Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Young Bucks, AEW, XFL, WWE Backstage & More
December 22, 2019
DougMaynard.com

Yes, another Ultimate Wrestling Q&A and it’s a doozy. The questions are from Dave and the answers are from me. And that’s the bottom line because I just said so. Special thanks to PWInsider.com. Let’s do this…

I saw The Young Bucks quit Twitter. Do you think its hypocritical of them to abandon the same social media forum that helped launch them?

Not so much hypocritical as just showing that they don’t take criticism well and have thin skins. They’re big time AEW stars and also “Executive Vice Presidents” with the company and should be able to stand the heat when something doesn’t go right and all the fans who sang their praises over the years suddenly get a little critical. They were part of a bad angle at the end of Dynamite and the fans have called them out on it and they decide to take a powder. Oh vey. As of this writing, Matt’s account is back up, but Nick’s is still down. But honestly, neither should have gone down to begin with and it looks bad on both men and by proxy, their company.

One of my problems with some AEW fans is that no matter what happens on the show, they think it’s great. If WWE did the same exact thing, they think it sucks. The end of Dynamite this week was terrible. The Young Bucks chose to leave social media rather than take the criticism from the fans, which was deserved. That is their choice, but they are also EVPs in the company. Doesn’t that make their decision look bad for the corporate entity AEW?

As I said in my previous answer, yes, it definitely does. It makes Nick and Matt look like thin-skinned dweebs and makes the company look weak as well. Take the critique, ride out the storm, make sure it doesn’t happen again and move on. Anything else is inexcusable.

Would it be fair to say that Tony Khan’s best ever Christmas gift was being able to give a Stunner to Shawn Spears?

I guess so. I’m sure it was fun for him, but makes the company look bad and clownish and destroys any credibility that Spears has. Khan may have had fun, but in the big picture of things, that probably wasn’t a good idea.

And did Spears really leave WWE for THAT?

To be fair, WWE wasn’t doing much with him and he saw an opportunity. I’m sure that promises were made and the money was good so why not give it a shot. If he was still in WWE, he’d be running around chasing R-Truth and the 24/7 title and this isn’t much worse.

Now that Jimmy Uso has been found not guilty of DUI is it going to be business as usual as far as the WWE is concerned with them and him or are they going to be kind of hesitant to give him anything resembling a push, big or small, at least for the near future?

I don’t know since both he and Jey have had incidents with alcohol and the law and I’m not sure where the higher ups in WWE stand with the Usos right now. I would hope that they get to come back to work, doing the thing they love and entertaining fans and there are no more problems, but who really knows at this point? If they do return, I am thinking that it’ll be under intense probation of sorts and a zero-tolerance towards the drinking and being stupid. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out.

Do you want the XFL to succeed?

Absolutely. I like football, but I have almost totally given up on the NFL since they started getting political and would love to have an alternative to watch and enjoy. Plus this would keep Vince busy and he wouldn’t have time to micromanage WWE, thus giving more freedom to HHH, Paul Heyman and the rest of the agents. That can only make things better and more enjoyable so it’d be a win win for all of us.

Do you think it WILL succeed?

Not really. The NFL controls the market and has most of the networks in their pockets and if the XFL starts getting too successful, the NFL will sweep in and shut them down, by whatever means necessary. Kind of like the WWE used to do with rival wrestling promotions such as the AWA, WCW, ECW, etc.

When will the WWE Women’s Evolution end?

When the McMahon’s decide to move on to something else and not a moment sooner.

What are TNT’s expectations for AEW?

Well, according to PWInsider, TNT is expecting at least 500,000 viewers each week for AEW and hope for the ratings to rise as time goes on. And while AEW is still above that mark, the numbers have been decreasing instead of rising and that will make it rough for AEW when the time to renew the TV deals comes up. Right now, I’m sure that TNT is happy and they’re making some money and all is well, but at this rate, AEW will be feeling the pain sooner rather than later and ratings may become an issue. The network is making money, but I don’t think AEW really is. We’ll have to wait and see how this develops.

Curious what your thoughts are in Ryan Satin’s role on WWE Backstage? Would you have taken the job if offered? To me, it seems he’s really risking his journalistic integrity for an on air role with WWE or am I being naive?

It’s 2019 and “journalistic integrity” doesn’t exist anymore. Look at Don Lemon on CNN or Rachel Maddow on MSNBC or any of the news networks and it’s not about news anymore. It’s about spin and opinion. I think Satin got offered a deal that can build his name and reputation in the Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) and went for it and I don’t blame him a bit. So long as he’s not being censored and told what to say, I have no problem with a wrestling journalist working for Fox on a WWE program. And would I take the job if offered. Damn straight I would. Hell, give me a talking head spot about wrestling or politics or just about anything really, and I’m there. I don’t play politically correct here at the site and say what I think, right or wrong, and so long as I’m allowed to keep doing that, show me the money and where to sit and I’m ready, willing and able.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Any thoughts, comments or questions, just drop me a line either here at the site or at my e-mail, Doug28352@yahoo.com and let’s chat. Until the next time, have a very Merry Christmas and take care of yourself. I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!