Matt Hagan Is An ****** (1 Viewer)

[Jim]

Matt Hagan thinks NHRA should be more like WWE

3-Time Funny Car Champ Matt Hagan: 'Maybe NHRA Should Be More Like WWE'

Hagan is one of four Funny Car drivers with shot at season championship this weekend at Pomona.

www.autoweek.com

Does he mean scripted and staged outcomes?

Does he mean drivers acting to promote phony grudges and feuds with each other?

That kind of crap is one of the things that made NASCAR unwatchable. When I see how some of the NHRA drivers act on TV interviews, I cringe.

The last thing NHRA needs is to embrace the phoniness that turns them into characters, not drivers.

 

[Scoe]

Matt Hagan is not an idiot. I read the article and the last thing that crossed my mind is NHRA staging races or promoting phony rivalries. If anything he's advocating for drivers to show off their personality more and be more engaging.

 

[Jim]

Matt Hagan is not an idiot. I read the article and the last thing that crossed my mind is NHRA staging races or promoting phony rivalries. If anything he's advocating for drivers to show off their personality more and be more engaging.

1) I called him an idiot in keeping with the WWE theme.
2) WWE is scripted and staged. If you want NHRA to be more like WWE, that's what it means.
3) I am all for drivers showing their personalities if they show their real personalities. I don't like the phony TV personalities some of them put on during TV interviews. I've sat through many post-race press conferences with many of the drivers and some of them are totally different in the media center than on TV. Ron Capps is an example of one driver who is the same on TV as he is sitting in the media center. Others put on an act. WWE is all an act. I don't want to see the drivers put on an act because they think it plays well on TV.

 

[mick]

Hagan said, “I feel like I’m in a knife fight in a phone booth with these two guys.”
Shot back Tasca, “If we’re in a phone booth and you have the knife, Robert and I are screwed.”
that is some kind of phun-knee rite there

 

[Jer]

Matt Hagan thinks NHRA should be more like WWE

3-Time Funny Car Champ Matt Hagan: 'Maybe NHRA Should Be More Like WWE'

Hagan is one of four Funny Car drivers with shot at season championship this weekend at Pomona.

www.autoweek.com

Does he mean scripted and staged outcomes?

Does he mean drivers acting to promote phony grudges and feuds with each other?

That kind of crap is one of the things that made NASCAR unwatchable. When I see how some of the NHRA drivers act on TV interviews, I cringe.

The last thing NHRA needs is to embrace the phoniness that turns them into characters, not drivers.

Maybe u should tell that to his face lol

 

[Jim]

Maybe u should tell that to his face lol

Why is that the common response from people who have nothing to say?

 

[Scoe]

1) I called him an idiot in keeping with the WWE theme.
2) WWE is scripted and staged. If you want NHRA to be more like WWE, that's what it means.
3) I am all for drivers showing their personalities if they show their real personalities. I don't like the phony TV personalities some of them put on during TV interviews. I've sat through many post-race press conferences with many of the drivers and some of them are totally different in the media center than on TV. Ron Capps is an example of one driver who is the same on TV as he is sitting in the media center. Others put on an act. WWE is all an act. I don't want to see the drivers put on an act because they think it plays well on TV.

WWE also has personalities and personas. Matt and many others want drivers to be less corporate. I get that sponsors pay the bills but if these drivers give just a fraction of what they're like around family and friends on camera, it would help the sport grow. We already have personalities in the sport. The problem is only a few of them are drivers.

 

[mikebcurve]

I think the insinuation was not to be fake, but rather yourself turned up to a hundred. I would hate to see Hagan turned up any higher. It’s like he has more adrenaline than blood running through his veins, lol.

 

[GumbyWVU]

Maybe u should tell that to his face lol

I wouldn't be afraid to say to him or anyone else that "Anytime we can make this more like WWE, we need to do that, because we have an amazing platform" is a stupid suggestion.

WWE, like NASCAR, goes after the lowest common denominator, and that isn't always a good thing. How then would "making it like WWE" have won him a championship? That's apparently bothering him, thanks to the DSR mentality he inherited.

Here's something for Mr. Hagan to consider - what role did the countdown have in the situations he references??

