AFP Podcasts

The money quote from AFP columnist Ray Petree on this week’s podcast: you could miss this week’s AEW “Dynamite,” and not be any worse for the wear heading into the big “Grand Slam” show next week in New York.

And no, this isn’t good for AEW.

Ray and AFP editor Chris Graham cover a lot of territory on the AEW beat this week.

In this podcast

Jericho-Cassidy sheds viewers in dud of opening segment

The opening segment of “Dynamite,” featuring a match pitting Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy, went over like the proverbial wet fart in church.

As a gimmick, “The Learning Tree” is easily Jericho’s worst re-invention yet. Every week, we watch the “Jericho Vortex” suffocate Bryan Keith and Big Bill.

Since “All In,” Jericho has had The Conglomeration and Orange Cassidy in his crosshairs; culminating in this match — which lasted nearly 20 minutes.

Was this the best use of time for this episode of “Dynamite”?

New looks for Jon Moxley, Private Party

Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli are doing a good job reinventing themselves in the new-look Blackpool Combat Club.

This week, the BCC attacked Private Party, after Isaiah Kassidy and Marq Quen cut a nice promo that seems to signal a new direction for them, and then we saw Darby Allin get involved.

Where all of those parties go from here will be something worth watching.

It’s time to get the tag belts off The Young Bucks already

The names of the participants in the “Dynamite” main event reflect the quality of this match: Will Ospreay, Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita faced Kazuchika Okada & the Young Bucks. 

For Ospreay, Fletcher, and the Young Bucks, it was a preview of their match next week at “Grand Slam.” For Takeshita and Okada, this was yet another confrontation — building towards their eventual match for the AEW Continental Championship. 

This match was guaranteed to be entertaining, given how phenomenal all six men are in the ring. Not to mention, watching Ospreay and Okada share an AEW ring was exhilarating.

The question remains: can we just get the tag belts off The Bucks already?

Breaking: Miro asks for his release

Miro, not used in AEW at all in 2024, has reportedly asked Tony Khan for his release, and the only surprising thing to this breaking news is: what took so long?

Miro was, for a brief few months several years ago in WWE, the hottest heel in wrestling, as a pro-Putin propagandist with nuclear heat.

He had a solid run as the TNT champ in 2021, but we’re three years past that now.

Is the grass going to be greener if he returns to WWE? Or does he try to latch on with TNA Impact, MLW, or … just hang ‘em up?

Kill, Steen, Kill!

The wrestling rumor mill has it that Kevin Owens, nee Kevin Steen, could be a target for Tony Khan, with Owens’ contract with WWE coming up at the end of the year.

Would Owens/Steen consider jumping ship from WWE to reunite with his former Ring of Honor running buddies Matt and Nick Jackson?

KO might have already hit his ceiling in WWE, so that’s one factor to consider.

But he might want to get some assurances from Khan that there’s a plan in place for his rollout, in light of the flubs that we’ve seen with recent big-money signees Adam Copeland, Mercedes Mone and Kazuchika Okada.

Politics is a contact sport, as Springfield, Ohio, knows all too well, with MAGA Nation continuing to put the city in the crosshairs, all because city leaders refuse to play along with the Donald Trump/JD Vance lie about immigrants eating pets.

Chris Graham covers that topic in today’s podcast, and we also get into the Senate IVF bill that was blocked by MAGA Republicans, and the Teamsters, rather curiously, deciding to sit out the 2024 election, despite Trump making it clear that he will continue his union-busting ways if he gets elected in November.

All of that, plus our too busy with North Carolina politics to care about Waynesboro guy running for a seat on Waynesboro City Council.

If you want to know the reason for something happening in the world of sports, follow the money.

That’s the theme for today’s “Street Knowledge” podcast, at least the first two segments.

Host Chris Graham examines the rumored talks involving the ACC, Florida State and Clemson, and the latest about the AEW-Warner Bros. Discovery TV deal that is supposedly in the works.

The final segment breaks contain to update the latest on UVA Football, which is coming off a 27-13 loss to Maryland in Week 3.

NASCAR and its team owners, with two notable exceptions, have come to an agreement on the extensions of team charters, with an announcement on the extensions coming in advance of the opening of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs last weekend.

The two exceptions – 23XI Racing, co-owned by Michael Jordan and NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, owned by restaurant operator Bob Jenkins – are taking different approaches to where they want to see things go from here.

Jenkins has not commented on why he didn’t sign; 23XI, through Jordan and Hamlin, has been outspoken on why, citing terms that the team doesn’t think are favorable for the long-term.

Chase Briscoe and Kyle Busch battled to the end of the Southern 500 to secure a spot in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Briscoe got the win and the final playoff spot, leaving Busch, who has been running well of late, on the outside looking in.

#TeamAFP’s Chris Graham and Rod Mullins break down the thrilling end to the regular season, the disappointing near-miss for Bubba Wallace, and look ahead to the playoffs.

The second segment covers the developing news that an announcement appears to be in the works regarding NASCAR coming to an agreement with team owners on the terms of team charters that the team owners have been pushing for to give them more stability for the long term.

What does that mean for the sport?

This Harrison Burton story involving a final-lap lead change that vaulted him from nowhere to the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs is a lot better than the one that had been dominating the headlines.

Burton, who had lost his ride with Wood Brothers Racing for 2025, didn’t need to wreck anybody to get the win in Daytona on Saturday night.

It was just good, clean racing that got Burton, the son of retired NASCAR veteran Jeff Burton, who was on the call for NBC’s coverage of the race, into the winner’s circle, and into the 2024 playoffs.

I think it’s fair to speculate how the big season that a lot of folks seem to think is in store for Virginia Tech might factor into the thinking around Tony Elliott and Virginia.

There’s buzz about Tech being a sleeper pick to contend in the ACC this year, and that translates to expectations about, what, nine wins, maybe 10 wins?

If Brent Pry, in his Year 3, has Tech on the doorstep of an ACC title game, it’s not hard to imagine the people who pay the bills at UVA saying, hey, wait a minute, our guy is in his Year 3, what are we getting out of him?

Tyler Reddick took the checkered flag in Michigan on Monday, and since Reddick was already a 2024 winner, we still have four spots open in the 2024 NASCAR Playoff race.

That’s in part because of NASCAR’s surprise move last week to hit Austin Dillon, the winner at Richmond back on Aug. 11, with an unprecedented penalty – taking his guaranteed playoff spot away as the penalty for intentionally wrecking race leaders Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap.

#TeamAFP’s Chris Graham and Rod Mullins break it all down for us this week on the podcast.

Austin Dillon drove through leaders Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to take the checkered flag in Richmond on Sunday night, igniting a controversy that has NASCAR saying it will review his driving, and maybe even take the win away.

That’s not going to happen, of course.

#TeamAFP NASCAR writer Rod Mullins joins us to break down the end of an otherwise dull race, and also report from Bristol Motor Speedway, which announced last week that it will be hosting an MLB game in 2025.

NASCAR has taken the past couple of weeks off to accommodate TV rights holder NBC’s interest in broadcasting the 2024 Paris Olympics, but the Cup Series is set to return this weekend at Richmond International Raceway.

AFP’s NASCAR guy, Rod Mullins, joins Chris Graham on the podcast today to get us up to speed on what has been going on in NASCAR with the drivers and teams getting the rare mid-season break.