final count of 6,541 votes to 6,540, the South Park resident took down the legendary creator of <em>Seinfeld</em> and <em>Curb Your Enthusiasm</em>. Larry narrowly defeated Cartman on X and Instagram, but it was ultimately the poll results on our website that pushed the Comedy Central icon to victory. I’d venture to guess that there has never been a slimmer margin of victory in the history of <em>Ringer</em> pop culture brackets. </p>
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<p id="BcKqCG">Don’t get me wrong: Cartman is no slouch, but there have been some incredibly jerky contestants in this tournament—tricksters Loki and Ferris Bueller were two of my early favorites to win it all. Finding a way to get <em>one</em> extra vote against one of the greatest comedians of all time—someone who many considered a lock for the final after taking out George Costanza, his own creation—may be the jerkiest move so far. Admittedly, I was daydreaming about the shouting match that <a href="https://www.theringer.com/movies/2023/8/10/23827263/shooter-mcgavin-happy-gilmore-christopher-mcdonald-jerks-week">jerk Hall of Famer Shooter</a> and Larry could have had on the green in the championship—but the end result may be even more intriguing.</p>
<p id="dn60kO">Here’s how Shooter and Cartman took down their rivals to reach this pivotal point:</p>
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<p id="8gPKKR">Cartman’s ability to edge out his competition is the real story of this contest. The jerks left in Cartman’s wake—Roman Roy, Gob Bluth, Derek Huff, and Marnie Michaels—ultimately felt like light work. They’re all solid jerks in their own unique ways, but Cartman consistently ran through his challengers. Still, you had to think Larry was the favorite heading into the semis. He humiliated the likes of Dr. Perry Cox and Johnny Lawrence—classic jerks in their own right—but Cartman is simply unstoppable right now. Defeating Larry David is the closest Cartman came to losing, but that narrow triumph is less about the fact that Cartman was in danger and more about just how powerful he’s become.</p>
<p id="Hm071j">On the other side of the bracket, Biff Tannen easily dispatched elite contenders such as Ferris Bueller and Kenny Powers, but in the end, Tannen didn’t have enough juice to send Shooter packing. No matter how hard Biff fought—no matter how many times he called Shooter a “butthead”—he was no match for the golf pro. Now, Shooter’s true test arrives. Sure, he can sink the putt—and if he were going up against Larry, the final would have felt like a closer call—but at this point, is this just Cartman’s game to lose?</p>
<p id="CYGDaP">Still, we have to give some credit to Shooter. The man more than held his own against his competitors—Caillou in the first round, followed by everyone from Bill Lumbergh to the freaking Iceman. And these are serious victories—he had 11,000 more votes than Caillou, took out the Iceman by more than 9,000 votes, and had upward of 5,000 more votes than Biff in the semifinal. It certainly wouldn’t be fair to say he was facing weak jerks. But Cartman took out two of the biggest pricks in HBO history—Larry and Roman. </p>
<p id="PO2xTi">Let’s just call this what it is: Shooter McGavin is the underdog going into the final. Shooter and Cartman haven’t had a problem bringing in the numbers up to this point, but Cartman’s run is far more spectacular. Shooter may be an all-timer when it comes to being a jerk, but Cartman, just some punk kid in a parka, could end up being his greatest foe.</p>
<p id="YYwhXx">Maybe this is how the final was always meant to be: the veteran jerk attempting to take on the young gun in training. Does Cartman have what it takes to outclass his elder? That answer is up to you.</p>
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<p class="p--has-dropcap c-end-para" id="5Fq3Kl">Voting on the championship round is officially open. Remember: You can place votes here, <a href="https://twitter.com/ringer">on X</a>, and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ringer/?hl=en">on Instagram</a> until 6 p.m. ET.</p>
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https://www.theringer.com/pop-culture/2023/8/11/23828223/best-pop-culture-jerks-bracket-final-cartman-vs-shooter-mcgavinKhal Davenport2023-05-23T06:20:00-04:002023-05-23T06:20:00-04:00‘Succession’ Season 4 Power Rankings: The Grim Weeper
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<figcaption>HBO/Getty Images/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
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<p>Kendall is finally playing the killer his dad always wanted him to, just in time for the funeral. Meanwhile, Roman finds out that maybe “pre-grieving” isn’t a thing after all.</p> <p id="6mky2P">Succession <em>is all about power—who has the most, who can wield it the best, and who is disastrously blinded by it. So, as we did last season, every week during </em>Succession<em>’s fourth and final installment, </em>The Ringer <em>will check in on how the hierarchy at Waystar Royco shifts with each passing episode. Even after Logan made a deal with GoJo (and screwed over his kids), it’s still safe to say everything is in disarray—and to steal a line from </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDjNcqQs1yM"><em>another HBO series</em></a><em>, chaos can be a ladder.</em></p>
<h3 id="yVvvzb">1. Jeryd Mencken</h3>
<p id="2HRSGU">The pending president-elect was a smooth operator this week. There’s a slyness to his moves, and getting to see Justin Kirk fill in the blanks of Mencken’s personality has been interesting. Mencken has mastered the game—he praised Kendall for his eulogy as he was walking out of the funeral, but he made sure to put Kendall in his place during the repast. And while Kendall and Roman have been banking on Mencken to spike the GoJo deal over “regulatory” concerns, the conversation with Matsson and Shiv opens up another path—one where the deal proceeds so long as Matsson hires a U.S. CEO. Mencken was noncommittal about whether he’d support that—and with Daniel Jiménez challenging the Wisconsin vote, Mencken’s victory is not yet assured—but all eyes are on the would-be king. By the end of the episode, it became clear that the Roy children believe he holds their fates in his hands.</p>
<h3 id="5nUIQg">2. Lukas Matsson</h3>
<p id="7TOErm">Matsson was the <em>other</em> face that everyone was looking toward. Shiv told Lukas to news dump his bogus numbers on the day of her father’s funeral, primarily due to the unrest over the election spilling into the streets (more on that later). Wisely, Shiv knew that any news dropping on a day like that would be buried, giving her and Lukas more time to determine their next step while figuring out how to get Mencken to not block the GoJo deal. And figure it out they did; as stated earlier, Lukas delivered some reassuring news to Shiv at the end of the episode, although he did <em>not</em> confirm anything regarding Shiv being a lock for the position of CEO of Waystar GoJo’s U.S. division. Anything can <em>truly</em> happen, but a number of things can’t happen unless Lukas Matsson says so.</p>
