The pro wrestling promotion announced Monday it is coming to Mission Ballroom on Feb. 25 to broadcast “AEW Dynamite” live and tape an episode of “AEW Collision.”

This is the seventh time AEW has held its shows in Colorado and just the second time in Denver; it was also at the Mission Ballroom for its Fyter Fest special last June.

The company previously had performances in Colorado Springs, Loveland and Broomfield — including the final event at the 1stBank Center before it was demolished.

Tickets for the show will go .

Raja Jackson climbed into the ring and body-slammed Stuart Smith, known professionally as Syko Stu, before beating the apparently unconscious wrestler at the KnokX Pro Wrestling Academy. The assault was widely viewed online in footage livestreamed Saturday and disseminated across social media.

The academy said Jackson assaulted Smith during a match, going off the normal script to commit the beating. Jackson threw at least 20 punches at the head of the apparently unconscious wrestler.

Other wrestlers eventually separated Jackson from Smith, and Jackson fled the academy, which is located in the Sun Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Police Department responded to the academy and is investigating the incident, TMZ reported. A spokesperson didn’t immediately return a request for additional details.

KnokX Pro Entertainment & Academy posted a statement on its Facebook page condemning Jackson’s acts. The promotion said it is “monitoring” Smith’s health.

“What was supposed to be a planned and agreed-upon wrestling spot turned into a selfish, irresponsible act of violence against Mr. Smith,” the statement read. “This egregious act is reprehensible and never should have occurred. In the 17 years of operation of KnokX Pro Wrestling Academy, there has never been anything as heinous take place such as this and we apologize to our patrons and fans.”

Smith has billed himself professionally as a U.S. military veteran who took up wrestling as a tool to manage post-traumatic stress disorder.

The 25-year-old Raja Jackson is also a mixed martial artist who lost his only professional fight in 2023.

Rampage Jackson also posted a statement on social media in which he said Smith is “awake and stable.” He also said the assault was part of a previously planned performance that “went wrong” after Smith apparently angered Raja Jackson by unexpectedly hitting him in the side of the head earlier in the day before the match.

“Raja was told that he could get his ‘payback’ in the ring,” Rampage Jackson wrote. “I thought it was a part of the show. It was bad judgement, and a work that went wrong. Raja is a MMA fighter not a pro wrestler and had no business involved in an event like this. I don’t condone my son’s actions AT ALL! He suffered a concussion from sparring only days ago and had no business doing anything remotely close to physical contact.”

Rampage Jackson was the UFC light heavyweight champion in 2007 and 2008, and he fought for several MMA promotions until 2019. He has also worked as a pro wrestler and an actor, most notably playing B.A. Baracus in the film reboot of “The A-Team” in 2010.

Rampage Jackson didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Long a star soprano, Fleming made her directing debut Monday night at the Aspen Music Festival and School by transporting Mozart����ap masterpiece from 18th century Naples, Italy, to a gym in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, amid professional wrestling’s rise in 1980.

Posters on stage display Sylvester Stallone as Rocky, wrestler Randy Savage and Jane Fonda hawking her workout video. In Fleming’s concept, Fiordiligi and Dorabella are workout-obsessed high school sisters.

“It����ap a coming of age for the protagonists and a loss of innocence,” Fleming said.

An outstanding student cast ages 25-32 mostly making role debuts, was accompanied by conductor Patrick Summers leading a 45-piece orchestra at the 375-capacity Wheeler Opera House, opened in 1889 during the Colorado Silver Boom. There are two additional performances through Saturday at a festival that includes about 200 public events from July 2 to Aug. 24.

Lauren Carroll, the 26-year-old soprano who sings Fiordiligi, did a split. Dorabella, 27-year-old mezzo-soprano Ashlyn Brown, struggled to lift a heavy barbell. Michelle Harvey’s scenic design in the tight space of a 25-foot-wide proscenium included punching bags, bo staffs and ThighMasters.

Fleming sang her first Countess in Mozart����ap “Le Nozze di Figaro” as an Aspen student in 1984. Now 66, she has, , limited her singing to concerts, a few and Broadway.

Staging spark was at a hockey game

Fleming had a circuitous route to her concept.

“I can’t do the opera relating to hockey, but I did think of another sport that reminds me so much of opera and that����ap professional wrestling. There’s a suspension of disbelief that is huge,” she said. “Fans believe these characters are real and that the moves are real, and of course it����ap all completely choreographed.”

Fleming at first spoke with Francesca Zambello, the Washington National Opera’s artistic director.

