One part of this book that stuck with me was the deep humiliation and insult that Ross suffered at the whims of Vince McMahon. Time and time again, Ross recounts how he was put into on-air positions that he found humiliating and that he was uncomfortable with from the start. It actually becomes painful and frustrating to read the on-going embarrassment that he has to deal with just to be able to do his job. As someone who watched some of these acts take place on television, they never seemed to make sense to me and never really fit in with any of the other stories that were going on. They all just seemed oddly out of place and disconnected from everything else on the show.

And, well, that is exactly what you learn when reading this book. Namely, that McMahon and his writers had a penchant for making Ross feel terrible. In other words, they enjoyed watching him get degraded on television. Again, it becomes brutal to read how, over and over again, Ross was put into a position that made him feel uncomfortable and that he felt obligated to participate in to be “in” with the wrestlers and the boss. This is the stuff of a modern day harassment lawsuit.

However, the part of the book that stayed with me the most was the beautiful tributes that Ross gives to his now-passed wife. She was his rock during these turbulent times and always reassured him when he would go back to the promotion. It sounds like the relationship that most people dream of finding – a man and a woman who truly understand and appreciate one another. For that part and for the love that these two shared, it was painful to read about how her passing in the book and the reader can feel the raw emotion that Ross is dealing with due to that major loss in his life.

At some point later in the book, Ross talks about his connection with Tony Khan and his new, upstart wrestling company called All Elite Wrestling (AEW). This is the show that Ross now finds himself announcing on each week and he appears to be having fun and enjoying himself while doing it. The comments about AEW are a nice way to end an emotional roller coaster that is much more a story about his abuse by McMahon and a love letter to his late wife for supporting him than anything else. If you are or were a wrestling fan, then I think that you will enjoy reading this book.

This weekend’s links are below for your reading pleasure. If you come across any interesting links, then please share them with us in the comments section below. Enjoy!

Get your weekend started right by checking out these links, starting a new Feedly account, and/or adding the blogs above (and JerseySmarts.com, too) to your existing Feedly or other RSS aggregator account. Enjoy!

In other words, I did pretty well in 2010 so I had to pay extra money to the government for doing so well. To put it simply, free tax filing sounds good right about now. In total, I paid $3,564 to the Internal Revenue Service and another $374 to the great State of New Jersey.

"You can pay me now or you will pay me later." - Irwin R. Schyster

Oh, you might remember that I used a picture of former WWE wrestler Irwin R. Schyster in last year’s post. Well, I thought that the picture worked pretty well and was entertaining, so considering that I just uploaded a post that talked about WWE bringing WrestleMania to New Jersey, I figured that it would be great to bring back Mr. Schyster for this year’s tax news. And speaking of this year’s tax news…

I owe both the Internal Revenue Service and the State of New Jersey taxes again for 2011.

You can go back and read last year’s entry to find out all of the different places where I draw income from (including advertising revenues related to this blog). You can also go back and read last year’s entry to find out some of the different side jobs that I perform each year (adjunct teaching, for example). However, I want to reiterate a point that I made last year: generally speaking, I want to pay these taxes.

There are a lot of people who spend a lot of time trying to find ways to not pay the government according to the tax laws on the books. Unless you’ve got big-time scratch (and I do not), then it makes no sense to go out of your way to hide income or gains from the government. They’ll find out and they’ll nail you for it – so pay your damn taxes. The reason why I’m generally okay with paying these extra taxes is because I made a good amount of money last year.

I mean it’s simple enough, right? You make more money than you pay taxes on so you have to pay taxes on that excess income. Generally speaking, what’s the problem with that? Sure, we can get into a discussion about whether or not I should be taxed at the rate that I’m currently taxed at (I would suggest that I should be taxed at a lower rate). And yes, we can get into a discussion about whether the government uses my tax dollars according to my will or in a manner that I find efficient (the answer is “no” for both of those items), but that’s not the point of this entry. The point is that you should all want to pay more in taxes because if you have to pay more in taxes, then you must have earned more in income during the previous year. Let me repeat that:

The more taxes you pay, the more money you earned.