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<h3 id="XzgkYA">
<br>3. Kendall Roy</h3>
<p id="toihQ5">Over the course of four seasons, we’ve seen Kendall Roy recover time and again. Kendall’s status affords him the opportunity to sidestep consequences for things like shoplifting or being involved in a waiter’s drowning, but during Logan Roy’s funeral, we saw Kendall Roy channel his father and use his gift of gab to save the day.</p>
<p id="GrpT5n">In a moment similar to <a href="https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/5/2/23707514/succession-season-4-episode-6-power-rankings-logan-kendall">his performance</a> during investor day, Kendall Roy did what the rest of his siblings couldn’t: He delivered the message the family needed to deliver in their father’s absence. Many mocked flight-jacket-clad Kendall and his big ideas for the Living+ presentation, but when he had no other choice, he found the words and astounded the crowd, saving the company. And when Roman melted down after seeing his father’s casket, Kendall took to the podium and spoke about his father’s legacy, getting to the heart of what made Logan the most revered and feared man in media. “He had a vitality, a force that could hurt. And it did,” Kendall said with a sense of admiration. </p>
<p id="KNEnIM">With his impromptu eulogy, Kendall shined in front of Mencken, the devil he’d made a deal with. But when he learned his sister and Matsson were making moves to undermine his tenuous arrangement, Kendall started to shift his focus. He coldly moved on from Jess when she told him she was planning to leave (presumably because of ATN’s role in Mencken’s likely victory), he basically alienated a too-online Rava, and he began shoring up his team: Hugo, a lapdog ready to say “woof” whenever Kendall needs him; Colin, his father’s former body man and one of the few people who know about the waiter; and his brother Roman, whom he needs on his side more than ever. (And in telling an already-broken Roman he “fucked it” regarding the Mencken deal, Kendall channeled Logan more than he ever has in a speech.)</p>
<p id="GpwV3d">Can Kendall actually claim what he’s long considered to be his birthright? Out of the four Roy children, he’s always <em>felt</em> like the closest one to the throne. And with the way he immediately gets active? Kendall may be the best fit for the job.</p>
<h3 id="bCi1pM">4. Shiv Roy</h3>
<p id="XmxLqV">Similar to her brother Kendall, Shiv’s arc during the day of her father’s funeral started at a low point. After watching a fascist seemingly emerge victorious on election night, it was always going to be an uphill battle, but Shiv had to mourn her father and prep for the funeral while roughly 15 weeks pregnant and strategizing against her brothers for the CEO role at their deceased father’s media conglomerate. (Hey, no one ever said girl-bossing was easy.) Early, Shiv’s main goal was to get the bogus GoJo numbers in the press while the protests were dominating the news cycle. And Shiv was right; the numbers dropped, and no one seemed to bat an eye. That, however, was just one problem down.</p>
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<p id="AD2YQJ">Shiv’s next major hurdle was getting Lukas ready to talk to Mencken and also getting him to agree to her plan of having her become U.S. CEO after the deal goes through. (Her pitch involved a lot of absentee parenting and a certain amount of control for Matsson.) Things felt touch and go on that front until her brothers (and Cousin Greg) shit the bed with Mencken after the funeral. Shiv <em>literally</em> dragged Mencken out of that situation and may have secured herself that CEO position. </p>
<p id="GBdeVz">On the home front, Shiv ended up being the bigger person, at least for a day. During her brief conversation with Tom after her father’s funeral, she suggested that he sleep off his troubles at their apartment. It’s an olive branch, but it comes at a confusing time in their relationship—Shiv shared with her family that she was pregnant but also sipped some champagne during her chat with Tom. Shiv has poorly played the game, and her lies have come to light; Shiv becoming CEO at the end of this, however, could make a lot of that ill will go away. Funny how power works.</p>
<h3 id="tPuZr2">5. Ewan Roy</h3>
<p id="X1t9dR">When Logan’s brother, Ewan, got up to speak, my thought was that Cousin Greg would bumble and screw up, but ultimately, Ewan would not be allowed to speak—he hasn’t made his feelings for his brother a secret. That said, there was something that happened during Greg’s awkward attempt to silence his grandfather: Ewan got sympathy. His comments on folks trying to hinder someone from speaking about family cut deep during that moment—especially when Roman was preparing to deliver the eulogy we saw him practicing at the top of the episode. </p>
<p id="TjIF1e">“It is not for me to judge my brother,” Ewan began. “History will tell that story.” But Ewan’s speech went a long way to providing the necessary history that explained how Logan became who he was: the brothers’ silent journey across the Atlantic as stowaways during World War II, the younger sister who died of polio that Logan may have spread to her, and the aunt and uncle who took them in, only to provide the kind of tough—and possibly nonexistent—love that Logan became known for himself. Ewan and Logan took opposite paths—Logan became a hero to the right who fed the darkness inside people, while Ewan grew into a union-song-singing Greenpeace benefactor—but even villains have families. “I loved him, I suppose,” Ewan said, “and I suppose some of you did too.” It was a brutally honest eulogy for a brutally honest man—one whose worldview won out over Ewan’s. But in delivering parting words for his fallen brother, Ewan shook things up, revealing what truly lay beneath. And as the kids would quickly find out, it was a difficult act to follow.</p>
<aside id="yIshC7"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"The Dark Flame in Men: Breaking Down Episode 9 of ‘Succession’ ","url":"https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/5/21/23730394/succession-season-4-episode-9-recap-church-and-state-logan-funeral"},{"title":"Lukas Matsson Isn’t a Fraud. At Least Not If You Ask Alexander Skarsgard. ","url":"https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/5/8/23714640/succession-season-4-episode-7-lukas-matsson-alexander-skarsgard"}]}'></div></aside><h3 id="PcIMWr">6. Cousin Greg</h3>
