Category: friday feature

By David G. Firestone

I’ve discussed the idea of rank on my former podcast and The Driver Suit Blog before. Sometimes you don’t get a higher rank because you don’t deserve it. Sometimes you are not the right person for the job. Life is unfair, and you aren’t special. Well it appears that wrestler Ryan Nemeth didn’t get the memo on that.

From 2023 to 2024, Ryan Nemeth was contracted to AEW on a per-date basis, meaning he would be paid when he was used. In wrestling, Ryan Nemeth is what is known as a “jobber,” which means he loses, or “does jobs” to more established wrestlers. Jobbers are typically on the bottom end of the hirearchy in wrestlers. In his AEW career, Nemeth has wrestled a total of 83 times between 2021 and 2024. He has only won 10 of these matches, all of them for AEW’s YouTube programs. In addition, his only championships in the US were tag team champions, and his only singles title is a few minutes with the DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Championship, which is impossible to take seriously.

Yet, according to Ryan Nemeth, AEW, and CM Punk were on a campaign to ruin Ryan’s career. After leaving AEW on bad terms, Nemeth has filed a lawsuit agains AEW and CM Punk. Apparently, even though he brought nothing to AEW, Tony Khan and CM Punk have been trying to ruin Nemeth’s career. The legal filings are hysterical.

One part of this really stands out. “In early 2023, Brooks assaulted and battered two fellow wrestlers known by the stage names Matt and Nick Jackson. Brooks is known to have an uncontrollable temper and often lashes out in violent tirades against others. Thus, Defendants were on notice regarding Brooks’ violent proclivities.”

Well, that is technically true. Punk did batter Nick and Matt Jackson…AFTER they burst into his locker room looking for a fight after his rant at the AEW All-Out press scrum. That’s something that is present quite a bit in this filing. Some of it is so laughable, I’m stunned it would be filed in a lawsuit.

But we now get to the meat of the matter, and why I had to discuss this. This is from the filing in question:

“On November 25, 2024 Brooks left AEW to wrestle for the organizations main competitor, WWE.

Khan was heartbroken by the departure of Brooks, his idol and that he adored in every way.

Khan was furious with Nemeth. Khan believes that Brooks left AEW because of Nemeth.

The Defendants have embarked upon a campaign to “blackball” Nemeth from

professional wrestling. Specifically, Tony Khan blames Nemeth for Brooks leaving AEW and has used his significant resources to make sure that Nemeth can never again make a living in wrestling.”

I’ve discussed both the incidents at All-In and All-Out. The fact of the matter is that no matter how you slice it, Ryan Nemeth had NOTHING to do with the fact that CM Punk left. The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, and Jack Perry were the ones who forced Punk’s hand. All Ryan Nemeth did was to post something on Twitter that got Punk’s attention, and Punk responded. I’m willing to wager a lot of money that Nemeth was just a drop in that cesspool. Yet this low-ranking jobber thinks that he is the reason Punk left.

If Ryan Nemeth really thinks that he is the reason Punk left, he’s delusional. It’s much more likely that he’s trying to get a quick buck from a billionaire, after his run in AEW didn’t pan out. Oh, and the blackball efforts were so successful that Ryan is currently wrestling for TNA and had a WWE NXT Tag-Team Championship match on national TV. So that argument isn’t exactly water-tight.

The facts are that Ryan Nemeth was at the bottom, CM Punk was at the top, Ryan shot his mouth off, and Punk had to put him in his place. Nemeth thinks he’s more important to wrestling that he ever really will be, and he wants money as a result. Tony may settle, Punk probably won’t, and I’ll be interested to see how this plays out.

Souces cited:

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=10239&page=4&s=0

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/wrestler-ryan-nemeth-sues-tony-khan-aew-cm-punk

https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/ryan-nemeth-files-lawsuit-against-aew-tony-khan-and-cm-punk

By David G. Firestone

We need to talk about AEW. I’ve talked about them before, but every time I think they’ve hit rock bottom, Tony Khan buys a much more powerful jackhammer. I seriously don’t get how and why they do the stuff they do. While I’m used to most of AEW’s baffling moves, I have to talk about two recent events.

Let’s start with AEW Grand Slam Australia. AEW fucked this event up so many different ways, that it was almost impossible for fans, both in the arena, and watching on television, to take it seriously. How have AEW failed thee, let me count the ways.

Let’s start with the venue:

-February 15, 2025-Grand Slam Australia is announced. Tickets were on sale, with Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, with a listed capacity of over 52,500, listed as the venue.

-November 25, 2025-Due to “low ticket sales,” Grand Slam Australia is moved to Brisbane Entertainment Centre, with a listed capacity of 13,500.

Making things even more confusing is the nature of the telecast. Was the event a pay-per-view, or was it a special episode of Collision? AEW never made this clear during the announcement. Then it was announced that this was an episode of Collision, aired on tape delay. Once it was clear that this was just another episode of Collision, fans weren’t happy. When asking Tony Khan about this, he said that since the live event would have aired at 3:30 AM ET in the US, most fans might not have bought the event, which, to be fair, isn’t unreasonable.

Then it was announced that the event would air after the NBA All-Stars Skill Competition on TNT. This was met with aggravation from fans, but there was a silver lining to this. WWE NXT held their annual NXT Vengeance Day event, which was much better than Grand Slam Australia. If Grand Slam Australia had aired at its normal time, it would have done a horrific TV rating. History has shown that when Collision goes up against WWE it loses a LOT of viewers. It still didn’t do great, but it was better.

The fan experience apparently left a lot to be desired. Apparently, there was only one merchandise stand and it sold out very quickly, as they didn’t bring near enough merchandise for all of the fans. How this mistake could happen is anybody’s guess, but it’s clear they wanted to keep transportation costs down. That’s clear because of the big controversy that came out of the event.