Keywords: “more,” “money,” and “earned.”

While I think that it sucks and I might be annoyed that I have to send a check to the Internal Revenue Service for some $3,200+ and to the State of New Jersey for some $450+, I’m glad that I worked hard enough and earned enough money to increase my tax liability. Although I do have a bone to pick with the IRS over one aspect of my taxes (the student loan interest deduction), but I’ll get to that in an entry to be posted in the next few days). Also, this year I was better prepared for a higher tax liability because of being so shocked that I owed money last year. So I’m prepared to pay the government this year with very little impact on my regular cash flow.

And that’s a good thing… because nobody wants to open their door and find Irwin R. Schyster waiting on their doorstep looking for a check. No thanks!

New Jersey is hosting the Super Bowl in 2014!

Whether you’re the type of New Jerseyan who loves that the Super Bowl is coming to MetLife Stadium or whether you hate it, there are some undeniably great impacts coming our way. To begin with, the general rule of thumb is that Super Bowls can provide up to $500 million in gross economic activity for a host city. Half a billion dollars? That’s not too bad for a few days of mayhem!

What’s better than the $500 million economic impact, though, is the fact that there will be a variety of part-time and temporary jobs available to help set up for, manage, and break down from the Super Bowl and its pre-game festivities. Those types of jobs aren’t segregated to New Jersey alone, either. Those are the types of jobs that folks in New York City can benefit from as well as New Jerseyans living in the central part of the state. I believe that this is one of the best impacts from hosting the Super Bowl because it provides an opportunity for an unemployed or underemployed person to make their own, professional impact on a company that is looking to hire more people. In other words, if you’re one of those people who thinks all they need is a chance at a job so they can impress an employer enough to want them to be hired full-time, then this is that chance!

A third benefit from having the Super Bowl in New Jersey is the fact that we get to show off the real New Jersey. No, not that stereotype-laden image that most of the rest of the country has of us as fist-pumping, loud-talking, self-obsessed members of the mafia. We get a chance to showcase the real New Jersey – a place filled with optimistic people, caring families, and intelligent discussion.

Alright, well most of the discussion is intelligent!

However, before we get to experience the economic and social impacts that come along with hosting the Super Bowl, New Jerseyans have a chance to realize more than $200 million in economic impact from hosting another global event… WrestleMania XXIX!

Are you ready for WrestleMania XXIX next year?!

If you read this blog, then you probably know that I used to be a big wrestling fan many years ago and am still somewhat of a fan today (though to a much lesser, rather passive degree). However, since I have that latent wrestling fan mentality I fully intend on attending WrestleMania next year (and the Super Bowl in 2014 for that matter) because it’s going to be so close to home. Aside from the fact that I plan on attending one of the major annual global sporting/entertainment events based in America (i.e. the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, NCAA Championships, WrestleMania, etc), I think that this gigantic wrestling show presents a much more exciting opportunity for those who are without jobs.

As I wrote above, there are going to be a lot of staff ramp-ups leading into the Super Bowl. Well, there are going to be a bunch of staff ramp-ups leading into WrestleMania as well. Not only does the stadium have to transform into the spectacle that Vince McMahon creates every year, but there is usually a week-long series of events all around the host city (or, in New Jersey’s case, the host region). Sometimes, the events leading up to the actual show can bring in as many or more visitors than the show itself.

And that’s another item to consider. Currently, MetLife Stadium can hold about 82,500 fans. However, WWE has a history of extending attendance capacities in football stadiums by the thousands since they utilize the field for seating space, too. Chances are that WWE is going to try to figure out how to pack as many people into MetLife Stadium as possible. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were 95,000+ people in that stadium for WrestleMania when all was said and done.

Anyway, the point of this entry was simply to acknowledge that there are two major events coming to New Jersey in the next few years and we all should be pretty excited about the opportunities that come along with hosting these events. There is an economic impact with dollars spent at local business, there is a professional impact with jobs being created for the unemployed or underemployed, and there is a social impact that will allow us to show the rest of the country and the world all of the great things about New Jersey.

Alright, so WWE alumnus Irwin R. Schyster isn't actually getting my money, but you get the point!

