Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
XFL, Curt Hawkins, Lacey Evans & More
January 27, 2019
DougMaynard.com

It seems that my good friend, Matt, is determined to blow my e-mail up with wrestling questions. That’s cool though. You keep sending them and I’ll keep answering. It’s Sunday and later tonight, on the WWE Network, will be the 2019 Royal Rumble. And now, as a warm up of sorts, it’s time to do some wrestling Q&A. Let’s get busy and do this.

If you were going to make a movie about the Greek Patheon, using WWE Superstars as the cast, who would play each role?

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon, commonly considered to be Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus. Hades, the brother of Zeus and Lord of the Underworld was not considered to be a member of this gathering, but I’ll cast him too. So off the top of my head, it’d go like this. Zeus, as the King and top dog would obviously be Vince McMahon and Hera would be played by Linda McMahon. Poseidon would be played by HHH, who bears a strong resemblance to Aquaman. Actually, he looks more like Thor, but Thor is a Norse god so we’ll go with the fish guy instead for HHH. Demeter was the goddess of the home and I think, sticking with current WWE talent, I’d put Natayla in this spot. For Athena, I’d go with Stephanie. Apollo would be played by Dolph Ziggler. Artemis would be portrayed by Becky Lynch. Ares, the War god, would be Dean Ambrose. Aphrodite would go to Miss Alexa Bliss while the part of Hephaestus, the Fire god, would be Kane. Hermes would be Tyler Breeze, Hestia would be Alicia Fox and Dionysus would go to No Way Jose. As for Hades, who else but The Undertaker. And there you go.

What finishing holds from the past would you like to see return?

I’d love to see someone bring back “the claw” as made famous by The Von Erichs, Blackjack Mulligan, Baron Von Raschke, etc. With the right talent applying it, it could work again. Also, the “Indian Deathlock”, as used by Paul Jones, could be an effective finisher. And finally, how about Scotty 2 Hotty’s “worm”. It was a lame ass move, but I liked seeing it anyway.

Should WWE try and move the NXT programming to Network television?

While that would be nice, it would probably ruin most of what makes NXT so special and unique. If it had to conform to network TV standards, it would be more just another WWE show and lose a lot of it’s charm and magic. I’d like to see it maybe have a monthly spot like the old Saturday Night’s Main Event used to do where maybe it can go live once a month on USA and expose the NXT brand to new audiences and get some extra publicity, but so far as a regular thing, for now it’s probably better remaining as a WWE Network exclusive.

Will the XFL be successful this time around?

I think it probably will. The landscape has changed a great deal since Vince’s original attempt to market and promote the XFL and I think Vince has changed too. He’s learned from the mistakes of the past and I don’t think he’ll repeat them this time around. While I don’t think that the NFL has anything to worry about so far as competition goes, I think there is a place for the XFL and this time around, Vince understands where he has to go and what he has to do. This time around, he’ll do it right.

Are you glad to see Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins reunited as a tag team?

Absolutely. Ryder and Hawkins are life long friends who got into the business together and are former tag team champions as well. While YouTube viewers know that they work together in real life with their YouTube show and their toy collections, it’s good to see that friendship move into the realm of TV as well. This gives Ryder and Hawkins a chance to get some TV time, get a bit of a push, have some great matches against The Revival and jump start their careers from the permanent holding pattern that it seems to have been in. I’m happy to see WWE finally realizing that Ryder & Hawkins are MAJOR talents and proceeding accordingly.

Who was the better referee Heath Slater or Curt Hawkins?

Slater was Baron Corbin’s reluctant referee and it was obvious that he was not into the job, much rather being a wrestler and disliking his “boss”. Hawkins played it like he didn’t have a dog in the fight and actually called it straight down the middle. I love me some Heath Slater, but Hawkins did the better job as the man wearing the striped shirt.

Velveteen Dream versus John Cena – should it happen?

Dream has been dropping hints and if Cena versus Lars Anderson, which has been speculated upon, doesn’t happen, then Cena versus Dream would be a great way to replace it. A strong showing against Cena, win or lose, would do wonders for Dream’s status and elevate his career big time. And just imagine what a win, especially if it was to happen at a place like Wrestlemania, would do? Make it happen Vince.

Who would you like to see on a “Table For Three” episode?

How about Jim Cornette, Vince Russo and Kevin Dunn? Probably would be too explicit in language to air and that would just be Cornette talking. I’d love to see Eric Bischoff, Paul Heyman and Bruce Pritchard together. Matt Hardy, Edge and Lita would be great. Ivory, Brie Bella and Alexa Bliss would be good. With a show like this, the possibilities are endless.

Is Baron Corbin a future World Champion?

While I could see it happening a few years down the road, I don’t see Corbin as the WWE or Universal Champion within say, the next five years or so. He’s good on the mic and good in the ring as well and a definite “heat magnet”, but I don’t see that “it” in him right now that I feel the top guy in the company should have. I think he’s evolving and getting better every week, but he’s not ready to be the top guy… yet.

Is Fandango, in your opinion, a future top guy for WWE?

Johnny Curtis is an amazing talent and while the character of Fandango has been no doubt fun to portray and the fans like him, he could and should be higher up on the WWE roster. I could see him having a breakdown or should we call it an “awakening” and dropping the dancing and becoming a serious, bad-ass performer and wrestler. And if that was to happen, the sky would be the limit. So could he be a top guy? Absolutely, but a total character and gimmick change would be required first.

Thoughts on Lacey Evans on RAW?

I’ve only seen a couple of her matches on YouTube so I can’t say much as to her wrestling ability, but Evans seems to me to be a throwback to the earlier days of wrestling where she is as much a character as she is a wrestler. A Southern Belle though? I listen to her speak and I don’t think WWE superstar. It reminds me more of something we’d see on GLOW or in 1985 instead. It makes her stand out and that’s all well and good, but in this era of women being athletes and wrestlers first, I think the gimmick will end up hurting her more than helping in the overall scheme of things. It’s like what I was talking about with Fandango / Johnny Curtis in the previous question. She might be a fantastic wrestler, but all people are going to see and think is the character and not the matches. This “lady” gimmick might be a good way to get her noticed at first and stand out, but she’ll have to drop it at some point if she wants to be taken seriously.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Questions, comments and thoughts are welcome and appreciated. Don’t forget to watch the WWE Royal Rumble tonight on the WWE Network. Have a great one and I’ll catch you later. Take care.

Ubuntu!