Where both fans and wrestlers were both upset was the ring they used. For a company that spends money like water, they couldn’t be bothered to bring their own ring, so they rented a ring for the event. AEW uses 20 foot by 20 foot square rings, and this one was either 16 feet by 16 feet, or 18 feet by 18 feet, depending on who you ask. This was not a good ring either. The ring aprons AEW brought didn’t fit, and the posts were bent. To top that off, this ring was really bouncy, and apparently didn’t have enough padding. Buddy Matthews rolled his ankle during his entrance.

Now, with all of these issues, fans would have been forgiving if the matches were good. This is AEW, so that didn’t happen. Here are the results for the event. Wrestlers who are either from Australia or New Zealand will be marked with a “+”

1-Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega defeated Don Callis Family (Kyle Fletcher+ and Konosuke Takeshita) (with Mark Davis) by pinfall.

2-Mercedes Moné (c) defeated Harley Cameron+ by pinfall-Singles match for the AEW TBS Championship

3-Death Riders (Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli) (with Marina Shafir) defeated Cope and Jay White+ by technical submission-Brisbane Brawl

4-Kazuchika Okada (c) defeated Buddy Matthews+ by pinfall-Singles match for the AEW Continental Championship

5-“Timeless” Toni Storm (with Luther) defeated Mariah May (c) by pinfall-Singles match for the AEW Women’s World Championship

Notice a pattern? Yup, every match had at one wrestler from either New Zealand or Australia, and four out of five lost their match. The worst was Mercedes Moné and Harley Cameron. The lead up to this was great as Harley Cameron is a talented singer and ventriloquist, and made a puppet out of Mercedes Moné, who was more entertaining than the real Mercedes Moné. However Harley never stood a chance, as Mercedes Moné is a spoiled, selfish, egotistical bitch who doesn’t care about anyone but herself. We heard stories about her when she was Sasha Banks in WWE.

All in all, Grand Slam Australia had a lot of potential, but was driven into the ground by bad matches, and bad logistics. Australian AEW fans felt cheated, and I don’t blame them. Now, you would think going back to normal operations would at least help, but, being AEW, they couldn’t help fucking things up even more.

At the upcoming AEW Revolution pay-per-view, there is a scheduled match for the AEW International Championship, AKA the AEW All-Atlantic Championship, AKA the AEW Who Gives A Shit Championship. On the February 19 episode of AEW Dynamite, there was a Number One Contenders match for the International Championship between Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong. This sets up the championship match between Cassidy and Konosuke Takeshita for the International Championship the February 26 episode of AEW Dynamite. Since Konosuke Takeshita won that match, he goes on to face Kenny Omega at Revolution.

If this series of events doesn’t make sense to you, don’t feel bad. Nobody else can figure it out either. Rather than have Kenny Omega face Orange Cassidy on February 26, with the winner facing Konosuke Takeshita at Revolution, there are two championship matches, one setting up the other. Why? What sense does this make? Please, explain this to me! Are matches that determine the top condenser for a pay-per-view match really so out of vogue? It just makes no sense, but it is AEW after all.

Next Week, I discuss an AEW lawsuit.

By David G. Firestone

Welp, this was a weekend for the ages. For those who don’t know, I live in Evanston, Illinois, and on Friday, we had a huge water main break literally 600 feet away from my house. No water at all for all of Friday, and a boil order was in effect from 5 AM Friday to about 7 PM on Sunday. Water pressure is still a little low at the time of writing, but everything is back to normal.

With that, let’s talk racing, specifically, The Daytona 500, The Fresh From Florida 250, and the United Rentals 300. I thought all three races were good races. Daytona is always a track that delivers good racing. After that late-race flip, I wouldn’t hold it against Ryan Preece for not racing at Daytona in August. Given the fact that he flipped both in 2023 and 2025, I would be hesitant to race there too. He’s fine medically, but I wouldn’t blame him for being shook up emotionally.

Obviously, the weather was the issue, given the lengthy rain delay. That’s just how it goes. Wet weather tires would be suicidal at Daytona and Talladega. This saw the race start later, after 5 PM Chicago time. While I did enjoy night races, I did have to DVR the NBA All-Star Game, more on that soon.

I do question the logic of allowing a race to stay green when there are multiple wrecks on the final lap. I get why NASCAR allowed the final lap to continue, but it really sends a mixed message on safety. Outside of that, it was a fun racing weekend, but running water that I didn’t have to boil would have been nice too.

Now let’s talk about the NBA All-Star Game. I remember when the NBA All-Star Game was the best of the best from both conferences, duking it out for supremacy and bragging rights. Anyone else remember how great that was? Well, that’s gone, and never coming back. Like the NHL All-Star Game and the Pro Bowl Games, the NBA All-Star Game has become a gimmick. According to ESPN, link below:

“The NBA eschewed the traditional East vs. West setup in favor of a four-team, single-elimination tournament, with a target score of 40 points for each round. Three of the teams were drafted by TNT “Inside the NBA” analysts Charles Barkley (Chuck’s Global Stars), Kenny Smith (Kenny’s Young Stars) and Shaquille O’Neal (Shaq’s OGs). The fourth team, named for Candace Parker (Candace’s Rising Stars), was comprised of the winning squad from Friday night’s Rising Stars event.”

While last year’s All-Star game was a total disaster, this was a slight improvement. Granted, it was still a slog compared to a normal all-star game. But I think that the traditional approach I discussed above would work. Just because a game is an exhibition, doesn’t mean you have to gimmick it up. I hate the Pro Bowl Games, though given the concussion and injury issues, it’s a necessary evil. The NBA All-Star game has no such qualms. Again, what’s wrong with the best of the best competing against each other for supremacy and bragging rights? Also, the blue and yellow court was hard on the eyes.

