Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Tony’s Big Surprise, The Undertaker & More
February 21, 2022
DougMaynard.com

The mailbag keeps piling up with lots of questions for the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. Let’s see if we can make a dent in it or not. Let’s do this.

I saw somewhere that WWE is considering doing HBK Shawn Michaels against AJ Styles as part of Wrestlemania. Would you like to see this match happen?

This match would be epic to see if it had happened five or ten years ago, but now? I don’t think so. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen then and now, it’s too little too late. HBK has often said, after the debacle in Saudi Arabia a couple of years ago where he and HHH fought the Brothers of Destruction, that he has no plans to wrestle again. And while HBK could probably go for a bit, this match would depend more upon AJ carrying Shawn than anything else. It’s not going to happen, and at this point, I don’t want to see it either.

Who do you think should induct The Undertaker into the Hall of Fame?

Vince McMahon is the logical choice, but Vince also refuses to be on the Hall of Fame shows. My guess would be either Kane or Bruce Prichard, aka Brother Love. But how is this for a name? The original manager for Mean Mark Callous, Teddy Long. Either Teddy or Taker’s original tag team partner in the Skyscrapers, Dan Spivey. It’d be great to see either man have the honors.

Thunderbolt Patterson versus George “The Animal” Steele. Who wins?

Patterson was not a good in-ring wrestler but could talk better than almost anyone of his era. You didn’t know what he was talking about most of the time, but it still drew attention and sounded good. George Steele was the monster of a man from the WWF, with the green tongue, eating turnbuckles, and generally wreaking havoc everywhere he went. Given the two characters, this would actually be a fun match. A total brawl with no actual wrestling moves involved. And Thunderbolt would win to send the fans home happy.

Tony Khan has been teasing that there is “something big on the horizon” for AEW. He does this every week. Who will it be now?

Every time Tony Khan promotes an edition of Dynamite or an AEW event, it’s got a big surprise or something big going on. I remember how we used to rag on Tony Schiavone back in WCW about how every edition of Nitro was the “greatest in the history of”, and whatever Schiavone had then, Khan has it now. He needs to quit making promises he can’t always keep. As for who this “something big” is, Goldberg is a free agent now so how about that? Shane McMahon might pop up, complete with the Mean Street Posse. Is that it? Hell, it’s probably the return of Marko Stunt, and for that, I would pop. Marko versus Swoggle. Book it, Tony. I guess we’ll have to wait and see on Wednesday. Oy vey!

Do you think that Big Swole will ever go back to AEW or work in WWE?

No, I think she’s burned that bridge with AEW and will not be welcomed back. As for WWE, you have to have a certain degree of either talent or marketability to work there, one or the other. She has neither in my opinion and after the way she left AEW, I don’t see WWE wanting or touching her either.

Is A for Aaron or Allen?

This one is for all the Sammy Guevera VLOG fans. And the answer? No offense Allen, but you broke my heart. I gotta go with A in the chats is for Aaron.

Given the success of The Rock as The Scorpion King, Batista as Drax the Destroyer, and John Cena as Peacemaker, what other WWE wrestler would you like to see portray a superhero character in a movie and who?

Don’t forget Miz as The Marine. He was, dare I say it, awesome in that role. As for who might be the next WWE Superstar turned superhero, how about Edge as the Mad Thinker, longtime foe to the Fantastic Four? Bianca Belair would, in my opinion, be a good match for the X-Man Storm. And hell, Brock Lesnar as The Juggernaut. Marvel could make a whole X-Men movie using just pro wrestlers, to be honest about it. That ounds like an idea for a future blog at my site. Hmmm.

Who did more damage to WCW? Jim Herd or Vince Russo?

Make no bones about it. Jim Herd was, when it comes to the art of professional wrestling, an idiot, period. He had some bad ideas, drove away talent (Cornette, Flair), and thought that wrestlers with Hunchbacks would be entertaining. He should be slapped repeatedly with a steel chair across the head for what he brought to the NWA/WCW. But even Herd can’t compare to the damage caused by Vince Russo. I will be honest here. Russo had some good ideas and he was a strong advocate for the younger talents, but his problem was that he didn’t know when to pull back or stop. He’d have one idea, then another, then another, and would just pile them up and try to do everything, resulting in chaos and a big cluster on TV, when all the fans wanted was good wrestling and nice, simple stories with their favorite talents. Russo, when he has someone there to censor him and answer to, can be a valuable asset for any wrestling company, but when left to his own self-control and self-management abilities, he just caused problem after problem and drove away so many fans with bad booking, bad stories, and just pure nonsense. Russo needs a Vince McMahon or a Jim Cornette there to balance him out and put the brakes on when necessary. He didn’t have that in WCW and drove the final nails in WCW’s coffin, pulling the plug from life-support, as a result.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Comments, thoughts, and any questions you may have are welcome and appreciated. Until the next time, take care of yourself and be good. I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!