John Wooley wasn’t planning on doing the CrossFit Open this year.
Not because he was actively boycotting it but because Wooley is training for a HYROX competition this spring and was focusing on that instead.
- But the host of the podcast Constantly Varied Conversations started receiving messages from viewers who he says were “rightfully giving me shit” about his decision to skip the Open as an affiliate owner.
Wooley told the Morning Chalk Up that a few others were falsely accusing him of boycotting the Open and “trying to take a stand against Dave [Castro].”
After that, a self-described “Sevanista” (a fan of Sevan Matossian’s The Sevan Podcast) reached out to Wooley with an intriguing comment.
- “Hey, look, you should just do it,” the fan wrote, according to Wooley. “It’s 20 bucks. At a minimum, you’re setting an example for a brand that saves lives.”
Wooley understood that perspective, saying, “Decent people admit when they’re wrong.”
In fact, Wooley said his 80-year-old father is battling bladder cancer right now and wouldn’t have discovered it if he wasn’t doing CrossFit.
So Wooley decided not only to do the Open in 2025 but also challenge Matossian, whose YouTube channel currently has 32.6k subscribers and is one of the most watched in the CrossFit media ecosystem.
- “Let’s compare scores,” Wooley posted on Instagram. “If he beats me and ranks higher at the end of three weeks, I’ll donate $500 to the affiliate or charity of his choice. If I win, you donate $500 to CrossFit First, which is the adaptive athlete class at Chagrin Falls CrossFit [Wooley’s affiliate in Ohio].”
Matossian’s response: Matossian described the recent back-and-forth between himself and Wooley on his podcast last week and eventually accepted the challenge.
- “I hate online competition….Yeah, I’m going to do this,” Matossian said. “This motherf&$#er checkmated me.”
We reached out to Matossian for comment via Instagram but did not receive one at the time of publication.
Tale of the Tape – So Who’s Gonna Win?
It’s tough to know who has the edge.
Matossian, 53, hasn’t posted his Open scores since 2020. That year, he was 12,461st in the world.
Wooley, 54, has been competing in the Open since 2012. Last year, he was 57,181st in the world and 868th in the Men’s 50-54 year-old division.
- “[Matossian] worked for CrossFit HQ. He has been trained by Glassman, Castro, and God knows how many seminar staff…He never posts his scores. He has all the resources. I’m just some asshole from Ohio,” Wooley said, laughing.
That being said, our money is on Wooley, especially if rowing and wall balls show up this year, as Matossian would be at a distinct disadvantage there. If ring muscle-ups are on the menu, one of Matossian’s favorite movements, the scale might tip in the other direction.
The Big Picture
The two men haven’t spoken to each other personally about the challenge, and Wooley doesn’t intend to reach out. When asked how he would describe their relationship, Wooley said: “The nicest word would be contentious.”
- “We just have very different opinions on what community means….and most everything else on the planet,” Wooley said.
But for three weeks during the 2025 CrossFit Open, it’s not about their differences. It’s about putting their differences aside and competing for a good cause.
- “I’m really excited to have the opportunity to showcase CrossFit First…We’ve got 15 to 25 adaptive athletes in [it], and it has absolutely and utterly changed their lives,” Wooley said.
He added: “If you have ever had a chance to watch a group of young people with developmental and other challenges workout together, they’re just having the time of their life, and their families thought they’d maybe never do anything athletic…It’s really amazing what it has done for them and their families.”
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Featured image: @beyond.the.script / Instagram
