Tossing Salt Presents:
Wrestling Fact or Fiction
April 23, 2017

Happy Sunday morning and welcome to another ground-breaking edition of everyone’s favorite wrestling hoop-de-doo, Wrestling Fact or Fiction. As per the usual, the questions and statements come from my friends over at 411mania.com/wrestling. The answers come from me, myself and oh yeah, I. Let’s get busy and get ‘er done.

1. You are all in on Braun Strowman as a main event WWE talent.

FACT: The WWE has finally gotten one right, starting off with the squash matches against jobber talent and then letting this big monster of a man be a big monster of a man. Braun has gotten so much better over the past six months, it’s scary. So long as WWE protects the character and plays it correctly, I think Braun will definitely fit in as a top guy and main event level performer. I’m not saying that he can’t lose, but book him smartly and make the losses few and far between and in a manner that makes sense and I think Braun can be a major name for many years to come.

2. If rumors are true, Mike & Maria Bennett are great pickups for WWE.

FACT: As I said in a column a few days ago, Maria was always one of my favorite female performers from the Diva Search era in that she worked hard, played her character well and kept trying to get stronger and better at her craft. Mike Bennett is a solid and strong worker who can have a good match against almost anyone and together, Mike and Maria make a formidable combination. There’s a void right now on Smackdown, where we used to have Miz and Maryse, and Mike and Maria can be used to help fill that void. They’re strong talents and would be welcome in any locker room or wrestling company in the world. The only negative is that with the recent additions of so many new talents in the WWE main roster as of late, I’m scared that there are too many top names and Maria and Mike could end up lost in the shuffle, but talent usually rises to the top and I hope that they’ll find a way to be okay and stand out. Actually, I’m pretty sure that they will.

3. You are excited that Impact Wrestling & AAA are going to work together for Slammiversary & TripleMania 25.

FICTION: If I actually watched Impact Wrestling or AAA, I probably would answer differently, but I’m not able to watch either and only follow Impact due to a few of the performers there, via the internet. I’m sure that having the resources of both companies to pull from will help make each show that much better and stronger and I wish boht companies great success in their efforts. After all, the more success they have, the more opportunities are available for wrestlers and people in the business. But I don’t watch either promotion at this time so to say that I personally am excited would be a huge understatement.

4. WWE should start running quarterly specials (like they do for NXT) for the 205 Live Brand on the WWE Network.

FACT: The 205 Live show is great and has some really good matches, but just how much talent can WWE really showcase with just an hour a week? They have the Network and the resources to make the Cruiserweight Division just that much more interesting and important and should be doing everything they can to give the men of this division as much exposure as possible. Quarterly specials would be just one way and probably the best way to do so.

5. You have no interest in Jinder Mahal challenging for the WWE Championship.

FICTION: Any time a new face or someone different gets a push and opportunity to break that glass ceiling, I am very interested. While admittingly Jinder is not one of my personal favorites and I’d much rather see Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel or Heath Slater (he’s got kids) getting this opportunity, Jinder is pretty cool too. And it also brings the Bollywood Boys up to the main roster as Jinder’s henchmen, which is pretty decent as well. Let’s just see where this goes. I don’t think we’ll be seeing Jinder as the new WWE Champion anytime soon, but this is his make or break moment and I’m glad to see him getting a chance.

6. Impact Wrestling and AAA teaming together for touring and running live events is a great idea, especially since it’s something both groups have wanted to do, but have struggled with.

FACT: Much like I said earlier, this gives the management two rosters to pull from and the resources of two companies to use and take advantage of and that can’t help but be a good thing. With the talents from both companies available, there can be a wider variety of matches and stronger cards, which in turn, should draw more fans and put more butts in the seats. And it also expands the areas available for touring, giving Impact a reason to head south of the border and giving AAA more opportunities to expose their products ouside of Mexico and the south-west and into areas like Florida, the Carolinas, etc. Maybe it’ll work and maybe it won’t, but what do they have to lose at this point anyhow?

7. Pineapple is a bullshit pizza topping and should be banned from the world of Pizza.

FICTION: My nephew, who is five, likes pineapple on his pizza. He calls the pineapple “Minions” because they look like little minions all over the top of the pizza. I like it too. So the pineapple stays and if anyone has a problem with that, two words for you. ‘Nuff said!

And I guess that’s all for now. I’ll be back probably later on today with another edition of Wrestling Fact or Fiction. There’s so much going on, one column just can’t handle it all. I’m going to bed now. Have a great one and thank you for reading. I’ll catch you later, alligator. Have a nice day!

Ubuntu!