“I said, `Convince me, sell me, tell me,’” Zambello related, “`you really have to work it through from the overture to the final curtain.”

WNO’s “Così” in 2021 was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2020, Fleming and Summers launched Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS, with 15 singers annually attending an eight-week program that covers their $12,325 tuition, room and board plus pays a $1,500 stipend.

Wrestling family history

Ashlyn Brown, the 27-year-old mezzo-soprano who performs Dorabella, is a granddaughter of Don Stansauk, the wrestler known as Hard Boiled Haggerty.

“I grew up with wrestling culture,” she said. “I used to go to the Cauliflower Alley Club meetings when I was a kid. He brought all of his buddies, like Andre the Giant.”

Carroll was a cheerleader and her mother is an aerobics instructor.

“She really invests in young artists and it����ap authentic,” she said of Fleming. “She really means it and backs it up with action.”

In creating the look, Fleming thought back to her time at Churchville-Chili Senior High School in New York.

“I have photographs of me with a really bad mullet and overalls,” she said.

Just before intermission ended, a Fonda dress-alike led the audience in calisthenics. Despina (soprano Laura Miah), a gym manager here instead of a maid, uses a blender to make protein shakes and heads stretching exercises.

“Renée of course demanded a lot of herself as a singer in that way and that����ap extended itself to her demands on them in this,” Summers said.

Mozart����ap opera has the two boyfriends adopt hidden identities and romance each other’s girlfriend to test their virtue. Both women fall for the other’s boyfriend, and while the two couples get back together in the original, Fleming has both relationships come apart. Fiordiligi ends up wearing an “ERA YES” shirt.

Don Alfonso is a gym owner. Guglielmo and Ferrando, the boyfriends (baritone Finn Sagal and tenor Jonghyun Park), wear Amanda Seymour’s colorful clothes, including powder blue and light gray tuxedos with ruffled shirts.

Peter Barber, a 31-year-old bass-baritone who sings Don Alfonso, boxes to keep in shape.

“When I was I think 8 or 9 years old after watching `Rocky,’ I had a custom boxing robe made for me,” he said.

Role a part of Fleming’s life for more than 30 years

Fleming sang Fiordiligi for the first time at Geneva in March 1992. She greeted the cast at the first rehearsal on June 30 by telling them: “Toi toi toi. Let����ap have some fun,” using a performers’ expression for good luck.

“I’m astonished that someone who is such an extraordinary singer and performer, they are also an extraordinary stage director,” choreographer Sara Erde said. “She knows every note of the music, every word of the text.”

Fleming learned that unlike with singing, directing requires “million decisions that have to be made day to day.”

At WNO, Fleming had envisioned a set with a stadium-sized video screen. She hopes the staging has an extended life.

“If anybody wanted to do it, it would be really fun in a bigger theater with a budget,” she said. “Especially the time we’re in, it����ap not a bad time to bring pro wrestling into opera because of the similarities, for the sheer novelty of it.”

‘s biggest show of the year invades Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for a two-night event on April 19-20.

Can John Cena, who’s in the final run of his career, pick up his record-breaking 17th world championship? Who wins the deep feud between Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and CM Punk? Can Iyo Sky fend off both Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair to retain her title? And who is El Grande Americano? (It’s Chad Gable.)

Here’s a look at the card and predictions for the show:

What to know

How to watch

Dates: April 19-20

Time: Kickoff show starts at 3 p.m. MT, main show begins at 6 p.m. MT each night

Location: Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas

TV:

How to watch live in Colorado

• , 2000 S. Colorado Blvd., Denver
• , 1601 19th St. Unit 100, Denver

Colorado connections

Chad Gable, who’s totally not El Grande Americano, lived in Colorado Springs when he aspired to make the U.S. Olympic wrestling team. He did, competing in the 84-kg Greco-Roman event at the 2012 London Games. He is facing Rey Mysterio in a singles match on night one.

Otis wrestled collegiately for CSU-Pueblo and began his pro wrestling career in Colorado. While he’s not scheduled for WrestleMania, he may show up at some point.

Saturday night card

Rey Mysterio vs. El Grande Americano

Singles match

How we got here: After struggling with luchadores for months, Chad Gable took a step away from the ring. Then a mysterious luchador named El Grande Americano, who looked like and wrestled like Gable (except under a mask), made his debut and began defeating the WWE’s luchadors through nefarious means. Rey Mysterio took offense and wanted to fight him for the honor of lucha libre style wrestling.

Who should win: Mysterio.
It feels like a “bad guy gets his comeuppance” kind of match.