According to the tax software, I owe the great State of New Jersey $525 while I owe the IRS some $3,686. In total, I owe $4,211 in additional taxes for last year. Sure, I have a few more reviews to make on the various tax forms (my taxes are really complicated – see the next paragraph), but I don’t think that these numbers are changing too much.

The reason why my taxes are increasingly complicated is because of all of the stuff that I “do.” In fact, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while then you know that I bitch every once in a while about being too busy. Well, that hectic schedule carries over a similar craziness when it comes time to do my taxes. You see, I get some W-2 forms (my day job and teaching at the local college), a bunch of 1099-MISC forms (teaching at the online college, a few for certain types of income earned from Usable Web Solutions, etc), a 1098-T form for the classes that I was able to take for free last year at the local college, two different student loan interest deduction forms (one from the USDOE and one from NJHESAA), a Schedule C for my website company, a Schedule C for the other small business that I started for the online teaching and grant writing, a 1099-B for proceeds from stock sales, etc, etc. It gets ridiculous after a while.

If I didn’t have such a good handle on all of this stuff (I think), then I’d seriously consider getting myself an accountant to do this work for me. But I think I have a good grasp on what’s going on with my funds, so I’m confident in this return. But to get back to the point…

I already pay my taxes. Just like the rest of the working world, my company deducts my tax obligation through my paycheck and – just like the rest of the working world – I get sick at how much money gets taken out of my paycheck for taxes each pay period. However, I’m fine with paying an additional $4,211 in taxes for last year. Why? It’s simple, really.

I made a good amount of money last year.

Look, folks – I’m not writing this entry to brag or toot my own horn or anything because I’m not bringing in the big bucks by any means. However, think about what you’ve read on this blog for the last year or two: I work at a day job, I’m an Adjunct Professor at the local college, I’m an online instructor at a very well-known online college, I’ve owned a successful and profitable small business for 5 years, and I contract for some low-level consulting and grant writing jobs for local nonprofit organizations. I work like a madman! And, obviously, one of the end results of that type of work schedule should be an increase in a guy’s annual income and, thankfully, that’s how it worked out for me last year.

I WANT To Pay These Taxes
But the reason why I wanted to share the fact that I’m paying a lot of taxes for last year’s income is because I want to pay these taxes. That’s right – I want this additional tax liability which is over and above the taxes that I already paid last year. Why do I want this increased liability? Because when you pay more in taxes, it means that you’re making more money and everyone should want to increase their annual income. Of course, most folks won’t have a convoluted tax return like I have where certain revenue streams deduct federal income taxes and others don’t, but just remember the lesson here: the more money you make, the more money you’re going to owe.

It’s okay to owe a few tax dollars at the end of the year – it means that your income is going in the right direction. Good luck on your tax returns this year, everyone!

The name of Foley’s latest book is Countdown to Lockdown. Lockdown’s focus is a short, six-week period of time leading up to Foley’s match against Sting in the main event of TNA Wrestling’s Lockdown event which was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Younger wrestling fans will love reading about Foley’s state of mind as he recounts his actions in the ring promoting this match and during the match. Older wrestling fans will enjoy reading Foley’s commentary on the wrestling world, including his frequent references to and shots at Vince McMahon. However, I think all consumers of good literature will like reading about how Foley’s life is intimately informed by the world around him and how he interacts (and gives back) to that world.

My favorite story from the book isn’t actually wrestling-related. In fact, my favorite story recounts how Foley donated money to a small area of Africa to help build a school for the children there. Yet, Foley didn’t stop by just donating money to build the school – he actually went over to Africa for a site visit. This is my favorite story in the book because Foley recounts how he was treated like a king including having choirs of young children singing his name and being greeted and thanked by all of the local townspeople.

There’s something about envisioning the “Hardcore Legend” being exalted in sub-Saharan Africa that the wrestling fan in me really enjoys. The philanthropist in me, though, loves the fact that Foley gives away so much of his income to worthwhile, charitable causes.