<p id="TRamG4">It’s tough to gauge how Cousin Greg will make out after things come to an end. He couldn’t get a word in with Mencken. He couldn’t stop his grandfather from causing a scene. Hell, he couldn’t even get to Logan’s funeral without getting all sweaty. But he does have one thing going for him: a cozy relationship with Matsson, whose pet name for Greg is “Sexy.” Cousin Greg may have the most potential to land in a promising position by the series’ end; it’ll just be on him to not fumble the bag.</p>
<h3 id="IdEh5j">7. Caroline Collingwood</h3>
<p id="fKm5RZ">Kendall, Shiv, and Roman’s mother knows how to stir the pot, huh? While not “CEO of Waystar Royco” powerful, Caroline commands the room, with or without her howling dalmatians. She spotted Shiv’s pregnancy immediately, corralled Logan’s ladies together during his funeral, and holds a prominent position on the board. The kids spoke about rejecting her “Carribean air clear” request on the ride over to Logan’s funeral, but Caroline may become vital if the ultimate decision is handed to the board.</p>
<p id="C9XXeD">While Caroline has never been the most adept at showing her children grace, she did find sympathy for people she felt a certain kinship with …</p>
<h3 id="pvQqEb">8. The Wives and Lovers Pew</h3>
<p id="O1Q1Wi">One of the more surprising moments in the episode was when Caroline, recognizing a moment that Logan Roy had no way of disrupting, assembled an amazing row of women at the front of the church: herself (Logan’s second wife), along with Marcia (Logan’s wife at the time of his passing), Sally-Anne (a mistress Logan had while married to Caroline), and Kerry (the mistress Logan had at the time of his passing). It was mostly a moment of catharsis (especially for Kerry, who has been shunned since Logan’s death), not uncommon for a funeral, but it was surely surprising to see at <em>Logan’s </em>funeral.</p>
<h3 id="dgtknh">9. Hugo</h3>
<p id="EH0bn0">Hugo has been in a bind ever since his estranged daughter started playing with stocks after Logan died. He’s done Kendall’s bidding when asked, but at the mausoleum, Kendall officially invited Hugo to be his lapdog, handling whatever odd jobs Kendall needs along the way. Hugo stayed diligent; he sniffed out word of Shiv’s play, helping put things into proper focus for Kendall.</p>
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<p id="IDmPvV"><br>Hugo, while being offered a spot on the inside, was also told that he had a ceiling. His new gig will pay him handsomely, but he will forever be in a particular role. He could be one of Kendall’s most important assets, living comfortably off of the meaty table scraps Kendall will throw his way.</p>
<h3 id="U8jg5S">10. Connor Roy</h3>
<p id="h3WR4t">The eldest and most cryo-curious of Logan Roy’s children, Connor knew things his siblings didn’t, including how his dad acquired his cat food Ozymandias mausoleum. (He got it at auction; it was a good deal!) That said, Mencken—who hasn’t officially won the presidency—had Connor buzzing in his ear post-funeral, attempting to discuss Connor’s plans overseas. Connor was asked to leave, but it also felt like Mencken didn’t know what Connor was referring to. Connor may not have gotten a chance to deliver his formally inventive eulogy, but he’ll be all right. Though at this point, it feels like that’s <em>only</em> because of whom he’s related to.</p>
<h3 id="YO3vIg">11. Gerri</h3>
<p id="DX3Ikc">While Gerri’s been more of a background player this season (primarily due to Roman fake firing her before legit firing her), I had to wonder whether she’d be around during these important events. But Gerri makes her presence felt throughout “Church and State.” Early on, she asks the rest of the C-level lackeys whether they’re happier now that Logan’s dead. (“Stockholm syndrome … crossed with a little bit of China syndrome,” she says after Karl cops to being sad about Logan.) But she also displays mixed emotions related to Roman: near disgust as he flails during his eulogy, then a sense of protectiveness as Karl replays the video of said flailing. (There’s also a stunning shot during the funeral scene where the camera catches a glimpse of Gerri and Karolina just as Shiv speaks of Logan not being able to “fit a whole woman in his head.” The toll this man took on the women in his life—from his wives and paramours to his daughter to his subordinates—comes into sharp focus throughout this episode.)</p>
<p id="qJY3rT">As we head into the finale, one has to guess when Gerri will really make her presence felt. She’s still holding on to her Roman secret, but she also clearly has maternal feelings for him. And Roman will need those, because … </p>
<h3 id="AxioH5">12. Roman Roy</h3>
<p id="yrXeTR">“How will Roman handle Logan’s funeral?” was a question I’d been asking myself ever since he said he “pre-grieved” his father’s death earlier this season. The idea made no sense, and while Roman put on a good face from then until the day of the funeral, it took his uncle and the specter of his dead father to break him at the <em>exact</em> wrong time.</p>
<p id="kyQLQf">Roman’s facade—masking everything going on inside with crude humor and even viler displays of corporate power—was just waiting to crumble, and somewhere between Ewan cutting him in line and seeing his father’s casket, Roman became a viral meme inside the seedy Waystar Royco group chats. He was even seen storming out as Karl was loading up footage of Roman whimpering during the funeral on his phone, with Frank and Gerri protesting him playing the clip.</p>
<p id="9wC8G3">Roman, desperate to feel humiliated, thrust himself into the protests in the city, which resulted in him nearly getting trampled by concerned citizens. This was of course after Kendall informed Roman that they may have lost the deal because Roman couldn’t get Mencken completely on board. Kendall plans on fixing it (and having Roman along for the ride), but Roman knows that this is his fault. Kendall also asked Roman to have his back during this final power play, but with the way that night ended, the question is if Roman is capable of rebuilding himself.</p>
<h3 id="LuE1Cx">13. Colin</h3>
<p id="hxAAY0">One of the wisest decisions Kendall Roy made after his father’s funeral was sparking a conversation with Colin, one of the few people who know about the biggest skeleton in his closet. Since Logan passed, Colin’s been like a dog without his master—after Logan’s body was unloaded from the plane, we’ve seen Colin appear only once, looking despondent at Logan’s wake, and we learn in “Church and State” that Colin’s been seeing a psychiatrist. But Kendall understands that Colin was his father’s most loyal soldier, and given what he knows about both Logan <em>and </em>Kendall, he’s a valuable pawn in Kendall’s chess moves. But for Colin, going with Kendall means something else: a new place for this old dog to call home.</p>
<h3 id="C8dszl">14. Tom Wambsgans</h3>