While we’re on the subject, why was the All-Star Game on TNT? Why not put it on ABC, and try to get a higher rating? Why, on a Sunday night, with no real scheduled sports competition, would you have the All-Star Game on cable? I don’t understand the logic. I said the same thing for the College Football Playoff Championship Game. Why was it on ESPN and not ABC? It’s only the biggest and most important college football game of the year, why not try and pop a rating? How many viewers and how much money are being left on the table. It boggles the mind!

Now I have one more thing to discuss. It’s an article on USA Today called “Elizabeth Holmes says federal prison stay has ‘been hell and torture'” To refresh who we’re talking about, Elizabeth Holmes is a convicted felon who ran a scam company called Theranos, which purported to be a revolutionary blood testing equipment manufacturer, but the whole thing was exposed as a scam. The equipment didn’t work as advertised, and she scammed billions of dollars from investors. She pled guilty, and was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison in January 2022. For the remainder of this column, she will be referred to as “24965-111,” her inmate number.

In this article, 24965-111 is complaining that her incarceration is hell and torture. I’m going to post some quotes from the article:

-“It’s surreal. People who have never met me believe so strongly about me. They don’t understand who I am. It forces you to spend a lot of time questioning belief and hoping the truth will prevail. I am walking by faith and, ultimately, the truth, but it’s been hell and torture to be here.”

-“I’m not the same person I was back then.”

-“There are things I would have done differently, so many of these women don’t have anyone, and once they’re in there, they’re forgotten.”

“Human beings are not made to be in cells. It goes so far beyond understanding. I’m trying really hard not to tear up right now. I’m trying to grow, as every moment matters. And if one person’s life can be touched trying to help them in a crisis, it matters.”

-” It shatters my world every single time. The people I love the most have to walk away as I stand here, a prisoner, and my reality sinks in.”

-“It kills me to put my family through pain the way I do. But when I look back on my life, and these angels that have come into it, I can get through anything. It makes me want to fight for all of it.”

24965-111 is clearly only focused on herself. She’s never admitted any guilt, and never shown remorse. Her quote “Human beings are not made to be in cells” shows her viewpoint. It’s also wrong. There are a lot of people in cells, and most of them deserve to be there. 24965-111 put herself in that cell. She committed a crime, got caught, got sentenced, and has nobody to blame but herself for her incarceration. I love the fact that she says that she is “hoping the truth will prevail.” The truth prevailed, and she is where she needs to be.

I have no sympathy for the person who commits a crime, gets sentenced, and then cries about how unfair the prison life is. You aren’t a victim. Being held accountable for your bad decisions is a fact of life. Actions have consequences, and sometimes those consequences are much harsher than you would like. If you are able to commit a crime, you are able to do the time. That’s the situation that 24965-111 finds herself in. While I feel bad for her kids, it’s also a fact of life that doing time takes you away from your kids. She has nobody to blame but herself for her current issues.

Above and beyond that, 24965-111 is housed in Federal Prison Camp, Bryan, a minimum security facility. She is with 500 non-violent inmates. She got off lucky. She is in a nicer facility than most federal inmates. Could you imagine how she would react to a medium security, or maximum security prison? Does anybody feel sympathy for her? No? Me either. Just do your time, and shut up. Accept responsibility for your crimes, nobody thinks you are innocent.

With that, this week’s column comes to an end, and I’ll be back next week.

Sources Cited:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/43883874/new-nba-all-star-game-format-draws-mixed-reviews-players-criticize-stoppages

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2025/02/12/elizabeth-holmes-federal-prison-interview-theranos/78455407007/

By David G. Firestone

First off, I’d like to apologize for my lackluster column on The Clash last week, I wasn’t feeling great, and my week at work didn’t help. I was going to do some news this week, but I’ve been working on a project, and it got me to thinking about the 2025 trading card market, as opposed to when I started collecting cards in 1990.

I grew up collecting baseball and racing cards. Every one of my friend was involved in some kind of trading cards, be it comic book, Magic The Gathering, sports, or other kinds. It was a much simpler time. Recently, I fulfilled a childhood dream of collecting the entire sets of 1990 Topps and 1990 Donruss baseball. Those were the two sets I was really into growing up. Sure, there were others, Score, Upper Deck, Pro Set, Sky Box, etc, but those were my favorite of all baseball card sets.

Looking at the trading card market today, and it’s like night and day. Instead of a series of different companies for each league, now it’s one card company per league. Many of the companies I grew up with are gone, or have been absorbed by other companies. But one thing that has both changed and remained the same is special inserts.

Back in 1990, a special insert was a card with a different design to a common, such as a commemorative event, all-star, or even an autographed card, which Upper Deck started in 1990. In this day in age, we have relic cards, autographed cuts, numbered sets, and a whole bunch of other different special inserts.

Sadly, these new inserts are frankly, worthless. First off, with many “limited edition” cards, number X/100, all they really are is a card with a different coloring and an X/100 numbering. For some reason, these seem to prove popular with collectors. Apparently, using red instead of blue with a number makes something more valuable? I guess so.

But when it comes to relic cards, things have gone the exact way I thought it would, which is the exact thing I thought they shouldn’t do. It started with “game-worn” cards, which have a piece of something worn or used by the subject on the card. Well, nowadays there are “player-worn” and “event-worn” cards that fill these new packs.

Here’s the problem: Marketing something as “game-worn” means that the item was worn or used during a game. “Event” and “player” can mean so many different things. Let’s take event-worn for example. What event? Where? Was it at a team event? Was it at a city event? Was it at cousin Jethro’s annual cookout? In a lot of instances, these “events” were either card conventions, or events hosted by the card companies.

Player worn is much more vague, as the item could have been worn at any time by the player in question. City event, or taking the dog for a walk, doesn’t matter, as long as the player wore it at some point. I mean it isn’t illegal, you are getting what you are advertised. But at what point are collectors going to stop? Real collectors have been questioning and calling out companies about this for years.