Who will win: Mysterio.

����岹�ٱ�:��Mysterio suffered an injury during “SmackDown.” Rey Fenix will take his spot. Same predictions with Fenix instead of Mysterio.

Jade Cargill vs. Naomi

Singles match

How we got here: Cargill was attacked by an unknown assailant in a November episode of “Smackdown,” which kept her out of the ring for months. She had been part of the tag-team champions with Bianca Belair at the time, but Naomi would step in to fill her spot in her absence. At Elimination Chamber, Cargill returned and attacked Naomi, who would later reveal that she was the attacker. Now comes the grudge match.

Who should win: Cargill.
She had been one of the most hyped up WWE signings after she had left All Elite Wrestling in 2023. While she has seen success as a tag-team wrestler so far, this will be her biggest moment as a singles wrestler in the company.

Who will win: Cargill.

LA Knight (c) vs. Jacob Fatu

Singles match
WWE United States Championship

How we got here: After Roman Reigns defeated his cousin Solo Sikoa to regain the title of the “Tribal Chief,” Fatu (who’s a real-life cousin to both) had shifted his efforts to the United States championship. He beat Braun Strowman on the April 4 episode of “Smackdown” to earn the title shot.

Who should win: Fatu.
One of the more physically gifted members of wrestling’s Anoa’i family (which includes The Rock, Roman Reigns, Jimmy and Jey Uso), it was only a matter of time he would get his shot to shine as a singles star. This feels like the springboard.

Who will win: Fatu.

The War Raiders (c) vs. The New Day

Tag-team match
World Tag Team Championship

How we got here: The New Day shed their beloved fan-favorite status after turning on founding member Big E by saying he abandoned them after he suffered a real-life, career-threatening neck injury. Now just Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, they are looking to regain glory by winning the World Tag Team Championship from The War Raiders.

Who should win: The New Day.
What began as a white-hot heel turn by The New Day has gone somewhat lukewarm over the last couple of months. But a win here could reignite their momentum — especially if Big E gets involved in some way.

Who will win: The New Day.

Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Charlotte Flair

Singles match
WWE Women’s Championship

How we got here: Charlotte won this year’s Royal Rumble, which granted her a shot at a world championship. She chose Stratton. Then they got into odd verbal battles that have become pretty personal.

Who should win: Stratton.
The former gymnast has quickly acclimated to the WWE since her promotion from NXT last year. She has the look, she has the moves and with the championship, the future is now.

Who will win: Flair.
I feel like I said the same thing above with Rhea Ripley years ago when she had to take on Flair. Ripley lost. My heart says Stratton, my head says Flair for her 15th world championship reign, just one behind her father, Ric.

Gunther (c) vs. Jey Uso

Singles match
World Heavyweight Championship

How we got here: Jey Uso won this year’s Royal Rumble, granting him a shot at a world championship. He chose Gunther.

Who should win: Uso.
They’ve been coining him “Main Event” Jey Uso for years now. If there’s a time to pull the trigger on putting the title on him, it’s now. If nothing else, the scene of 70,000-plus fans dancing to his song when he wins would be a WrestleMania moment in itself.

Who will win: Uso.

Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk (with Paul Heyman) vs. Seth Rollins

Triple-threat match

How we got here: These three have plenty of history dating back well over a decade. But in terms of this match coming about, let’s begin with Rollins turning down an invitation to join Reigns’ team at this past Survivor Series, given that the two have had years of animosity. Instead, Punk joined on the stipulation that Heyman would owe him a favor. Fast forward to the Royal Rumble when Punk eliminated both Reigns and Rollins before being eliminated himself. The three would have a brutal brawl outside the ring. This would lead to more altercations in the coming weeks until the three-way match was announced. Punk called in his favor, which would be to have Heyman in his corner — not Reigns’.

Who should win: Punk.
This one’s a hard one. All three have a legitimate case as to why they should win. But I’m going with WWE’s prodigal son. Having Heyman in his corner can’t be the full extent of the favor, can it?

Who will win: Rollins.
As I said above, this could easily be any of the three of them. But seeing Rollins stand tall could have implications for what happens on Sunday.

Sunday night card

AJ Styles vs. Logan Paul

Singles match

How we got here: Paul — yes, the YouTube star — has been a semi-active wrestler in the WWE over the last few years. Styles returned at the Royal Rumble and was eliminated by Paul. Styles would challenge him to a match and general manager Adam Pearce would finally schedule it.

Who should win: Styles.
I always love a good “bad guy gets his comeuppance” payoff — and there few who are easier to hate than Paul.