<p id="1nn1OK">Tired Tom didn’t even make it to Logan Roy’s funeral. He was swamped at ATN (knee-deep in political unrest, no doubt), and his name is all over the news for the Mencken call. (Though not as much as Darwin’s, and Tom just wants his goodies, after all.) Tom did show up after the funeral to speak with Shiv, giving small apologies while attempting to gain clarity on things like Shiv’s pregnancy. One of the warmer moments of the episode (second possibly to Caroline corralling Logan’s ladies together) was Shiv telling Tom to go back to their apartment to get some rest. Tom could get lucky, too (no, not like <em>that</em>): If Shiv becomes CEO, maybe she will let him keep his job.</p>
<h3 id="Bhqsk9">15. Peter Munion</h3>
<p class="c-end-para" id="MHEnIS">Ah, the return of the man Logan affectionately referred to as the “seat-sniffer.” Peter’s awkwardly hilarious “daddy’s here” fell flat with the Roy children during the funeral, and he let his overall awkward vibe do the rest. Not being able to secure a position as pallbearer above Cousin Greg? You’ve surely messed up somewhere. Let’s hope he was able to fill up his autograph book.</p>
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https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/5/23/23733883/succession-season-4-episode-9-power-rankings-logan-roy-funeral-church-stateKhal Davenport2023-05-16T08:12:22-04:002023-05-16T08:12:22-04:00‘Succession’ Season 4 Power Rankings: A Night of Good TV
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<figcaption>HBO/Getty Images/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
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<p>It’s election night, and the fate of every character (and, you know, the entire country) is on the line</p> <p id="ccu2zM">Succession <em>is all about power—who has the most, who can wield it the best, and who is disastrously blinded by it. So, as we did last season, every week during </em>Succession<em>’s fourth and final installment, </em>The Ringer <em>will check in on how the hierarchy at Waystar Royco shifts with each passing episode. Even after Logan made a deal with GoJo (and screwed over his kids), it’s still safe to say everything is in disarray—and to steal a line from </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDjNcqQs1yM"><em>another HBO series</em></a><em>, chaos can be a ladder.</em></p>
<h3 id="I0jNDW">1. Kendall Roy</h3>
<p id="Fq4bMs">Kendall’s <em>almost there</em>. He’s no. 1 this week, and after striking a deal that might lead to the blocking of GoJo’s acquisition of Waystar, he could potentially stay in this spot for the rest of the series. Then again, he could just as easily find himself in the abyss two episodes from now. Kendall’s indecision during the hottest moments of election night—in which Roman railroaded him into supporting a possible neo-Nazi and Shiv nearly tricked him into acting on his conscience—may be exactly what his father saw as his major flaw. One week after Ken’s “one head, one crown” posturing, it was <em>that </em>easy for people to push him around when the temperature got turned up.</p>
<p id="OHfBol">Throughout election night, Kendall tried to play as Logan Roy—the last voice, the main decision-maker, the one always a few steps ahead. The problem? Kendall isn’t Logan. Logan may have been on the wrong side of situations, morally and ethically speaking, but at least he always picked a side. Kendall, on the other hand, hemmed and hawed while others took the wheel. He spent the night understanding, and even agreeing with, everything Shiv was saying regarding the Democratic candidate, Daniel Jimenez, and what Jeryd Mencken could do to the country if he won, yet Kendall could only mumble while Roman was giving ATN anchors anti-Dem talking points. Stuck between his professional interests (Mencken promising to block the GoJo deal) and his personal interests (being a good dad), he ultimately decided to do nothing. It wasn’t until Kendall realized that Shiv had lied to him—about calling Nate and about her backroom deal with Lukas Matsson—that he snapped into action, making the decision for ATN to declare Mencken the winner. Not because it was the right move, mind you, but because Kendall wanted to get back at his sister. Kendall voted with his heart, not his head, something Logan would never do.</p>
<p id="aW0ZXG">None of this may matter in the long run. Maybe Mencken will secure Waystar for Kendall and Roman, and Kendall will learn how to forgo his emotions in the boardroom. (Hell, with the way Kendall’s treating his daughter, Sophie, he’s more like his father than we thought!) But it’s probably not a good sign that Ken completely folded in his first high-pressure scenario in the top role.</p>
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<h3 id="AKdebi">
<br>2. Roman Roy</h3>
<p id="6Uq4H0">Roman was a man determined on election night. I can’t remember if he even ever sat down—if he wasn’t walking off to talk strategy with Team Mencken, he was feeding talking points to ATN anchors or coaxing the decision desk to call the race entirely. He’s still burning off the chaotic, “pre-grieved” energy that led to him frantically firing Joy Palmer and Gerri <a href="https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/5/2/23707514/succession-season-4-episode-6-power-rankings-logan-kendall">a couple of episodes ago</a>, and the power vacuum that arose in “America Decides” turned out to be the perfect outlet for that. Roman was the puppet master, pulling all of the right strings to secure a victory for a man who, by many accounts, will destroy America as they know it. </p>
<p id="SM57sT">No. 2 could be no. 1 this week, except for one thing: Roman can’t actually push the button himself. He still needs Ken to cosign this path of destruction. Steak was on the menu on election night, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop serving chicken any time soon.</p>
<aside id="1oaflO"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Fate of the Republic: Breaking Down Episode 8 of ‘Succession’ ","url":"https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/5/14/23721723/succession-season-4-episode-8-recap-america-decides-election-atn"},{"title":"The Dark Art of Throwing the Perfect TV Party ","url":"https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/5/10/23717184/succession-tailgate-party-tv-parties-the-office-mad-men-community"}]}'></div></aside><h3 id="NUn75X">3. Jeryd Mencken</h3>
<p id="beqcaQ">When we first saw him in this episode, he was telling Roman that he was “focused on losing,” and he wanted to make sure that if he didn’t pull this one out, his campaign would be characterized favorably. Some ballot-destroying arson, a ticking clock, and ATN’s media maneuvering gave Mencken a foundation to claim the victory, but it was Mencken’s promise to Roman that he would not let the Waystar-GoJo deal go through that put the gas in the engine. And while a Logan (or a Kendall Logan) Roy must have a Mencken in a power position to push their shady deals through, someone like Mencken <em>needs</em> a Logan (or a Kendall Logan) Roy to get them into a pole position.</p>