Above and beyond that, I’ve got another question: Why are these companies so hell bent on these cards? The only thing they seem to do is help the secondary market. Look at the sheer volume of these cards on eBay. Topps spent lots of money on these artifacts, yet they do not get a cut of any eBay sales.

Never mind the fact that, as the leagues found out that game used memorabilia sells, started making uniform and equipment decisions specifically to sell stuff “for charity” or otherwise. The merch stand is dictating on-field uniforms and equipment, and people are buying into this.

This type of attitude is diluting the market. It’s like printing more money in a financial crisis. Adding more game-used stuff doesn’t make it more valuable, it just makes what is on the market less valuable. The market is starting to over-saturate itself, and that’s before the fraud comes into play. We saw this with Steiner Sports and Eli Manning a few years ago. This isn’t sustainable, and the market will crash.

It pains me to say this, but I’m glad I’ve gotten out of sports memorabilia. I loved this hobby, I still do, but sometimes, you just have to cut your losses, and get out when you can. Any market can bottom out, look at Michael Vick. His market bottomed out, and never really recovered. This will happen to the game-used market eventually. Bad decisions can cost a lot, and there are a lot of bad decisions going around these days.

I really hate to see something I once loved tearing itself apart because of corporate greed, but here we are! The ship is clearly about to hit the iceberg, and it will sooner rather than later. I’ll still buy sports memorabilia every once in a while, but I’m pretty much out at this point.

Next week, my thoughts on the Daytona 500.

By David G. Firestone

Just a brief column, been feeling off this weekend. So, the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium is behind us, the NASCAR Cup Season is upon us. The race was good, and, again, if the Clash moves from one historic short track to another each year, I would get behind that. I will say that I do miss the days of the Clash being for pole award winners. If it was, then it would have been a shootout between Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Shane van Gisbergen, and Martin Truex Jr..

The for the Clash, according to NASCAR is as follows:

Heat Race Starting Lineup – The field will be split into (3) practice groups, with each group receiving (3) sessions. Each competitor’s fastest lap time from their final practice session will determine the starting lineup for the heat races. The fastest qualifier will be on the pole for Heat 1; second-fastest will be on the pole for Heat 2; third-fastest qualifier will be on the pole for Heat 3; fourth-fastest will be on the pole for Heat 4; etc.

Heat Races – Four heat races of 25 laps each with only green flag laps counted – no overtime in play. The top five from each heat race advance through to The Clash.

Last Chance Qualifier – Cars that do not transfer to The Clash will compete in the Last Chance Qualifier Race with their starting position determined by where they finished in their respective heat races. The LCQ race is 75 laps with only green flag laps counted – no overtime in play. The top two finishers in the LCQ will transfer to The Clash.

The Cook Out Clash Feature – The main event will feature 23 drivers competing for 200 laps with only green lag laps counted – the race must end under green. A timed break will be observed at the halfway point of the race (Lap 100).

Lineup: The first 22 starting spots for The Clash is set through finishing positions in the heat races and the LCQ. The 23rd and final starting spot is reserved for the driver who finished the highest in the 2024 season driver points standings who did not already transfer into The Clash.

I like the idea that everybody can race their way into the Clash, and no spots are guaranteed. The heat races were fun to watch, and it was a great way to hold a Cup Series short track race. Again, the lack of pit stops did hinder the race, but all in all, it was a great race

Really, there isn’t that much to say here. It was a fun racing weekend, and I look forward to the NASCAR season.

Source Cited:

NASCAR announces Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium format

By David G Firestone

Well, the Rolex 24 is behind us, and the Clash at Bowman Gray is upon us. With that, I’d like to discuss an aspect of the 2025 Clash that is becoming an issue, at least with me. This year’s Clash is sponsored by Cook Out. Ok, based solely on the name, what does Cook Out do as a business? Do they make grills? Do they make camping equipment? Are they involved in making custom outdoor backyards? Do they make food geared toward camping?

The answer is…none of the above. Cook Out is actually a local fast food burger chain. According to Wikipedia:

“Cook Out is a privately owned American fast-food restaurant chain operating in North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Founded in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1989, the chain has since expanded and now has restaurants in over 100 cities. The chain itself has grown in size with many locations now spread throughout the Southeastern United States.”

The problem that I discussed is that Cook Out is such a generic company name, that it could be used in any number of categories. But this speaks of a larger issue in NASCAR in recent years. A decent number of companies are sponsoring cars, but aside from the company name, they give no information on what their company does. No product images, no slogans, no information at all is given.

Someone explain to me why this is a good idea. Advertising should cover two basic fundamentals: This is what our company does, and this is why you, the consumer, should use us. This isn’t even an oversimplification, just the basics of advertising over the last 200 years or so. Putting a logo or a company name with no other identifying info makes no sense, especially if nobody knows what your company does to begin with.

Here is an example of how a slogan helps out. Last year, Josh Berry was sponsored by a company called “eero.” What does this company do? Well, the slogan on the hood states: “The way WiFi should be.” Ok, that’s acceptable. I now know eero is involved with WiFi.

Many companies can’t figure this out. Here are some sponsors from the 2024 Cup Series that did not have any other info aside from their vague company names on the race cars:

Kubota

Zeam

Schluter Systems

Group 1001

USANA

Fanttik

Draiver

Leidos

Alltroo

Raptor

The Pete Store

Frontline Enterprises

Gener8tor

MotoRad

Ohanafy

Amptricity

City of Refuge

Now if I were to ask you what these companies do, would you be able to tell me? Seriously, based sole on the company name, what do they do? It’s not like these are all one-offs. Schluter Systems, Leidos, Raptor, The Pete Store, Frontline Enterprises, and Gener8tor have been sponsoring cars for some time, but I’m no closer to understanding who they are now than when they first started. In addition, two companies, C.H. Reed, and Coble Enterprises have slogans on the car, but the slogan is so vague, it’s difficult to decipher what these companies do.

