Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Bobby Lashley, The Rock, Cody & More
February 2, 2022
DougMaynard.com

Let’s talk about wrestling. It’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A and it all starts right now. Let’s do this.

Assuming of course Bobby Lashley remains the WWE Champion and Brock Lesnar chooses to challenge Roman Reigns; who do you think will challenge Bobby Lashley for the WWE title? In my opinion, it should be Drew McIntyre.

As we already know now, Brock will be challenging Roman at Wrestlemania and Lashley is defending the WWE Championship at the Elimination Chamber event in Saudi Arabia against five other wrestlers. So saying that Lashley does retain the WWE title, who should he face at Mania? Drew is a good choice, but we’ve seen it happen already several times and it’s kind of stale for a Mania main-event match. I’d go with Seth Rollins for this one.

Do you think WWE should run fewer Premium Live Events in the hope to increase quality? Same for changing Raw to 2 hours?

Yes to the number of Premium Live Events and also to changing RAW. Both moves would, as you say, probably help increase the quality of the shows. But will it happen? WWE has deals in place with NBC-Universal and Peacock to provide as much product as possible and cutting the number of events or length of RAW would cut into the bottom line and the money that WWE gets in exchange for these shows. WWE will always pick profits over quality and whatever NBC wants, that’s what they’re going to do.

Who’s your favorite wrestler (male or female) on NXT at the minute and who do feel will be the next breakout star to transition to the main roster from NXT 2.0?

I rarely get the chance to watch NXT these days, but the favorites that I try to make it a point to watch are Raquel Gonzalez, manager Robert Stone, and GUNTHER, aka WALTER. And I think that Gunther will be the next one to come to the main roster and kick ass.

Do you think the Rock will ever come back? Was it me or did Roman try setting up the rock bottom on Seth for a second? A teaser?

I think Rock would probably come back if he could, but between his work schedule with movies, the potential liabilities of a return to the ring, and advancing age, I think the odds of Roman coming back for one more match grow less and less each and every day. Roman may have attempted using a Rock Bottom in homage to his cousin, but it was probably nothing more than that.

What in your opinion are the most underappreciated wrestling gimmick of all time? And why is the correct answer, Paul Burchill?

While Paul Burchill is a good wrestler and his pirate character was kind of cool, the most underappreciated gimmick I can think of was the man who told us repeatedly that it was our duty to shake our booty, the Disco Inferno. It was such a lame gimmick, but Disco made it work and did it well. He never failed to deliver in the ring or on the mic and while he has his detractors, Glen Gilbertti was a great mid-card wrestler and is truly an iconic figure in the business we all know and love. And when he was partnered up with Alex Wright and Tokyo Magnum as the Dancing Fools, it was pure sports entertainment at its very best…period.

Who would you have wanted to win both Rumbles if it was your choice?

Given who participated in each Rumble match, my picks would have been Cesaro for the Men’s Rumble and Ronda was the right choice for the Women’s match.

How on earth can the big dub take something as traditionally fun as the Royal Rumble, and give us… Well… That?

I think they were probably all smoking crack and drinking creek liquor in that back room while booking this match. Okay, maybe not that, but Vince is just increasingly out of touch, and since Pat Patterson isn’t around anymore (RIP) to take care of the Rumble match and since HHH wasn’t involved either, we ended up with that mess that we ended up with. Hopefully, this is a one-off disaster and things improve for the next few shows. I hope so anyhow, but I doubt it.

What do you think is the end-goal of the Cody Rhodes character arc in AEW?

I’m not sure and that’s what makes this so good. What I’d like to see is Cody end up hooking up FTR and Tully, while also sticking with Arn and Brock Anderson and thus a new faction, kind of a Horsemen 2.0, formed, but that’s just me. I think we’ll eventually see a full heel turn by Cody and maybe one more run as the AEW Champion. Winning the titles should always be the endgame of anyone who steps into that ring and thus, given Cody’s heritage, knowledge, and experience, I’m assuming that’s the endgame for him as well.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Any comments, thoughts, or questions you may have, then drop me a line, and let’s chat. Until the next time, take care of yourself, and don’t forget to support your local Independent Wrestling promotions and wrestlers. I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!