<h3 id="PDJl8J">4. Lukas Matsson</h3>
<p id="618vFl">Matsson didn’t <em>do</em> much this week, but in many ways, the election—or at least the backroom bartering over it—was really about him. If Jimenez won, Kendall and Roman thought he’d let Matsson’s acquisition of Waystar Royco go through without a hitch. Mencken won Roman over by directly promising that he’d kill the deal if he was made president. That’s a <em>lot</em> of power for someone who couldn’t even vote in said election! </p>
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<p id="buX9dR">All in all, though, the election may turn out to be a lose-lose situation for Matsson: If Mencken does indeed win, the deal gets blocked, and if Jimenez wins, then Matsson just bought a global news network that has lost all legitimacy because it partisanly attempted to subvert a presidential election. And, oh yeah, Matsson still needs to figure out how to let everyone know that, in fact, there are not two Indias, and his numbers in that country are totally bogus …</p>
<h3 id="e4WeMv">5. Tom Wambsgans</h3>
<p id="Af2GkK">By the end of the night, Tom’s face is plastered on every news network not named ATN due to his “premature projection” of the election results. That said? Tom was at his most powerful, his highest (or at least most frazzled; thanks, cocaine), and his coldest on election night. Fretting over touch screens and bodega sushi is one thing; Tom had the power of the media in the palm of his hand (sometimes literally) during <em>a presidential election</em>. Being ATN’s chairman of global broadcast news, Tom had the power to cause unrest on the other side of the globe—it’s no wonder he had to have Greg Gregging for him. Sure, all of the decisions Tom “made” were decisions that the people above him on this list ordered him to make, and sure, the legality of some of those decisions will definitely be questioned in the coming weeks. But hey, at least Tom—who may now have new allies in Kendall and Roman by virtue of <em>not </em>being on Shiv’s side—is in the ring.</p>
<h3 id="ewKoiL">6. Shiv Roy</h3>
<p id="hSot0J">For a while, it looked like Shiv could do it. Rome was racking up steps all over ATN, opening up an opportunity for Shiv to convince Kendall to save democracy (and thus the GoJo deal). Where did Shiv fuck up? It was her lies: Shiv told Kendall that she had a conversation with Nate, and when Kendall tried to piggyback off of that conversation, he realized that not only did she not make the call, but she has also been covertly working with Matsson. She’s always trying to keep her options open, but doing so pushed Kendall into the arms of Roman (and maybe fascism). </p>
<p id="Bb7KG5">That said, Shiv does have a line to Matsson and was seen speaking with him while leaving the ATN offices at the end of the episode. Plays could still be made—think about all the dirt she has on <em>both </em>of her brothers. And if Lukas does end up successfully purchasing Waystar, Shiv would be the lone Roy child on top … right?</p>
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<h3 id="bB0g7n">
<br>7. Cousin Greg</h3>
<p id="Tzgnga">Don’t get it twisted: Even if Greg has a number of obstacles facing him on his journey to the top of Waystar Royco, election night may have been one of the most important strategic events of his tenure as a corporate striver. (Even if you acknowledge the error of pouring lemon seltzer onto the face of a man who rubbed wasabi in his eyes.) Still buzzing after a night of partying with Matsson and his cronies, Greg informs Tom early on that he knows that Lukas and Shiv are getting close. Tom drops a great piece of advice on Greg, telling him to hold on to any information he has until the time is right to strike. Soon after, during an aside where Greg straight up asks Shiv what she can do for him if he keeps quiet about what he knows, Shiv decides to turn Greg away with a couple of threats related to his internal organs. So, who was there feeding Kendall the news about Shiv’s unholy alliance? Cousin Greg, a man destined for … <em>something</em>.</p>
<h3 id="NRvNv4">8. The ATN Touch Screen(s)</h3>
<p id="EMLBoX">Equipment malfunctions of any kind during a live broadcast can be frustrating, <em>especially</em> if you’ve just snorted some cocaine during your first time overseeing an election-night broadcast. </p>
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<cite>Screenshot via HBO</cite>
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<p id="EKkx84">It’s always fun to see how much mayhem can occur when one piece of tech stops working.</p>
<h3 id="kRtIfR">9. Connor Roy</h3>
<p id="2IzGpm">Poor Connor. The eldest of the Roy children has not only been interested in politics since he was young, but he’s also been fighting tooth and nail for this election, even when his decision to persist perplexes his family and peers. Even with ATN at Connor’s campaign headquarters capturing footage, there was no actual discussion about his campaign on ATN that night, and any hope of a Connor Roy upset was quickly extinguished when those Kentucky numbers came in around 7 p.m. Eastern. He did ultimately swing a deal with Mencken to become the ambassador to Slovenia—but lunch in Vienna and dinner in Venice might already be off the table after Connor started freestyling for the Conheads during his concession speech. Connor may make it to Dubrovnik for breakfast, but possibly just as a billionaire tourist.</p>
<h3 id="n13NYV">10. Decision Desk Darwin</h3>
<p id="f7SeGr">It was great to see one of the few actual analysts/journalists at ATN: some guy named Darwin, who seems to <em>really </em>like elections. His presence helped highlight how the electoral sausage is made on election-night broadcasts, but it also gave us a great display of the power structure at ATN.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="4uT3aj">In a scene where Roman gathers the ATN brain trust to discuss calling Wisconsin for Mencken, Darwin, representing the ATN decision desk, explains the absolute danger of prematurely handing electoral votes to a candidate. He swiftly loses that argument, though, as it quickly becomes clear that it’s not the experts who decide—it’s the guys who sign the experts’ checks. “Dar” doesn’t even get to go on air, as promised, to explain the caveats related to the “pending call” on Wisconsin. All he gets is an eye full of Greg’s wasabi.</p>
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https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/5/16/23725088/succession-season-4-episode-8-power-rankings-election-nightKhal Davenport2023-04-19T17:07:26-04:002023-04-19T17:07:26-04:00Cody Rhodes Paying the Price for Starting AEW? Plus, the Non-WWE, WWE Draft.