I get that it’s possible to look these companies up on Google, but let me ask…why is that my responsibility? Why should I, the consumer, work to figure out if I need your company on Google, when you could add a slogan to the car THAT YOU ARE PAYING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS FOR? This isn’t even a recent problem, it’s been going on for many years.

There should be a regulation stating that a slogan or company product should be displayed by a sponsor. Seriously, it will help, and really isn’t difficult to do. I do not understand the logic of spending the thousands of dollars to advertise your company but not telling us what the company does. It’s like the BASF commercials I grew up with. For years, BASF ran an ad campaign where they said “We don’t make the ___, we make it ___.” But BASF never actually explained what they did. Once they started adding “BASF The chemical company” at the end of their commercials, did they start making a whole lot more sense. Why it took them over 20 years to figure this out is a mystery. Bottom line, tell us what your company does when you sponsor a race car.

Now we get to another story that follows up on something I’ve discussed before. Nostalgia in wrestling needs to die. Many of the wrestlers of years past were assholes in one form or another. Nobody embodies this more than Hulk Hogan. His theme song is that he is a real American. That’s true, he’s selfish, greedy, opportunistic, racist, horrible with money, backstabbing, narcissistic, untrustworthy, and out of touch with reality. He has used multiple drugs over the years, steroids and otherwise.

He has a terrible attitude towards women. He has had multiple failed business ventures. He has had multiple extramarital affairs. He has had multiple failed marriages, lies about being a true Christian, was filmed having an affair with a friends wife. He also associates with right wing politicians and conspiracy theorists.

Since wrestling fans are more open, and accepting than in years past, Hogan is not a well-liked individual, both in and out of the wrestling business. When WWE Raw debuted on Netflix, WWE had The Hulkster come out and cut a promo on how great the fans were. Hogan is so reviled, that the fans booed him mercilessly. Hogan would go on to claim that the boos were because he was a Trump supporter. Well, The Undertaker had Trump on his podcast, and he got cheered. It wasn’t Trump, but who Hogan is that got him booed.

While Hogan had been advertised for the most recent Saturday Night’s Main Event, he was pulled from the show. He claims he did this to attend his son Nick’s wedding, but WWE clearly cut him from the show. This is part of the bigger issue. WWE has to come to terms that they can never truly distance themselves from Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon, no matter how hard they try. They can’t rehab Hogan’s image, and they can’t remove McMahon’s influence.

This is just another reason that nostalgia in wrestling never works. It never has, and never will. Focus on the future, not the past.

Next week, more racing news, and my thoughts on the Clash

Sources cited:

Cook Out named sponsor for Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cook_Out_(restaurant)

By David G Firestone

So I was originally going to discuss some racing news this week. However, a few things happened, independent each other, that prove something that I’ve been saying for some time. I’ve been a wrestling fan, and wrestling fans give wrestling fans a bad name. Well, as it turns out, football and baseball fans can also give their own fan bases a bad name.

We start with Eagles fan Ryan Caldwell. During the Wildcard match-up between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers, Eagles fan Ryan Caldwell took it upon himself t berate and curse out a female Packers fan. He called her some very nasty and vicious names, and made an ass out of himself. He didn’t realize that he was being filmed, and the footage went viral. Well, Eagles fan Ryan Caldwell is no longer a true Eagles fan, as he has been banned from all Eagles home games, and I suspect many other stadiums might ban him too.

Well, as these things go, it went from bad to worse. Since Eagles fan Ryan Caldwell worked for BCT Partners…a DEI-focused management consulting firm based in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Well, BCT Partners issued a statement via social media on January 14, 2025, which reads as follows:

“We, the management of BCT Partners, have concluded the internal personnel investigation regarding an employee who was caught on a video outside of the workplace making highly offensive and misogynistic statements. In keeping with our company values, which are firmly centered on respect, dignity, and inclusion, we have decided to part company with the employee. This separation is effective immediately.

We condemn our former employee’s conduct in the strongest possible terms. This individual’s conduct and language were vile, disgusting, unacceptable, and horrific and have no place in our workplace and society. Such conduct is not who we are and not what we stand for.

At the same time, again to be true to our values, we can condemn the actions without condemning the individual. None of us deserve to be remembered for actions taken on our worst day. We have offered grace and support to our former employee. We hope that he will grow and we all can learn from this deeply disturbing incident. That’s what real inclusion is and does. That is also who we are and what we stand for.

We sincerely apologize to the victim and for the many ways in which these events already have impacted so many people. We remain committed to gender equity and fostering a culture of respect and dignity for all.”

Ryan Caldwell has had his life ruined by his own actions. Rather than just come out and apologize for his actions, Caldwell had a different take on the situation. According to Caldwell himself:

“While attending an NFL game last Sunday to support my beloved Philadelphia Eagles, an incident occurred that I deeply regret. What began as banter with two Packers fans sitting near me escalated to something more serious, and I said things that were unacceptable. In the heat of the moment, I chose unforgiving words to address one of the fans, Ms. Ally Keller.

I want to sincerely apologize to Ms. Keller for those words, and to my wife, family, and friends, my former employer and colleagues, Packer fans, Eagle fans, the Philadelphia Eagles, the City of Philadelphia, and all who were offended. That said, there are two sides to every story. The video clip circulating online does not reflect the full context of what transpired, and my actions were not without provocation. I will live with this experience, and I am certainly paying a personal price. For those who don’t know me, this incident does not reflect my values or the respect I have for others and is not indicative of the person I am.”