 

[Von Halen]

I think the insinuation was not to be fake, but rather yourself turned up to a hundred. I would hate to see Hagan turned up any higher. It’s like he has more adrenaline than blood running through his veins, lol.

Adrenaline or steroids or HGH? This guy reminds me of that Bonds dude in baseball.

 

[Scoe]

I wouldn't be afraid to say to him or anyone else that "Anytime we can make this more like WWE, we need to do that, because we have an amazing platform" is a stupid suggestion.

WWE, like NASCAR, goes after the lowest common denominator, and that isn't always a good thing. How then would "making it like WWE" have won him a championship? That's apparently bothering him, thanks to the DSR mentality he inherited.

Here's something for Mr. Hagan to consider - what role did the countdown have in the situations he references??

Idk how you guys are taking his comments and twisting them into a pretzel.

 

[Ramjet]

How much of an Idiot can this man be. He is always in the top few of of the class - he has a crew chief that is unsurpassed in tuning - he has a billion dollar major sponsor - he has a car owner that is as good as any owner in any form of racing - he has three championships - he has made himself the center of attention at the Grand Finally of the year and life is good. Idiots are made of weaker stuff.

 

[John Farce Racing]

Adrenaline or steroids or HGH? This guy reminds me of that Bonds dude in baseball.

Ridiculous statement. Matt didn't suddenly put on 40 pounds of muscle and have his cap size increase 2 inches. He's always been a big guy.

 

[NitroLuver]

I'm so confused on multiple fronts.

 

[Von Halen]

Ridiculous statement. Matt didn't suddenly put on 40 pounds of muscle and have his cap size increase 2 inches. He's always been a big guy.

Yeah, you might want to go way back and look at him before he started working out. I stand by my comparison.

 

[Tony]

How much of an Idiot can this man be. He is always in the top few of of the class - he has a crew chief that is unsurpassed in tuning - he has a billion dollar major sponsor - he has a car owner that is as good as any owner in any form of racing - he has three championships - he has made himself the center of attention at the Grand Finally of the year and life is good. Idiots are made of weaker stuff.

He's also a family man and a successful business owner. I see him as a good representative for the NHRA.

 

[Paul]

The only ****** I see is the one who started this thread. Talk about taking an article out of context to the extreme.

 

[Ted]

I just read the article, while I am not a huge Hagan fan, I like what he says and he is a racer through and through.
Get butts in the seats.
As someone once said, the empty seat doesn't buy a hot dog.

 

[4onthefl4]

I've often joked on this forum about NHRA becoming like the WWE in reference to things like the Todd/Laughlin clown incident.
I respect Hagan for what he does and what he's done, on and off the track, but in the end it's about entertainment. Rivals are a big sale in sports whether it's football (Miami Dolphins vs BUffalo Bills) wrestling (Hogan vs Andre the Giant) or drag racing. How many rivals has John Force had? Both the Pedregons and Al Hofmann comes to mind.
No, NHRA doesn't throw races like the WWE, but the drivers themselves can act like the WWE and I think that's what he's talking. At the end of the day, the bottom line, the final outcome, nothing left to see here folks or whatever cliche you want to add, it's all about entertainment.
As I was typing this, I remebered when I met Shirley Muldowney at an autogragh session at the now gone Race Rcok cafe in Orlando back in the 90's, even then she said the NHRA was acting like what was then the WWF. So this is Hagan thing nothing new.

 

[PJ]

I don't think he meant faking things. For a long time now, many on here have complained about the boring corporate laden, cliche fest interviews many of the drivers give.

Of course once a driver shows some emotion, then we rip on them for that.

Thank the sponsors, that's a must, but also be human. Yeah I don't need a wrestling level promo (although I just had a vision of Doug Kalitta trying to go all Rick Flair and now can't focus ) Anyway, I don't need that level of "energy" but your pissed on a run, it's ok. Tear up, fine, get excited and dance, go for it. The drivers that seem to get the most followers are the ones that you can see the humanity of...good, bad or ugly.
I think Antron is one of the best examples of this. He balances how to be corporate and sponsor minded but also being real with the highs and lows or racing. Probably why he's one of the most popular drivers out there