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<p>The guys also react to Kaz’s fantasy booking of putting CM Punk with the Elite against the Blackpool Combat Club</p> <div id="OsQnBK"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 152px; position: relative;"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/3vQGSO90uh28yRrVJiAGNz?utm_source=oembed" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" allow="clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="CyU7uI"><br><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/3vQGSO90uh28yRrVJiAGNz?si=IujjqIiWQ7O8DlTKskWT0g">This week, Ben kicks off the show</a> by checking to see whether Khal and Brian are Team Draymond Green or Team Domantas Sabonis (1:34). Then Brian and Khal do another live taste test of Logan Paul’s Prime sports drink (4:12). Then they discuss the following headlines:</p>
<ul>
<li id="Zuq9GR">Bianca Belair wanting a match with Charlotte Flair (10:40)</li>
<li id="W3PkWj">Dustin Rhodes saying WWE is making Cody Rhodes pay for starting AEW (17:04)</li>
<li id="UNYdeY">Goldberg wanting a retirement match (25:00)</li>
</ul>
<p id="7eH597">They also react to Kaz’s fantasy booking of putting CM Punk with the Elite against the Blackpool Combat Club. (30:59). Then, in the spirit of the upcoming WWE draft, the three guys each draft two non-WWE athletes to become WWE Superstars (39:53). They close the show with highlights from NXT (59:09) and a preview of tonight’s AEW <em>Dynamite</em> (61:02).</p>
<p id="znUGEk">Hosts: Ben Cruz, Khal Davenport, and Brian H. Waters<br>Producer: Brian H. Waters</p>
<p id="lGOY4b"><strong>Subscribe: </strong><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hs2BB22dp0KmTFpLsYcQc?si=P4-aMiodQLGR_7PSFebF9g">Spotify</a> / <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Fthe-masked-man-show%2Fid1211025769%3Fmt%3D2&xcust=xid:fr1571227719194ggb%7Cxid:fr1571832269979jdi">Apple Podcasts</a> / <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-ringer/the-masked-man-show">Stitcher</a> / <a href="https://www.theringer.com/rss/the-masked-man-show/index.xml">RSS</a></p>
https://www.theringer.com/2023/4/19/23690244/cody-rhodes-paying-the-price-for-starting-aew-plus-the-non-wwe-wwe-draft-dustin-rhodesKhal DavenportBrian WatersBen Cruz2023-04-11T08:06:50-04:002023-04-11T08:06:50-04:00‘Succession’ Season 4 Power Rankings: A Day for the Memoirs
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<figcaption>HBO/Getty Images/Ringer illustration</figcaption>
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<p>After an inevitable yet shocking event brings Connor’s wedding to a halt, the entire power structure of the series comes crashing down</p> <p id="dKlrPs">Succession <em>is all about power—who has the most, who can wield it the best, and who is disastrously blinded by it. So, as we did last season, every week during </em>Succession<em>’s fourth and final installment, </em>The Ringer <em>will check in on how the hierarchy at Waystar Royco shifts with each passing episode. Even after Logan made a deal with GoJo (and screwed over his kids), it’s still safe to say everything is in disarray—and to steal a line from </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDjNcqQs1yM"><em>another HBO series</em></a><em>, chaos can be a ladder.</em></p>
<h3 id="cJvMNR">1. Logan Roy</h3>
<p id="gXpI1S">So, it happened. Don’t feign surprise; the show is literally called <em>Succession</em>. Did you think Logan Roy would just let someone walk in and carry him out of Waystar Royco? No, he went out in the bathroom of his private jet on his way to seal the deal with GoJo … on the day of his son’s wedding. There was no real way to <em>plan</em> for it, although <a href="https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/4/7/23673512/succession-episode-3-precap-preview-burning-question-connor">last week’s burning question</a> prepared me for the worst, and honestly, this was the best way to do it. Presented over a series of barely audible, frustrating phone calls, the sound of Logan Roy receiving chest compressions is something that’ll be hard to forget. And by keeping the audience as woefully uninformed about Logan’s situation as his children, the show pulled off one of the best, most engaging episodes of TV in recent memory while setting up the series’ final stretch. There’s an enormous hole in the C-suite at Waystar—and in the cast of <em>Succession</em>—but this is where the real game begins. The battle for supremacy is what Logan Roy thrived on; one has to imagine that the upcoming war between his inner circle would’ve put a huge shit-eating grin on his face.</p>
<p id="R2WCcz">That shot of Roman’s phone toward the end of <a href="https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/4/10/23676620/succession-episode-3-recap-connors-wedding-logan-death">“Connor’s Wedding,”</a> where you see how much the Waystar Royco stock has plummeted after the news of Logan’s death? That’s power. It’s just impossible for Waystar investors to see the company’s future without the Roy family patriarch. And that’s largely the way Logan wanted it, right? Sure, a successor has always been on the tip of his tongue, but realistically, every chess move Logan made up until the moment he stopped breathing was meant to strengthen his own position and make the ties between him and Waystar that much more inextricable. The character is so strong that, for a while, I, like Roman, wondered if Logan was even actually dead—what would you call this shitty, next-level “boars on the floor”–esque fiasco? But by the time his body was in a bag being taken off the jet, denial had given way to acceptance. Logan is gone, no matter how tight his stranglehold on the rest of the world was.</p>
<p id="7FUMNH">Logan may have loved his children; he just didn’t know how to show it. What he did know is how to run a media empire, and now that he’s gone, there will be many people who want to prove that they can do it too. Hopefully, one of the Roy kids has been paying attention; Logan damn sure wasn’t giving out any answers.</p>
<div id="YFDDVj"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 152px; position: relative;"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1ShDWxLF40tfsfTBGetGlH?utm_source=oembed" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" allow="clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture;"></iframe></div></div>
<h3 id="0MtvpR">
<br>2. Lukas Matsson</h3>
<p id="phXYwx">Much like the Roy family patriarch, we don’t really see Lukas Matsson in “Connor’s Wedding,” but his power is definitely on display. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself why Logan Roy was even on that jet. Oh, that’s right: He was flying to Sweden to smooth out the Waystar-GoJo deal with Matsson. And who was the first name that Karolina said they needed to contact? Oh yeah, that was Matsson as well. There was (still is?) a lot riding on that deal, which makes Matsson an impact player, even if only via FaceTime. The point that Matsson decides to appear in person to close the deal will make a huge difference in his ranking throughout the rest of the season, but just know this: Matsson will shift how this game is played, one way or another.</p>
<h3 id="c3YR1U">3. Tom Wambsgans</h3>
