That’s WWE’s Derrick Bateman on yesterday’s episode of NXT, talking to Chickbuster Kaitlyn and wearing a With Leather t-shirt.
And I’m done. I’m hanging up blogging forever, because unless the Phillie Phanatic and I end up as a tag team at Wrestlemania I don’t think my job snarking about sports news and/or Dolph Ziggler’s Jiffy Pop ass can get any cooler. This comes less than a month after one of our readers brought an @MrBrandonStroud sign to an episode of Raw, and I can’t tell you how surreal it feels to watch something I’ve been watching for decades and go “oh hey, there’s me”.
In case you’re wondering, that’s the shirt you would’ve won by participating in one of our trivia challenges. Check out the segment for yourself after the jump, and imagine me doing the dancing emoticon in real life. This one:
I don’t normally do a Best And Worst Of WWE NXT, but here’s the quick version.
Best: I like to believe that if Maxine and Johnny Curtis hadn’t interrupted, Bateman would’ve used baseball as a way to work “oh yeah, I read a wonderful sports blog called With Leather, you should really check it out” and then Kaitlyn would’ve went “wow okay!”, and then the rest of the show would just be people reading this site. Yes, that’s exactly where it was going. Also then Kaitlyn and I would get married.
Worst: Way to ruin my marriage, Maxine. Ah well, at least I got to pal around with team BateMax in happier times.
Best: In all seriousness, Bateman is great, and if you like pro wrestling he should already be on your radar. He’s got literally everything necessary to become a huge star, and I’m not just saying that because he’s from Cleveland and occasionally reads With Leather. Go follow him on Twitter, support him in whatever he does, and watch NXT for the rest of your life because this season is seriously never going to end.
Best: I’m gonna go ahead and take pre-orders for these shirts.