Who will win: Paul.
That said, I believe through a menagerie of YouTube stars interfering, Paul will stand tall and get his well-deserved jeers.

Damian Priest vs. Drew McIntyre

Singles match
Sin City Street Fight

How we got here: Let’s go back to WrestleMania XL when McIntyre defeated Seth Rollins to win the World Heavyweight Championship. He held it for less than six minutes as CM Punk attacked him after the match and Priest used his Money in the Bank to cash in for championship match right there and then. Fast forward to the Royal Rumble and Priest eliminated McIntyre. Priest eliminated McIntyre again at the Elimination Chamber. Now it’s time settle it.

Who should win: McIntyre.
Fourth time’s the charm? McIntyre’s due for a win. But that was said for last year’s Clash at the Castle where McIntyre, who’s Scottish, lost his championship match in Glasgow to — you guessed it — Priest.

Who will win: McIntyre.

Bron Breakker (c) vs. Penta vs. Finn Bálor vs. Dominik Mysterio

Fatal four-way match
WWE Intercontinental Championship

How we got here: Breakker’s been the champion since October. In recent months, The Judgment Day faction — which includes Balor and Mysterio — have been a thorn in Breakker’s side. Penta, who joined the WWE in January after a stint in AEW, has been quickly rising through the ranks. Now the four of them will battle it out for the title.

Who should win: Balor.
Signs of The Judgment Day splintering have been showing for a month. While it’s easy to have Balor and Mysterio simply take each other out, it would be more fascinating in the future if one of them wins the title and that causes a rift.

Who will win: Penta.
He seems like he’s been the new best thing since coming to the WWE. Put a title on him and let him fly.

Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs. Bayley and Lyra Valkyria

Tag-team match
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship

How we got here: Morgan and Rodriguez, also of The Judgment Day, won the titles in February. Valkyria, the current women’s intercontinental champion, and Bayley won a gauntlet match on the April 7 “SmackDown” to earn a match for the title.

Who should win: Morgan and Rodriguez.
There have been subtle hints of Bayley turning on Valkyria to further their feud for the Intercontinental title. Whether or not that’s a red herring, it feels like Morgan and Rodriguez should have a continued run as champions.

Who will win: Morgan and Rodriguez.

Iyo Sky (c) vs. Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley

Triple-threat match
Women’s World Championship

How we got here: Belair won this year’s Elimination Chamber to earn a world title match. The champion was Ripley before she lost her title to Sky on the March 3 episode of “Raw.” Ripley came out during Belair and Sky’s contract signing and attacked both women, then signed the contract herself. Ripley would later face Sky in a match with Belair as the guest referee. It ended in a double disqualification allowing Sky to retain. GM Adam Pearce would later make this a triple-threat match.

Who should win: Sky.
In several confrontations involving the three women, Sky has always been positioned as the one ignored. That could play out in this match (which is one that could steal the show).

Who will win: Sky.

Cody Rhodes (c) vs. John Cena

Singles match
WWE Championship

How we got here: Cena announced last year that he was preparing to do a retirement tour this year. He won the men’s Elimination Chamber and received a world title shot. Then in March, he turned on Rhodes and turned to the dark side.

Who should win: Cena.
Let’s ignore the fact that a win here would tie him with Ric Flair for the most number of world championship reigns all time at 17. The real fun is seeing how a Cena run as a bad guy champion would be over the coming months. His time is now.

Who will win: Cena.

Results

Saturday night

• Jey Uso d. Gunther (c) to win the World Heavyweight Championship
• The New Day d. War Raiders (c) to win the World Tag Team Championship
• Jade Cargill d. Naomi
• Jacob Fatu d. LA Knight (c) to win the WWE United States Championship
• El Grande Americano d. Rey Fenix
• Tiffany Stratton (c) d. Charlotte Flair to retain the WWE Women’s Championship
• Seth Rollins d. Roman Reigns and CM Punk

Sunday night

• Iyo Sky (c) d. Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley to retain the Women’s World Championship
• Drew McIntyre d. Damian Priest
• Dominik Mysterio d. Bron Breakker (c), Finn Balor and Penta to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship
• Randy Orton d. Joe Hendry
• Logan Paul d. AJ Styles
• Lyra Valkyria and Becky Lynch d. Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez (c) to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
• John Cena d. Cody Rhodes (c) to win the Undisputed WWE Championship

The pro wrestling promotion announced Friday that it will be airing Dynamite live and taping Collision on June 4 at the Mission Ballroom. The two shows are being promoted as the sixth installment of .