<p id="fiLXQe">Just last week, Tom was essentially Logan’s right hand, trying his best to smooth out the troubles at ATN, bartering with Nan Pierce over the sale of PGM, and tagging along on last-minute, deal-closing trips to Sweden. This week, Tom is the messenger; his phone call (first to Shiv, before connecting with Roman) alerts the Roy children to their father’s predicament, and throughout the rest of the episode, he’s their main point of contact. Sure, that’s due to his proximity to Logan, but Tom’s entire angle has been to get as close to Logan as possible. Sometimes, that means being the bearer of bad news, and even if Tom’s bedside manner—like the majority of the Waystar inner circle—leaves a lot to be desired, Tom wins because he was there when it mattered most. </p>
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<cite>Screenshots via HBO</cite>
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<p id="sxMHGI">Then again, the reason Tom says this to Greg is because he knows that being with Logan when he died is now all he has. This could be the last time Tom finds himself so close to the top of the food chain. Tom’s entire M.O. has been getting close to Logan, and he was even willing to knife his own wife to accomplish that. Meanwhile, Cyd Peach was supposed to get canned on Sunday, but Logan’s heart gave out before that could happen. Tom could be standing atop Waystar, but he betrayed a lot of people to get there … and they haven’t forgotten. Even Tom’s relationship with his disgusting brother, Cousin Greg, feels more like a case of needing allies on your way to hell. Getting to the top of the mountain is tough; how Tom got there and how he intends to stay there are equally massive factors in his quest for power. Tom will need to make a truly interesting play to get majority numbers back on his side.</p>
<div class="c-float-right"><aside id="oKls8I"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"Where Do the Roy Children Go From Here?","url":"https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/4/10/23677813/succession-logan-roy-death-children-kendall-shiv-roman-connor-hbo"},{"title":"Why ‘Succession’ Had to Use Its Ultimate Trump Card","url":"https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/4/10/23677894/logan-roy-death-legacy-why-killed-off"},{"title":"‘Succession’ Made the Inevitable Feel Unbelievable. What Happens Next?","url":"https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/4/10/23676620/succession-episode-3-recap-connors-wedding-logan-death"},{"title":"Anatomy of a Perfect ‘Succession’ Episode: “Connor’s Wedding” in 12 Images","url":"https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/4/11/23678627/succession-season-4-episode-3-best-shots"}]}'></div></aside></div>
<h3 id="ClWCUk">4. Kendall Roy</h3>
<p id="SttUzt">Picking which of the Roy children is currently most powerful is tough, primarily because all four feel ill-prepared for the enormous responsibility that Logan has dangled in front of them throughout this series. If someone <em>looks</em> like they should be in power, it’s Kendall Roy. At this point, he’s far removed from the inner circle. He’s there by blood, but the last thing anyone wants to do is something that Kendall told them to do. That said, he displays moments of true leadership, from putting his foot down on how things were to be worded in their official press statement to this gem toward the end of the episode, when Kendall correctly affirms the importance of the moment that the Roy children find themselves in.</p>
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</figure>
<p id="jOct12">Of the three siblings, Kendall is the first to recognize that their father’s death is both a threat and an opportunity. He has enough experience and wisdom to start maneuvering, and despite the many personalities he’s tried on since the end of Season 1, he’s always kept an eye on the Waystar crown. Does this mean he’s destined to be at the head of the company after the seven (!) remaining episodes? It’d make sense. Then again, if there’s one thing Kendall loves more than business, it’s self-sabotage. </p>
<h3 id="SPg5fB">5. Shiv Roy</h3>
<p id="dJDUEL">Shiv spends most of the episode in wide-eyed shock, vacillating between disbelief, denial, and anger that her siblings didn’t loop her in sooner. She ends the episode in a car with her estranged husband, staring into the distance, perhaps wondering how she got to this place, and being consoled after the death of her father by the man who teamed up with him to betray her. But in terms of <em>appearing </em>powerful, Shiv excels beyond Kendall and Roman. One of her strong suits has always been public relations, and she becomes the face of the family during an impromptu press conference, delivering a powerful statement and freestyling a remark about the siblings’ intention to “be there” for the company while Kendall and Roman lurk in the background. She isn’t firmly the no. 1 Roy kid, but they’re now waging a war in the sphere of public opinion, and TV helps build narratives, right?</p>
<h3 id="4Ga522">6. Roman Roy</h3>
<p id="O0Yxrc">Roman? Roman may be in a pickle. He is the sibling who was seemingly closest to Logan before his death, and Roman was given a direct order to fire Gerri during the episode’s cold open. Because Roman is Roman, he was out of sorts from then on, unsure of how to word the termination—and square it with the knowledge that it was definitely occurring because of his text indecencies—and he then lashed out at his father via voice mail before receiving the phone call that would change the rest of his life. </p>
<div class="c-float-right"><div id="ND7XXe"><div data-anthem-component="aside:11489171"></div></div></div>
<p id="2F9cyK">Did Roman succeed in firing Gerri? Not really; their conversation didn’t feel “final,” and Gerri quickly became part of the team that was charting a post-Logan plan of action. Did Roman fail at saying whatever Tom thought needed to be said in Logan’s ear during that ordeal? Definitely. He passed the phone to Kendall so he could think. Not being able to stick the landing and then immediately folding under pressure feels like two strikes; the dirt Gerri has on him could be strike three. Roman has proved that he might have the best instincts of all the Roy kids—if only, uh, everything else wasn’t so messed up.</p>
<h3 id="pUh3n2">7. Cousin Greg</h3>
<p id="oe3pEP">Everything started out bad for Cousin Greg this week. After struggling to effectively and carefully kill Kerry’s dreams as an ATN anchor, he was officially “in the bad books” with Logan, according to Tom. That’s obviously alleviated by Logan’s death, but that event is potentially even more catastrophic: Greg is now as unprotected as Tom, and even more expendable. </p>
<p id="oRoOwv">It also doesn’t help that this disgusting brother is so lost in a sea of Tinder dates that he doesn’t even realize how his latest love interest, <em>a journalist</em>, is eyeing <em>everything</em> going on around him, desperate for a scoop on the Roys. (And the news about Logan does leak, though it’s never confirmed whether Greg is responsible for that.) Perhaps if Greg wasn’t so concerned about how many people Tom has “Gregging” for him, it would be easier for him to see that he’s constantly being played.</p>
<h3 id="98EuE1">8. Connor Roy</h3>
<p id="5Da7RD">Kudos to Connor for keeping it a buck at his own wedding after finding out that his dad died.</p>
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</figure>