I also enjoyed the frequent references to Tori Amos and her song “Winter,” which you can listen to by hitting play on the video below. Foley talks about how this song is his go-to song to amp him up for the biggest matches in his wrestling career. And yet, he says that he’s only listened to this song a small handful of times before his matches. In other words, he only uses this song to get prepared for a match when it is an especially important match to him, personally. Pretty amazing.

From a wrestling fan’s perspective, the constant jabs at McMahon are really fun to read. And when I write that the jabs are fun to read, I’m not suggesting that I enjoy reading about someone taking shots at McMahon. Not at all, actually. Instead, I’m more suggesting that so few wrestling books take the time to comment on how McMahon interacts with his talent backstage that Countdown to Lockdown provides a refreshing alternative to the pack. Of particular entertainment is the discussion around Foley’s time as an announcer on WWE Smackdown!

As a reader and wrestling fan, I felt bad for Foley when he recounted his story about McMahon almost ruining a planned family vacation by yelling and screaming at Foley through his headset during a live show. In fact, Foley talks about how McMahon used the type of language that he wouldn’t even dare to repeat in his book, which is pretty amazing considering that all manner of craziness is usually included in wrestling books. After reading that story and reading about some McMahon’s other pet peeves when it comes to announcing (for example, he doesn’t like the use of “he” or “it” or “she” – instead he wants proper names always used), I watched a few minutes of WWE RAW this past Monday night and I couldn’t help but laugh to myself a little bit. Not only was Foley right on the money about McMahon’s pet peeves, but it was really funny listening to Michael Cole have to say things like, “Jack Swagger comes off the ropes into Daniel Bryan and Daniel Bryan, King, seems like he’s ready to launch a comeback against Jack Swagger. I wonder if Jack Swagger will be able to hold off the brunt of the offense being unleashed now by Daniel Bryan!? And Daniel Bryan with a few big right hands against the head of Jack Swagger; Jack Swagger reeling from this assault from Daniel Bryan and Daniel Bryan is on top!”

It’s ridiculous to listen to the announcers on WWE programing when you’re listening after reading this chapter in Foley’s book.

There are a lot of gems in Countdown to Lockdown and I think that readers of all types and ages will enjoy reading this book. It’s one of those rare pieces that starts in one literary world (wrestling books) and crosses over into a variety of other worlds including inspirational piece, autobiography, historical commentary, and work of art. If you’re looking for a good, solid read, then I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this book.

If you don’t know, that suite of websites consists of the blog that you are currently reading and a variety of professional wrestling websites. When I was younger, I was a big professional wrestling fan. However, as I was in college and then graduate school, I began to grow apart from watching the sport. Plus, I was a big fan of the old World Championship Wrestling (WCW) promotion and once it was bought up by Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) group, I gradually stopped watching the shows. Once the wrestler that I hated watching the most married his way into the McMahon family and, essentially, wrote the scripts so that he always won at the end of each feud, I was turned off to professional wrestling completely.

And then this upstart promotion out of Nashville and Orlando started putting out a product. I watched here and there, but my watching habits were nothing worthy of merit. Then about two years ago I started watching that TNA Wrestling promotion more and more and more and you know what? It began to grow on me. It reminded me of the old WCW and the old Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and it was fun to watch. More than that, though, it made me want to get back into the business of professional wrestling websites. When I initially started making websites back in 1996, I was making primarily professional wrestling websites (The Balrog’s Lair, The Brood, and Wrestle Universe were the three wrestling-themed websites that I worked with back on the old GeoCities platform).

But this entry isn’t supposed to be a history lesson, so I’ll get on with it!

These days I own three professional wrestling websites – TBLWrestling.com, XHeadlines.com, and TNAStars.com. Of the three, I actively manage and operate the TNAStars.com website. TBLWrestling.com has been around the longest as it has existed in one incarnation or another since 1996. XHeadlines.com was the next site that I created and I think that, for a long time, it was my best work in terms of laying out the design of a professional wrestling website. However, I began working on TNAStars.com on and off during the summer of 2008. Once it was announced that Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff were moving to TNA Wrestling during the fall of 2009, I kicked the development of that site into high gear and we went live completely live on January 1, 2010.

