Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Bron Breakker, FTR/Tully, Dolph Ziggler & More
March 12, 2022
DougMaynard.com

More fun than Jim Cornette at a Trump Rally, it’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. Let’s do this.

Who do you think CM Punk’s next feud will be against? And do you think it’s time for him to challenge for a belt?

Looking over the AEW roster, I think a few matches between CM Punk and Bryan Danielson might be in order. Or if Tony Khan is saving that for a Ring of Honor event, how about Keith Lee versus Punk? Lee has come to AEW with all this hype, but he’s already beginning to stall. Punk could make him a star. Punk having a short run with Aaron Solow would be fun as well and could go a long way towards really elevating Solow in the company.

Do you think there is an appetite for more fantasy-based wrestling? Wrestlers like the Undertaker and the Fiend have had massive followings. Would people buy into a promotion that went more heavily that way, or is fantasy wrestlers better as a bit of flavor in a regular promotion?

Fantasy-based characters will always have a place in professional wrestling. It’s the nature of the beast and one of the best things about wrestling is that it allows us to suspend our beliefs and have an escape from reality for a while. A promotion that’s based more on the absurd than basic pro wrestling? I remember some wrestling companies in Japan that specialized in goofiness, but I can’t see something like that working in the United States for any significant length of time. A little comedy mixed in with the rest of the show, that works. All comedy and crazy all the time, not so much.

Do you think that Bron Breakker dropping the NXT title means an imminent main roster call-up? Or is it just a way to give him either a Mania moment or to win it back at Stand and Deliver? How would you use Breakker on the main roster?

From what I understand, he’s being moved to the main roster on a full-time basis. When he dropped the NXT Championship to Dolph, without being the one beaten to lose the belt, I was thinking this was setting up a title match where he and Dolph could fight for the belt at Mania (and probably steal the show). Now, I’m not sure what WWE has planned, although short term, that would be the way I’d go. As for using Breakker on the main roster, how about as a challenger to Roman? Just to see Breakker’s daddy come out and make Heyman crap himself, that would be great TV.

Do you think Sasha Banks got paid for The Mandalorian, or did WWE deduct it as part of her downside guarantee?

Making movies requires being part of the Screen Actor’s Guild Union, and I’m sure that she got every part of her paycheck from the Mouse for her role in The Mandalorian. I’m also pretty sure that Disney cut WWE a check for allowing them to use Sasha, as a thank you, of course.

Is Wardlow ready for the championship run he is about to get? Is Sammy a good TNT Champion?

Is Wardlow ready to be a champion in AEW? I wouldn’t pull the trigger on that yet if I was in charge of his booking. I’d much rather see MJF make sure he doesn’t win the belt next week on Dynamite and give him a good feud and build the anticipation before putting a title around Wardlow’s waist. As for Sammy, I think he has done a great job as the TNT Champion, but as we know, he dropped the belt to Scorpio Sky this past week, so he’s not the champion anymore. He’ll be the Champion again at some point, but now it’s time to move on to some other feuds and stories.

I’m happy to see Dolph with a championship again. He’s had a good career, but I can’t help but feel that WWE wasted his potential. What are your thoughts?

WWE has definitely wasted Dolph far more often than they’ve used him properly. Dolph is one of those guys who can have a good match with anyone and make them look like a star, and unfortunately, being used in that role isn’t receptive to being a champion or getting a strong push. Dolph will never be the top guy for WWE or the face of the company, but I can assure you this. If Dolph was to leave WWE, he’d be far more missed than some of the “stars” and “top guys” in the company. They pay him well and I’m sure he’ll always have a job with WWE so long as he wants one, but it’d be nice to see him get more wins and gold around his waist more often. Just saying.

So FTR firing Tully is going to lead to Arn managing them, right?

Who knows for sure, but that makes the most sense to me. Tully is a legend for sure, but he’s not really doing anything for FTR and is just sort of there. Arn is looking for a managerial role since Cody left AEW, and having a roster of his son Brock, along with FTR, just makes sense. The only thing that would be better is to have Jim Cornette come in as the manager for FTR and we know that’s not going to happen, so FTR being aligned with Arn and Brock, that sounds great to me. It almost makes my fingers want to stand up, four of them anyhow.

If Dark Side of the Ring returns for season 4, what subjects would you like to see covered?

Dark Side Of The Ring has been on a roll for the past few years with some great episodes that have covered most of the major big scandals of the pro wrestling world, but there are still a few left. How about the story of The American Love Machine, Art Barr? The Wendi Richter Screwjob? The Rob Feinstein/Perverted Justice scandal. The kayfabe Apter Mags? The Dino Bravo murder? Brian Christopher’s “suicide” in jail? The Arn/Sid stabbing incident? Joey Ryan? As you may guess, there is no shortage of dark moments or scandals in the world of professional wrestling that this show can cover and do an episode on. Those were the ones that I thought of right off the top of my head. Can you imagine the ones I can’t remember?

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

Ubuntu!