Ryan Caldwell needs to learn the concept of “let them be the idiots.” Just because other people are acting like idiots doesn’t give you the right to act like one too. Be the bigger person and not respond. You gave the world the rope they needed to hang you with, and now you’ve lost the ability to go to Eagles games, as well as your occupation. Hope you like working at Target. By the way, do you know how shitty of an EAGLES FAN you have to be to be seen as the worst?

The second story took place during game four of the World Series in New York. As Mookie Betts tried to catch a foul ball, Yankee fans Austin Capobianco and John P. Hansen interfered with the catch. Well not only did they get ejected, but Major League Baseball took action. In a letter sent to the duo, the MLB was very clear about their stance on the situation.

“On Oct. 29, 2024, during Game 4 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, you interfered with play by intentionally and forcefully grabbing a player. Your conduct posed a serious risk to the health and safety of the player and went far over the line of acceptable fan behavior. Based on your conduct, Major League Baseball is banning you indefinitely from all MLB stadiums, offices, and other facilities. You are also hereby banned indefinitely from attending any events sponsored by or associated with MLB. Please be advised that if you are discovered at any MLB property or event, you will be removed from the premises and subject to arrest for trespass.”

It’s good to see that the teams and leagues are stepping up and kicking fans out of the fan base. These are not isolated incidents. Two fans were banned from MLB for running on to the field and made contact with Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr.. In Braymer, Missouri, the Braymer C-4 School has been banned from participating in high school basketball games because of bad fan behavior. I could go on, but the point is that bad fans need to be dealt with.

I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again, fan bases need to eat their own on a regular basis. Fan-bases need to identify the liabilities in their own groups, and expel them from the fandom. If they don’t, then the teams and leagues will, and they will NOT show mercy. The EAS scenario community is a community that will expel their own when needed, and they have not hesitated when needed.

I get being a fan, I get supporting your team, and I get having a good time in the stands. This does NOT justify abusive behavior in any capacity. This does not justify running on to the field, or court. This does NOT justify cursing out other fans. Go to the game, support your team, but behave yourself. As the fans I discussed found out, attending games is a privilege, not a right. Your bad behavior will come back to haunt you in this day in age.

Next week, back to racing news…hopefully.

Sources cited:

https://nypost.com/2025/01/14/sports/internet-sleuths-found-repulsive-eagles-fan-and-his-life-might-be-ruined/

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/sports/nfl/eagles/2025/01/15/philadelphia-eagles-fan-banned-verbally-abused-green-bay-packers-fan/77717513007/

https://nypost.com/2025/01/15/sports/eagles-fan-ryan-caldwell-breaks-silence-on-vile-video/

https://www.abcactionnews.com/sports/yankees-fans-who-interfered-with-mookie-betts-during-world-series-banned-from-all-mlb-games

https://apnews.com/article/braves-rockies-acuna-fan-0b9cf0752440a7f93429bae4341be025

By David G. Firestone

I had a few racing stories that I wanted to discuss, but there were a couple of WWE stories that happened that I feel the need to discuss. Two dark skeletons from WWE’s past came back to haunt them. Interestingly, these two stories happened independent of one another, and have nothing to do with each other.

Let’s start with Hulk Hogan. On January 6, WWE Raw debuted on Netflix. To commemorate the occasion, the debut episode was over the top, with a lot of former WWE stars in attendance. Well, one such star was Hulk Hogan. Hogan and Jimmy Hart came out, and Hogan cut a promo about how great the fans are and how they made WWE what it is. Hogan was mercilessly booed for the entirety of the promo. Hogan also announced that his Real American Light Beer, which is actually somehow weaker than his in-ring work, is now part owned by WWE. It was also announced that Hogan will be part of Saturday Night’s Main Event on January 25th.

The booing of Hogan is yet another reason why nostalgia in wrestling is never a good idea. There are a few former wrestlers who are decent and good people, but they are a minority. Between drug use, sexual improprieties, crime, backstage politics, racism, and a plethora of other issues, we see these people for who they are. Modern wrestling is a different animal, since most modern promotions will not hesitate to eat their own. Look at the careers that came to an end after Speaking Out.

Which brings me to my second story. A few days later, it was announced that Vince McMahon and the Securities and Exchange Commission settled that a settlement had been reached. Specifically, McMahon will have to pay a $400,000 fine, and reimburse WWE $1.3 million, and McMahon will not have to admit or deny any wrong doing. There is also a “cease-and-desist from violating certain provisions” but not much was available in terms of what that meant.

Vince, for his part, wasn’t exactly remorseful, and posted the following on Twitter:

“The case is closed. Today ends nearly three years of investigation by different governmental agencies. There has been a great deal of speculation about what exactly the government was investigating and what the outcome would be. As today’s resolution shows, much of that speculation was misguided and misleading.

In the end, there was never anything more to this than minor accounting errors with regard to some personal payments that I made several years ago while I was CEO of WWE. I’m thrilled that I can now put all this behind me.”

It says a lot about the two personalities that made WWE what it is today are persona non grata in WWE today, in terms with the fans. The fact that Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon are seen for the evil people that they are says a lot. Hogan was the on-screen talent, Vince was the man behind the scenes moving things into place. Both of the two are reviled, both inside and out of the wrestling business. Both still have their fans, but neither will ever be at the level they once were.

Nostalgia in wrestling isn’t a good thing. For one thing, as has been just discussed, wrestling has to come to terms with the evils of yesteryear. Second, wrestling is a shell of what it once was. 30 years ago, 10 million people watched wrestling every week, and now WWE draws 1-2 million people, and AEW can’t average over 650,000 people on a good week.

This is not a new thing, since in 1999, Heroes of Wrestling took place at Casino Magic Bay St. Louis in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. According to Wikipedia:

“The event was meant to be the first in a series of pay-per-views that would feature popular wrestling stars from the 1980s and early 1990s, but plans for the franchise were abandoned following the event, which suffered from a poor buy rate and several controversies, including the calamitous main event where a completely intoxicated Jake Roberts teamed up with Yokozuna in a tag team match, only to lose to Jim Neidhart and King Kong Bundy.”