This is the sixth time AEW has held its shows in Colorado and the first time it’s been in Denver. The company previously had performances in Colorado Springs, Loveland and Broomfield — including the final event at the 1stBank Center before it was demolished.

Tickets for the show will go .

They broke them.

Did you see in San Francisco during a 118-104 loss to the Warriors late Friday night? As they say in Sombor, nije dobro.

If you haven’t, don’t look. It’ll hurt. Like it hurt the guys on the Grading The Week crew who still proudly wear their Robert Pack replica jerseys to work.

For one, it’s a third straight defeat and Denver’s fifth loss in eight games. For another, it’s the second time this season the Nuggets have lost consecutive games immediately after a loss to those Pups from the Great White North. (For hoops masochists, if we lump last year’s Western Conference semifinals with this year’s regular season, the Nuggets are 2-4 in the games immediately following a defeat to Minnesota.)

More pain: The Nuggets, as of Saturday morning, were 6-9 in their last 15 games. They’re not coasting into the postseason. They’re limping.

Nikola Jokic realizing he can’t carry Nuggets alone — D

This isn’t 2023’s April of easy clinching, a nice rest-and-set-your-chess-pieces for the playoffs to come. This feels like a car that’s about to enter with a hole in the floorboards, duct tape on the bumpers and sticky brakes.

Unfortunately, just like in the Race to the Clouds, the tightest curves in the NBA Playoffs usually don’t have guardrails. And this team is giving off all the warning signs of a first-round exit waiting to happen.

Defense is often discussed but rarely realized. When Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. don’t play, nobody can shoot. When they do play, the two often take turns at breaking your heart. This isn’t meant to sound callous, but it’s easy to imagine a postseason opponent daring Russell Westbrook, Christian Braun and Peyton Watson to beat them with jump shots,  and daring, and daring and daring … until one of them, or all three, brick the Nuggets into the ol’ 1-2-3-Cancun.

And on that last point, we’d love nothing more than to be proven wrong. But the Nuggets’ collective failures are compounding like interest now, from the top down.

Champions can be built on the back of one Hall-of-Famer; Dynasties require more than one all-time great. Murray and MPJ, for all their gifts, are too flighty for immortality.

These things have layers. And right now the most damning layer of all might be the empathy Team GTW feels for the Joker. There’s Jokic, isolated on a life raft amid choppy Western Conference seas, a castaway forced to watch a second NBA title drift slowly away.

During the Nuggets’ 0-3 week, the Big Honey sat out one game as a respite, the second night of a back-to-back, after producing one of the best games in NBA history — 61 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists over a whopping 53 minutes. Over Jokic’s two appearances during this Denver funk, he averaged 45 minutes, 47 points, 11 boards, 9.5 dimes and five 3-pointers.

His teams lost by a combined 15 points anyway.

The Big Honey is 30. Jokic could play at an MVP level for another 10-11 years if he so desired. But to assume that isn’t just unfair and myopic — it’s foolish. Thirty is not 29. Or 27. The best player in the world doesn’t ever get those years back. The Nuggets’ franchise leaders, particularly Calvin Booth, have failed Jokic spectacularly in this regard, despite repeated statements of intent and public vows to never skirt such a sacred responsibility.

There are only two forces the Joker can’t beat. The first is Father Time. The second is the Timberwolves. And if both have combined in the cruelest of tandems to push a legend past his breaking point, after this week, no one could blame him.

The Colorado State defensive lineman that he received an NIL offer from the WWE and was in attendance for the Royal Rumble on Saturday.

The was launched in 2021 with the intention “to recruit and develop potential future Superstars,” according to the WWE. Other Colorado names in the program include former Pueblo West track and field star and four-time Colorado state champion heavyweight wrestler Cohlton Schultz.

“I experienced a level of intensity and thrill that was completely different from football or sumo wrestling — something truly unique to WWE,” Hanada writes.

The 6-foot-1, 290-pound Hanada made headlines in 2023 when he spurned an opportunity to enter professional sumo wrestling to pursue American football at Colorado State. In two seasons, he has appeared in two games and recorded three tackles for the Rams.

He became after winning the All-Japan Sumo Championships, which pit the best Japanese collegiate wrestlers against one another. He captured the gold medal in the sumo heavyweight division at the 2022 World Games, defeating Daiki Nakamura in the finals. Nakamura — who would assume the name once he turned pro — has since climbed up to the rank of ozeki (sumo’s second-highest ranking behind only yokozuna) and has won two championships in the sport’s top division.