<p id="O8ZjdU">Connor’s blunt, but that’s because of the loveless life he’s lived. He knew his place and was content to take as much as he could from his father’s fortune without having to dip a toe into the corporate world. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to amass power, though; now that he’s officially a married man (congrats, Connor and Willa, on your quiet nuptials), he can really get his political career on the road. Sure, the United States would probably collapse under President Roy’s taxless reign, but for Connor, it’s more about <em>having</em> power, not what he could do with that power.</p>
<h3 id="Z6GyKS">9. Willa Ferreyra</h3>
<p id="LBLEeh">After Willa found her way back to Connor at the end of the last episode, it was good to see that their wedding happened, even amid such terrible news. What’s more interesting is that, by marrying into the Roy family, even at this dark time, Willa has gotten more powerful. She played her cards right and got her man—for money and security, but also for love it seems. Now, as we approach questions of inheritance and, you know, a presidential election, Willa may be in a position to wield her newly gained influence.</p>
<h3 id="MeDymD">10. Gerri, Frank, and Karl</h3>
<p id="wo8968">Is it wrong to lump these three together? Probably. They’re all individual players in this twisted game. That said, they all get only as much power as they are given. Sure, they put together the statement announcing Logan’s passing, but who delivered it to the public? Can they really wrestle Waystar away from the faces of the company? It certainly seems that they’re willing to at least put up a fight, and they do have the advantage of not having to suffer from decades of fatherly manipulation and torture—but do any of them actually matter? Do any of them have <em>it</em>? The better game may be wondering which one of these three will be the furthest ahead when all of this ends.</p>
<h3 id="rQJ8Et">11. Colin Stiles</h3>
<p id="YisPOr">Colin has been by Logan’s side for the entire series. He knows where the Roy family skeletons are buried; in many cases, he dug the graves himself. He was the one Logan called his “best pal” during that intimate dinner in a diner away from Logan’s birthday party. He did not speak in this week’s episode, but he did not need to. </p>
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<p id="PWLnWx">That’s the look of a man who not only lost his job and his friend, but his entire purpose. What will he do now that his old pal is gone? It’s hard to say, but it is important to remember that he’s now just one of three people besides Kendall who know what truly happened to the waiter at Shiv’s wedding.</p>
<h3 id="nFYqYg">12. Kerry Castellabate</h3>
<p id="hNvXWk">“That was fucking crazy, right?” was the <em>last</em> thing I expected to come out of Kerry’s mouth just moments after Logan’s heart stopped beating. Even though she became a laughingstock because of her audition tape, her performance on that jet was somehow worse. What was that rush that she was feeling? Why did she keep making that dazed grin? Why did it look like, as Tom put it, she had just caught a “foul ball at Yankee Stadium”? </p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="rS34aJ">Maybe Kerry still has a card to play. Maybe she amassed some secrets as Logan’s last dalliance. But her inexplicable, off-putting reaction was that of someone who just watched the life drain out of the only reason they were even allowed to set foot in the Waystar Royco boardroom.</p>
<aside id="LmCkBd"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"ringer_newsletter"}'></div></aside>
https://www.theringer.com/succession/2023/4/11/23677913/succession-season-4-episode-3-power-rankings-logan-deadKhal Davenport2023-01-18T16:52:03-05:002023-01-18T16:52:03-05:00WTF Is a Pitch Black Match? Plus, Reacting to Nick Khan’s Ringer Interview.
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<figcaption>WWE</figcaption>
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<p>Ben, Khal, and Brian also recap ‘NXT’ and preview AEW ‘Dynamite’</p> <div id="niQ5L2"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 152px; position: relative;"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/0PysAbfxoGdGDDwWMZrL5C?utm_source=oembed" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" allow="clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="X73OiQ"><br><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/0PysAbfxoGdGDDwWMZrL5C?si=514fa075426d4b69&nd=1">Introducing Wednesday Worldwide,</a> where <em>Ringer</em> dot com senior editor Khal Davenport and producers Ben Cruz and Brian H. Waters tackle the biggest headlines of the week in the wrestling world and chat with some of the biggest names in wrestling media before recapping the previous night’s <em>NXT</em> and previewing AEW <em>Dynamite</em>. This week, they discuss the following:</p>
<p id="nR7BYV">Their wrestling fan origin stories (3:00)<br>“Broken” Matt Hardy’s return (11:37)<br>LA Knight not knowing what a Pitch Black match is (15:25)<br>Jay Briscoe’s passing (21:08)<br>Rhea Ripley being this generation’s Chyna (26:10)<br>Nick Khan’s interview with Bill Simmons (33:00)<br>Highlights from <em>NXT</em> (45:44)<br>Preview of tonight’s AEW <em>Dynamite</em> (50:16)</p>
<p id="YI1NVM">Hosts: Ben Cruz, Khal Davenport, and Brian H. Waters<br>Guest: David Shoemaker<br>Producer: Brian H. Waters</p>
<p id="AYm34U"><strong>Subscribe: </strong><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hs2BB22dp0KmTFpLsYcQc?si=P4-aMiodQLGR_7PSFebF9g">Spotify</a> / <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Fthe-masked-man-show%2Fid1211025769%3Fmt%3D2&xcust=xid:fr1571227719194ggb%7Cxid:fr1571832269979jdi">Apple Podcasts</a> / <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-ringer/the-masked-man-show">Stitcher</a> / <a href="https://www.theringer.com/rss/the-masked-man-show/index.xml">RSS</a></p>
https://www.theringer.com/2023/1/18/23561402/wtf-is-pitch-black-match-plus-reacting-to-nick-khan-ringer-interviewKhal DavenportBen CruzBrian Waters2022-08-25T18:53:49-04:002022-08-25T18:53:49-04:00‘She-Hulk’ Episode 2 Reactions
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<figcaption>Disney Plus</figcaption>
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<p>Khal and Ben break down the latest installment of the MCU series</p> <div id="ch0ptz"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 152px; position: relative;"><iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/43Eoj93bgBBAA3LOa8qxcK?utm_source=oembed" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" allow="clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="YinTao"><br><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/43Eoj93bgBBAA3LOa8qxcK?si=P7HBw9fXSj2EjcyzJc_7yA&nd=1">Ben Lindbergh and Khal Davenport break down Episode 2 of <em>She-Hulk: Attorney at Law</em>.</a> They start by talking about their overall thoughts on the series so far (5:12), before recapping the latest episode (14:08). Later, they talk about how the episode crosses over with the rest of the MCU (22:17). Finally, in honor of Blonsky’s comeback, they each come up with a haiku about the show (50:41).</p>
<p id="5X4haC">Hosts: Ben Lindbergh and Khal Davenport<br>Associate Producer: Carlos Chiriboga<br>Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal</p>
<p id="gqeViv"><strong>Subscribe:</strong> <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3z9QIZzDR4o34uBBbsxb0z">Spotify</a> / <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ringer-verse/id1558211702">Apple Podcasts</a></p>
https://www.theringer.com/the-ringer-verse-podcast/2022/8/25/23322486/she-hulk-episode-2-reactions-disney-plus-marvelKhal DavenportBen Lindbergh