For those who have never seen Heroes of Wrestling, it’s available on YouTube. As a wrestling event, it was a disaster through and through. All of the talent was either too old to have a good match, or high on drugs, or both. The result was almost unwatchable. Even if you get nostalgic wrestlers who are good people, like Mick Foley for example, in this day in age, all they can do is cut a promo.

While there are other athletes who are scumbags, it’s never been as prevalent as it was in wrestling. While it got swept under the rug at the time, now it’s coming to light how bad these people were. These chickens have come home to roost. We all saw the reaction to Hogan, and I can promise there are more skeletons that will get dug up. I predict that there will be more things that come to light soon.

Next week, some racing news.

Sources cited:

https://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/43358951/former-wwe-ceo-vince-mcmahon-sec-reach-deal-settlements

https://x.com/VinceMcMahon/status/1877743380349714910

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_of_Wrestling

By David G. Firestone

Back again this week, got a few stories to talk about, so without further ado, let’s get started.

Our first story centers around a couple little details about the new NASCAR Cup Series charter deal. Apparently, as part of this deal, according to Jayski:

“Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass confirmed Friday that the new charter agreement limits teams to three charters going forward.

Teams with four charters – Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing – are grandfathered in and can continue to run four chartered cars.

Those teams that operate with three charters can enter a fourth car in races and run it as an open team.”

It was also revealed that Front Row Motorsports had finalized a purchase of one of Stewart-Haas Racing’s charters, which came about as part of a court order in the anti-trust lawsuits. Noah Gragson will be driving the #4.

Is it just me, or has the charter system caused more issues than it fixed? Again, look at all the chartered teams that have gone bust since its inception. Look at how none of the teams are profitable right now. When HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS can’t make a dime of profit for years, you think the smaller teams can?

While I get the idea of cost-cutting, at some point you just have to look at all the damage this system has done, and look at all the issues it’s caused, and realize it has failed. The charter system is not sustainable, it never was. NASCAR needs to assess its options, and work with the Race Team Alliance to come up with something better. The original system wasn’t great, the negotiations and their end were a disaster. This new version isn’t much better.

NASCAR and their teams need to realize the survival of the sport is at stake, and with this bullshit streaming deal starting in 2025, that survival is even less stable. The NASCAR Cup Series has six races on Amazon Prime. They lose an average of 1.2 million viewers from broadcast to cable. I can’t fathom how many users Amazon Prime will hemorrhage, including THE COCA COLA 600! How anyone thought this will work is mind-boggling!

Speaking of mind boggling, let’s talk Rick Ware Racing. Rick Ware Racing is a punching bag for NASCAR fans, and justifiably so. Between the length of time and number of teams they fielded, four cars at one time, to their TOTAL lack of on-track success. Rick Ware Racing has proven themselves as a joke.

But for a while in 2024, thing seemed to be looking up. They snagged Corey LaJoie from Spire Motorsports, as well as having Zane Smith as well. It actually seemed like they finally started to make the right moves, and start moving forward. It was really nice while it lasted. Not only did they lose Zane Smith to Front Row Motorsports, but they cut Corey LaJoie from the team as well. Now, while they only have a single-chartered car, the #51, they will run the #15 part time. So, who did they get to replace Corey LaJoie? Well, according to Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass…CODY FUCKING WARE!

WHY?!? Who in their right mind would replace Corey LaJoie with Cody Ware? Why would you replace Corey LaJoie with Cody Ware? Who, outside of Rick Ware, thought this was a good idea? How out of touch with racing is Rick Ware to replace Corey LaJoie with his son? Cody has done nothing, and I mean NOTHING in his life, let along his career, to justify a full-time Cup Series ride! Corey LaJoie was the best and most obvious choice to race full-time, and they just blew that up!

Is this real? Is this reality? How in the name of all that is good do you give CODY WARE a full-time ride over COREY FREAKIN’ LAJOIE? I’m struggling to comprehend the logic here! I really am! I get you want the best for your son, but sometimes, you just have to cut your losses! Which is more important, your son’s career, or Rick Ware Racing as an organization? I ask that seriously, because they are on the verge of losing their charters for lack of performance, and this doesn’t do them any favors! SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?

This whole thing is almost like being a Chicago Bears fan! I say almost, because the Bears just beat the Packers since the first time since 2018! Even the Shad and Tony Khan Jacksonville Jaguars can win four games in a season! Even the worst teams can find some success sometimes. Rick Ware Racing has NEVER found success, 10 years after they should have stopped trying! At this point, I predict within the next three years, Rick Ware Racing will either go bust, lose their charters, or sell their charters. There is no other option! At this point, Rick Ware should focus his attention on Clay Millican’s Top Fuel dragster in the NHRA, since Millican can, not only win, but win multiple races in the same season! Clay Millican is Rick Ware’s best option, and I’m willing to bet he will mess that up too!

With that, I can’t rant anymore so, I’ll just call things here. I’ll be back next week.

Sources Cited:

Charter agreement caps organization’s charters to three

Front Row Motorsports finalizes deal to buy Stewart-Haas Racing charter

Corey LaJoie not expected to return to Rick Ware Racing

By David G. Firestone

So I’m back from winter break. Santa dropped a new laptop and some parking meters down the chimney this year. I’ve been following a few stories, and I’m going to discuss them. Since the various filings about the NASCAR anti-trust are in legal terms, which are hogwash to me, I’ll hold off on talking about them until later.