On the first day that TNAStars.com was live back in January, it received 2 hits. And believe it or not, that is where this success story begins.

Viewership on the site gradually increased as the news articles were picked up by the various search engines. By the middle to end of January 2010, TNAStars.com was routinely pulling in around 500 hits per day and I was really pleased that the site had a decent presence with less than a month of existence underneath its belt. However, my goal for all of the new websites that I start is for them to be at 1,000 hits per day on a consistent basis – then grow from there. Sometime in March 2010, TNAStars.com began generating 1,000 hits per day, but then the summer months came on and – as has been my experience with professional wrestling websites – the hits began to go down until August, when they started to pick up again.

But I’m always looking for a consistent 1,000+ hits each day and I knew that TNAStars.com was so close. I’m not sure what it took to make the jump, but sometime around the end of September the website began consistently generating 1,000+ hits per day. Then on October 1, 2010, TNAStars.com generated 1,989 hits in a single day – the most in the site’s history. I was very pleased!

Until October 7, 2010 (last Thursday), when the site drew in 3,189 hits in a single day. I was floored at the great response, but knew that hard work always pays off in the end. Last Thursday I began to wonder – how high could this thing go? Then on Friday, the site drew in 3,147 hits – only a small decrease from the day before. But it didn’t stop there…

On Sunday, October 10, 2010, TNAStars.com drew in some 5,017 hits in a single day. Phenomenal! I was convinced that this number was going to be the high mark in the series of banner days for TNAStars.com. Then yesterday came around and wouldn’t you know it, but the website drew in some 8,500 hits in a single day!

Let me put this in perspective and explain why this is significant and worthy of celebration. The most hits that any of my websites ever received in a single day was on June 26, 2007 when TheBalrogsLair.com (which eventually became TBLWrestling.com) received 25,305 hits due to its thorough coverage of the Chris Benoit double murder suicide. Not really something to go screaming around about, but it’s true. The next highest day of hits in the history of my suite of websites? That would be the day before – June 25, 2007 – when the Chris Benoit coverage began. Blech. The story is the same with the third highest day in my suite of websites’ history – June 27, 2007 – Chris Benoit coverage.

You have to go to the fourth highest day in the history of my suite of professional wrestling websites to find a banner day in terms of visitors that were not drawn to the site because of a tragedy! And that day was Monday, March 15, 2004 when TheBalrogsLair.com took in some 7,299 hits in a single day due to its excellent coverage of WrestleMania XX. That was a good day for my professional wrestling websites.

Incidentally, the fifth and sixth highest traffic days in the history of my suite of sites are both Chris Benoit double murder suicide. Annoying.

But all of that changed over this weekend when TNAStars.com’s Bound for Glory 2010 coverage took the number one traffic spot away from the original TBL’s post-WrestleMania XX coverage. And it changed again when the post-Bound for Glory coverage pushed TNAStars.com ahead of one of the Chris Benoit coverage days back on the original TBL.

I hope that the momentum stays with TNAStars.com as it’s a great little website that isn’t bogged down with crap and annoyances. If you’re into professional wrestling, I highly recommend heading over there and seeing what we’ve done. Here’s hoping that the days of growing hits continues for the entire suite of professional wrestling websites that I own!

Because I was disenfranchised by WWE, I began watching Total Nonstop Action (TNA) which is based out of Orlando and Nashville. It’s pretty entertaining, though the writing seems to be questionable at times. This is the same TNA that Hulk Hogan recently announced he would be working for as a management consultant (in fact, he makes his debut tonight).

Anyway, I began watching TNA a few years ago and at some point during the summer of 2008 I began working on a TNA-only wrestling website. Many of you know that I began my foray into the wrestling website world with a personal website called The Balrog’s Lair, which eventually morphed into TBLWrestling.com. That website is more like a wrestling supersite with information dating back over a decade. I intended for TNAStars.com to be a different type of site – one that has news, rumors, results, and opinions, but also one that has profiles of wrestlers from the promotion. I didn’t quite accomplish my goal to have a bunch of profiles of the wrestlers on TNAStars.com, but I did manage to put together what I think is a pretty bad ass design for a small wrestling website.