“Having had the opportunity to step into a completely new world and witness the pinnacle of sports entertainment, I am truly grateful to be involved with WWE,” Hanada writes.

While football players are quite common in pro wrestling — The Rock (Miami, Fla.), Roman Reigns (Georgia Tech) and Goldberg (Georgia), to name a few — sumo wrestlers are far less common. John Tenta — who wrestled under the monikers Earthquake, Avalanche and Golga — had a short run in sumo, winning all 21 bouts he had in 1986 before leaving the sport. Akebono, the Hawaiian native who became sumo’s first foreign yokozuna, had a short stint in the WWE in 2005 before wrestling mostly in Japan.

“I loved it,” the Cleveland Browns’ WR1 and 2020 Broncos first-round draft pick said late Monday of the catcalls from Denver fans while his old team pulled out a wacky, wild 41-32 win. “They only boo you when they know that something’s gonna happen, and there’s something great in you.”

Jeudy finally played his way into the Broncos record book on Monday Night Football. He finally lived up to all that hype.

Only it happened while he was wearing another uniform, repping another team, another town. His 235 receiving yards broke Terrell Owens’ 16-year-old NFL record for the most by a league wideout against his former franchise.

Dude was motivated. Laser-focused. Consistent. On a national stage, the former Alabama wideout was everything ����apountry wanted him to be. And wasn’t.

Not here, anyway.

The Broncos version of Jeudy, the one traded away this past March, drifted like a leaf in the breeze. One step forward. Three steps back. Flashes of absolute game-changing, field-flipping brilliance, followed by weeks of anonymity, peppered by pouting and social-media finger-pointing.

“A lot of fans didn’t really rock with him because they don’t feel like he was productive here,” his old teammate, Broncos safety P.J. Locke, told me after the game. “But, hey, it is what it is. He’s balling out now, you know, and that (Broncos time is) in his past.”

as the cool kids say. He just needed a match for the pilot light. A reason to give a darn.

The guy who almost single-handedly sent Sean Payton circling another parking lot came out on the Browns’ first play of the evening — a 44-yard jaunt over the middle — and never left.

The Broncos hit Week 13 averaging 2.6 “explosion” passes (20 yards or more) allowed per game. Jeudy had three of them, all by himself, by the first three minutes of the fourth quarter — a groove helped by no Riley Moss and all that hate.

“Did you hear the boos every time you touched the ball?” a reporter asked Jeudy.

“I heard it,” he replied. “That was a lot of boos, huh? It sounded like it. What that means is, a lot of catches, too.”

Nine, to be exact. Revenge was a dish served lukewarm, though, as ����apountry was treated to the full Jameis Winston Experience — 497 passing yards, four touchdowns and three picks, two of which were returned for scores.

“I’m mad it was against us,” Locke, Jeudy’s teammate from 2020-23, offered with a smile of grudging admiration. “(Jerry isn’t) supposed to do that against us. I’m happy for him, though. … He’s coming back to the Broncos and I know he had a little chip on his shoulder.”

Yeah, just a little.

No. 3 — he’ll always be No. 10 to us — told longtime Cleveland reporter Tony Grossi last week that he wanted to “go back up there and whip their (backsides).

“… (Four) years is a long time to be patient. I’m not going to say they didn’t get me the ball for (four) years. Some years I had a few drops, like my rookie year. Other years there were a whole bunch of circumstances I can’t control.”

We could argue revisionist history all day, but what would be the point? ����apountry was promised CeeDee Lamb and Justin Jefferson and got inconsistent football instead. As my colleague Troy Renck pointed out over the weekend, Payton vs. Jeudy was one divorce that looks as if it’s turned into a win for both sides.

Jeudy’s putting together a Pro Bowl season with Winston, the QB partner he’s always wanted.

The Broncos are putting together their first playoff team since 2015.

“I don’t have (anything) towards them,” Jeudy said of his old squad. “At the end of the day, it is football. It’s competitive, everybody will have (that) juice when it’s time to play. Everybody wants to be great. Everybody wants to win.

“That’s it, that’s all. No beef, nothing. Everybody just wants the best thing for themselves.”

Locke, meanwhile, spoke of Jeudy late Monday with the affection of a long-lost brother and old college roommate.

“He actually had to block me on a play and I stepped on his toe,” the Broncos defender recalled with a laugh.

Locke then leaned over to the bag between us and showed me one of his shoes, pointing to the cleats on the bottom.