Let’s talk about IndyCar, specifically the race at Thermal. The 2024 edition was a shit show, and that’s putting it nicely. The prize money didn’t materialize as hoped, so it was only a $500,000 race as opposed to a $1 million race. Ticket sales were abysmal, due to high ticket prices, and general apathy about IndyCar. The race itself didn’t go over well, with teams, drivers, sponsors, and fans all talking about how bad it was

So you are IndyCar, and you are planning a new season for 2025. You have a deal with Thermal for a 2025 race, what do you do? Well, IndyCar literally didn’t learn a single lesson, and is planning the same event, but in a different year. At the time of writing, it’s back to a $1 million race, no points, just money.

What the fuck? Last year’s event was a certified dud. Nobody liked it. It simply didn’t work. If at first you don’t succeed…WHY? WHY AGAIN? Sure, it failed in every way it could, and yet doing the exact same race in 2025 will somehow yield different results…how does that work?

I’m going to give IndyCar an idea that could save the race. This could be a million dollar idea. Here goes: Take the Thermal race, make it an all-star race, and gimmick the hell out of it. It goes something like this: Every driver who won a race in 2024, and all former champions are locked in. The drivers on the outside will race in a series of heat races, and the winners get into the main event. Qualifying is also done through heat races. The races are a series of races, with new tires and fuel added at the end of each stage.

Sound familiar? This is how the Busch Clash and All-Star races are held in NASCAR. Every all-star game is a gimmick at this point, so why shouldn’t IndyCar follow suit? The marketing writes itself: “The best of the best in IndyCar racing at the most exclusive race track in the United States with a million dollars up for grabs.” Seriously, that would work wonders to get people in the door, and watching on TV?

When Roger Penske took over IndyCar, lots of people, myself included, were optimistic that IndyCar would change for the better. Sadly, it’s become clear that this is another case of “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” IndyCar continues to stagnate, and, unless some new things are tried, it will continue to stagnate. Sadly, I fail to see any change on the horizon, and I hold out little hope.

Now we move on to wrestling, because a couple of things happened while I was away. First off, WWE revived Saturday Night’s Main Event. The big theme with this version is nostalgia. It was meant to bring back memories of some of the best events of year’s past. It sounds cool on the outside, but it does raise some issues.

First off, nostalgia in sports is a double-edged sword. I’m not saying that it’s truly a bad thing, but in sports where their best years are behind them, all it does is to bring back memories of how much better things were. NASCAR has had this problem for years. They aren’t good at marketing and making stars, so throwbacks and nostalgia serves to remind fans how good things to be.

Pro wrestling is even worse. Wrestling constantly moves forward, not backward. What was good in 1984, and 1994, doesn’t really fly as well in 2024. But the other issue is much more prevalent in 2024.

Wrestling is coming to terms with the fact that many of the wrestlers were very problematic, be it behind the scenes, or after their careers ended. For example, this most recent Saturday’s Night Main Event featured Jessie “The Body” Ventura. Ventura is a notable personality, and was the governor of Minnesota. He is also a right-wing crackpot conspiracy theorist.

Of the other commentators, most are dead, or are so problematic that WWE can’t bring them back. Hulk Hogan is so problematic, WWE can’t bring him back, as is the case with Vince McMahon. It’s amazing how awful these legends are. This is not limited to WWE, as even wrestlers who weren’t in WWE are now being seen as the horrible people that they are.

WWE didn’t do themselves any favors, given all the lawsuits they are currently facing due to actions of their staff and leadership. Focusing on the present is a much better strategy than focusing on the past, as far as wrestling is concerned.

Now we move on to a big wrestling story, this one from TNA Wrestling. At Final Resolution at Center Stage in Atlanta, The System, a team consisting of Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards, faced The Hardys, Matt and Jeff for the TNA World Tag Team Championship, with the Hardys retaining the championship.

During the event, an incident between Edwards and a fan occurred. I will take this description of the event from Cageside Seats:

“Edwards competed alongside Brian Myers in a tables match against the Hardys at Final Resolution (Dec. 13, 2024). The crowd was hostile toward the System and vocalized several chants with curse words. One fan in particular must have muttered something uncouth, then he flipped the bird. Edwards took exception and knocked the fan’s beverage out of his hand. The fan reacted with a slap across the cheek. Edwards retaliated with a much crisper slap to the face. Officials intervened to make sure the incident didn’t go any further, and security escorted the fan out of the building.

This fan didn’t appear to be a plant for story-line purposes. After the knucklehead move, the fan didn’t put up any resistance in his forced departure from ringside. Edwards brushed it off and carried on with the match.”

Look, I get that heels are supposed to get heat with the crowd. I get that heels should be seen as the evil bad guys. However, under no circumstances should the heel physically confront a fan unless in self-defense. If a fan jumps the rail, then the wrestler can defend themselves. In this case, words being exchanged is NOT a reason for either party to slap the other.

This could have severe repercussions for TNA. Lawsuits could be filed against Eddie Edwards, TNA, and more critically, the venue. Venues do NOT like having to deal with lawsuits from fans over incidents like this, and I’m willing to bet that this will cause issues with TNA and Center Stage.

I’m not defending Edwards, and I’m not defending the fan, both parties are equally guilty. I’m saying that this whole thing was handled badly by everyone involved. You are allowed to cheer and boo as you please, but do NOT physically involve yourself with the wrestlers, you will get arrested, and may get beaten. Alternatively, any wrestler who physically assaults a fan could open the door to a lot of legal issues. It’s just not worth it.

This has been an issue in wrestling for decades, and recent events are compounding the issue. I really don’t agree with any attack, but stupid people do stupid shit.

With that, I finish this week’s episode, and I will continue with news stories next week.

Sources Cited:

https://www.cagesideseats.com/2024/12/14/24320992/eddie-edwards-slaps-fan-incident-tna-final-resolution-2024-kicked-out-local-police-no-script-reacts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Resolution_(2024)