Anyway, this pet project of mine is now live so if you have any interest in learning some more about TNA Wrestling, then head over to TNAStars.com and enjoy!

As a wrestling fan, I’m excited for this news. I stopped watching World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programming around two or three years ago. Honestly, it got to a point where Triple H was winning every single feud that he was in and where he and his wife were trying to write him into some mythical figure week in and week out. I couldn’t take watching the utter bastardization of the sports entertainment industry, so I stopped watching. Hey, there are a lot of ways for people to express their support or dissatisfaction with a company or product. With sports entertainment, I decided to vote with my dollars and my leisure hours by taking them away from WWE and giving them to TNA.

That said, it hasn’t been an easy ride as a fan of TNA wrestling. There is a strong argument to be made that these guys have spent the last few years blowing their opportunity to be the clear alternative to WWE programming. For most of the last few years, there was no way that TNA could compete with WWE on a global level. Today, even with signing Hulk Hogan, I think that fact remains. However, bringing in Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff (more on him in a minute) gives TNA a real chance to compete with WWE domestically and, specifically, on the all-important cable television medium. As a fan of TNA, I hope that they don’t blow this gigantic opportunity.

Now to Eric Bischoff. When news broke last week that Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff had signed contracts to partner with TNA, most of the people that I talked to were saying that Hogan is too out of shape and getting up there in age to make an impression on TNA. Well, that’s true. But if you ask me, the real value of this transaction is Eric Bischoff. Forget about the fact that he has connections in the entertainment industry through Bischoff Hervey Productions. And you can even forget about the vast connections that Bischoff brings as the former President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW). What Bischoff brings to the table is a unique view on the wrestling business that is not only proven to be successful, but it is proven to be profitable.

The real value of this deal is Eric Bischoff’s brain with Hulk Hogan’s instant mainstream credibility. The only misstep that I’ve seen so far in this whole thing is the fact that while Hogan was on almost every major media outlet promoting his new book last week, he wasn’t wearing any TNA merchandise. I know that this announcement was a bit last minute and that TNA doesn’t even have a marketing plan built around Hulk Hogan yet, but it would have been nice for the company’s fortunes if Hogan was wearing some red and yellow themed TNA merchandise, you know?

However, that’s only a minor hiccup. Hogan was sure to talk about TNA in almost every interview and he talked about how he has a partnership with them and that he may or may not get back into the ring. In these interviews, he was very realistic about his body and how it has broken down over the years. That’s a good sign for Hogan who, as his new book details, has been battling some mental demons lately.

Anyway, the word is that Hulk Hogan will be featured on TNA Impact on Spike tonight, so if you get a chance be sure to watch the show!

Maybe it wasn’t 20 hours of action (you have to factor in commercials), but it was ten of their weekly, two-hour shows that I had to push through. I’m not complaining, since I thought it was a pretty entertaining 20 hours. However, I have to do a better job of watching Impact on a more consistent basis. Between a two hour Impact every week and an hour and a half of Cheers every night, my DVR gets clogged up to the point of insanity.

In any event, I thought that the Impact shows were fun to watching and entertaining. There was a lot of focus on the Main Event Mafia, which grew to be tiresome, and only a minimal focus on some of the undercard talent. That’s a shame because there are really some talented folks under contract to TNA. The two best developments that I saw on the ten episodes of the show were 1) the removal of Don West from the color commentator position and having his replaced by Taz and 2) the creation of a tag team championship for the Knockout division. Those are two major steps in the right direction for the company, but adding new tag team titles will probably mean that there will need to be more television time in order to showcase all of the talent.

If I were TNA, I’d try to get a one hour show on one of the Viacom channels (either VH1 or MTV or even staying on Spike). There’s no reason that the promotion couldn’t get a one hour slot on one of those channels and focus on advancing some of the undercard storylines.

Anyway, overall I’m glad I made the switch from being a primarily WWE fan to a primarily TNA fan. Not that TNA doesn’t have a variety of areas that it needs some help with (it’s time to break out of the Impact Zone and have a traveling show already!), but it’s just a better product in my mind.