“Because I’ve got these seven-stud cleats, and that hurts,” he continued. “So my feet (got) set into the ground, and I stepped on him with my toe.”

“Dang, Bigfoot,” Jeudy told Locke.

“Yeah, don’t be trying to block me,” Locke replied. “Go run some routes, bro. You ain’t supposed to be blocking. You ain’t (some) crack blocker, man.”

Locke laughed again.

“But I also told him I’m super proud of him,” the Broncos safety said. “I’m happy for him. He’s showing it … and I think he’s one of the best receivers in the league.”

He’s still one of the best when it comes to hamming it up. Jeudy’s celebration and Nestea plunge into the end zone after toasting Levi Wallace in the third quarter was pure theater. Jeudy sensed the moment and put it in a camel clutch, egging on the Empower Field faithful like a veteran pro wrestling heel.

“I heard the boos,” Jeudy explained, “and I wanted to hear it louder.”

They only boo when they care. When it hurts. When something great finally comes out, but for somebody else.

“Hey, man, look, (those) emotions were running high,” Locke said. “It’s Monday Night Football, he was balling.”

He was breaking records. Just … not the way John Elway drew it up four years ago.

“God had a different plan for him,” Locke said. “He still did it. Just in a different way.”

As in Howard.

.

(Booooooooooooo!)

Want to stick a fork in Minnesota? Stick an elbow in Ant.

Want to make OKC go AWOL? Scramble Alex Caruso’s brain.

Want to drive Dallas crazy? Play mind games with Kyrie.

A pernicious preseason, combined with watching the Avs run out of players by , might have you already contemplating the unthinkable about the 2023 NBA champs. Don’t. As long as Nikola Jokic lives and breathes and shuffles, this is a playoff team.

Now. Is it a top-four-in-the-West playoff team? That depends on Jamal Murray’s knee. And Jamal Murray’s calf. And Jamal Murray’s tibia.

It depends on whether Julian Strawther turns a corner that Christian Braun, bless him, just hasn’t yet. It depends on whether Michael Porter Jr. adds new tricks to his bag to go along with all that new muscle.

It depends on whether Westbrook embraces being a pro wrestling heel. The guy you love to hate, unless he’s on your roster. And now he is.

“When people boo you, they understand that it’s a level of respect, and that’s the reason,” the future Pro Basketball Hall of Famer, who’ll turn 36 next month, said recently. “If people don’t say anything, then you should be worried. And for me, I take it as a level of respect.”

The Nuggets didn’t sign Russ to replicate his 2017 MVP season. Or to be a volume shooter on a roster where the ball goes through Jokic and Murray first.

They brought him in to be Blue Arrow insurance. Cover for both over the 82-game marathon and for the postseason cage matches that follow. They brought him in to scrap and pester. To teach, coordinate and mentor the kids on the second unit. To facilitate runouts. To turn defense into quick, easy offense.

Basically, to replicate all those Bruce Brown ’22-23 things, save for the shooting.

Which includes being a complete pain in the tuchus. A physical tone-setter.

The Nuggets of six months ago had lost their edge. Oh, sure, they flashed some spunk in the postseason. They needed more punk.

Denver became Midwest nice at a Mile High. It needed somebody into one of the Timberwolves’ huddles.

The NBA playoffs are a dirty business. The Nuggets tried to defend their title with plastic cutlery from your nephew’s birthday party.

“It’s funny. I think when people talk about Russell Westbrook, no one really mentions defense,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “They mention how quick he is, how explosive he is, the rebounds and the playmaking.

“When we went back and watched his defense last year, (at the) end of games, he was on the opposing team’s best player every night. Every night. So you have a guy that you can close the game with (in) Russell Westbrook. Who knows the league, knows personnel, has a respect (from) the officials, and has a competitive … mindset that I love. And other people (love) as well.”

Malone needs an agitator almost as much as he does a facilitator. A savvy, veteran set of fingernails to scrape down the Western Conference’s collective chalkboard.

Remember how much you hated Howard during the playoffs four years ago? Talk about a master class in villainy. The Lakers’ (boooooooo!) veteran backup center, then 34, was transitioning from 15 seasons as a starter to being Anthony Davis’ backup — an old man chasing his first ring. Sound familiar?

“I’m a team guy,” Westbrook said. “Whatever the coach asks of me, that’s what I’ll do. … Whatever my role is, whatever is needed for me to be able to win games, that’s what I’ll do.”

They need mama badgers. Mosquitos. Charged with slowing down the Joker, Howard bumped. He shoved and swatted, poked and prodded. For about 10 days, he turned the world of a future 3-time NBA MVP upside down.

“(Jokic is) an awesome player and I’ve loved watching his growth from when he came into the league until now,” Howard told reporters during the 2020 Western Conference Finals. “For me, as soon as I step on the court, I want to let him know that I’m there.

“Since we’re staying at the same hotel, I might meet him right outside his room and let him know that for the rest of the series, ‘I’m gonna be right there. Locked onto you.'”

You know the rest of the story. A little dirty went a long way. All the way, now that you mention it. The Nuggets desperately need role players.

“Russell was in the gym (recently), and there was just a different energy,” Malone said. “I can’t explain it.”

It might get loud. It might get uncomfortable. It might get nasty. If it finally brings Westbrook a ring, nobody’s going to give a Sith.

It����ap the most wonderful time for a beer!

The Great American Beer Festival returns to Denver for its 42nd year from Oct. 10 to 12, bringing with it hundreds of breweries serving seemingly bottomless beer. While there are some changes on tap for this edition, what remains the same is that festival fun isn’t limited to just the Colorado Convention Center.

Dozens of ancillary events pop up around the Mile High City for revelers to enjoy when they aren’t sipping samples at one of the GABF sessions. I’ve highlighted some of my favorites in an itinerary of sorts, so you can indulge whichever day you’re free from Wednesday through Saturday. And know you can also stop by any of Denver’s best beer bars, which typically celebrate with tap takeovers and other special events.

Tickets to GABF are on sale at .

Wednesday: The Krispy King Lager Competition

Variety is the spice of life on the GABF festival floor, but one style reigns supreme at this kickoff event. The Krispy King Lager Competition, now in its third year, brings together the most crushable recipes from 35 breweries nationwide. Only one, however, will be crowned king by a panel of judges. All you have to do is sit back and swill. Attractions beyond beer include the ‘s mobile lounge, arcade games on the , lager doughnuts from and trucker hats from .

The Krispy King Lager Competition comes to Barrels & Bottles Brewery (1055 Orchard St., Golden) from 3 to 7 p.m. Free to attend. Find more information at .

Thursday (early): Denver Rare Beer Tasting XV

The Denver Rare Beer Tasting has been raising awareness about prostate cancer for 15 years, one sample at a time. The event, organized by Pints for Prostates, collects dozens of the most coveted bottles from breweries around the country, some of which may never be commercially available again. That����ap a great incentive to also get a free health screening while you’re there as part of the Brewers Health Initiative. Tickets include unlimited beer samples, a collectible glass and T-shirt, lunch and access to an online auction.

Denver Rare Beer Tasting XV comes to Bierstadt Lagerhaus (2875 Blake St., Denver) from noon to 4 p.m. Tickets cost $200. Find more information at .

Thursday (late): National Black Brewers Day celebration

Join the National Black Brewers Association in Five Points to celebrate . The organization established this holiday in 2023 to recognize the historical and ongoing impact of Black beer professionals who have shaped the industry. It chose Oct. 10 to memorialize Theodore A. (Ted) Mack Sr. and his business partners, who purchased Peoples Brewing Company in Oshkosh, Wis., on on that day in 1970, making it the state’s first Black-owned brewery. Expect live music, eats from Ron & Zo’s Brother Most Wanted BBQ food truck, and good vibes.

National Black Brewers Day comes to Spangalang Brewery (2736 Welton St., Denver) from 7 p.m. to midnight. Free to attend. Find more information at under “news and events.”

Friday: GABF Bierhalle Brawl

Beer and yelling are two peas in a pod. Or at least they will be during the Bierhalle Brawl, a live pro wrestling event at Bierstadt Lagerhaus in RiNo. The event promises “jaw-dropping moves, intense rivalries, and electrifying entertainment” from the athletes at . Just don’t try this at home, folks, no matter how much liquid courage you have.

GABF Bierhalle Brawl comes to Bierstadt Lagerhaus (2875 Blake St., Denver) starting at 9 p.m. Free to attend. Find more information at .

Saturday: Great American Cider Friends

Burned out on beer? GABF is leaning into additional beverage options this year and you should, too. The folks at Stem Ciders make it easy by opening their taps in RiNo to cidermakers from around the country. The GACF party runs from Thursday through Saturday with special tappings and events. You’ll want to close out the weekend there as those sporting GABF wristbands get BOGO deals on house pours to pair with live music that night.

Great American Cider Friends comes to Stem Ciders (3040 Black St., #101, Denver) during normal operating hours. Free to attend. Find more information at .