Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Conrad Thompson, The Horsemen, Finishers & More
April 17, 2022
DougMaynard.com

Happy Easter my friends. More raw brutality than the Jay & Silent Bob beatdown on the Easter Bunny in the movie Mallrats, it’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. This one is for Brodie! Let’s do this.

Eric Bischoff and Road Dogg both seemed to be offended by the “Crown of Thorns” spot by Adam Page on Adam Cole during their match on Rampage. What do you think of that spot? Were you offended?

I didn’t even know about this until I saw a mention of it by Eric Bischoff on Twitter and then my natural inclination to be nosy took over and I went and watched the match. No, I wasn’t offended because it was a tiny thing thrown into the chaotic finish, but I do still wonder why AEW and more specifically Adam Page and Adam Cole did this spot. For the uninformed, Page wrapped a “crown of barbed wire” around Cole’s head before dumping him on the floor through a table. And as Road Dogg pointed out, this happening on Good Friday, right before Easter, he took it as a slam towards Christianity, and you have to admit, the imagery is there. I don’t know if it was an intentional shot at anyone or not, but it can be perceived that way. For a company like AEW, that’s not a good thing. All I can really say about this is that I hope it wasn’t an intentional slight towards Christianity and was just an idea or spot done without much thinking other than that it looked cool. AEW just needs to be more careful.

Better faction: Main Event Mafia (Kurt Angle, Booker T, Sting, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner) or Evolution (Triple H, Batista, Randy Orton, Ric Flair)?

Just in terms of star power and name recognition, I’d have to go with The Main Event Mafia here. They had five main eventers and former World Champions in their ranks while Evolution had two top guys and two newbies that were just starting to make their names known. But when it comes to terms of influence, notoriety, and the push they received, not to mention the legacy of the group, Evolution gets the nod. Why? Because they were in the WWE, had the power of the WWE marketing machine behind them, and people watched them. The Main Event Mafia had all the tools, but who watched them regularly in TNA? Evolution had the longer run, made more of an impact, and left a better legacy. The Mafia was the flavor of the day for TNA and what’s the point of being great if no one is watching or sees you? Exactly! Evolution wins.

Do you get bored when wrestlers go for submission moves early on? I mean when it’s obvious the match has another 10 minutes to go.

Yes, we know that the match is going to be going on longer, but we’re supposed to suspend our belief for that part of it. The perception should be that wrestlers aren’t paid by the hour and the sooner they can end the match, the better. With that in mind, trying for pins and submissions every time one gets a chance makes sense. It’s part of the game and part of why we enjoy wrestling.

Should the Brooklyn Brawler AKA Steve Lombardi be in the WWE HOF?

My opinion? Absolutely! We’re still talking about him nearly twenty years after his peak time and he’s one of the most recognizable faces and names in WWE history. A spot in the Hall of Fame seems to be a no-brainer to me.

The Twin Towers (Big Bossman, Akeem) w/ Slick versus The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious & Dan Spivey) w/ Teddy Long. Who wins?

Four big men and two very underrated managers. I think I’d go with Bossman and Akeem to get the win in this one.

Lord Alfred Hayes (in his prime) versus Corey Graves. Who wins?

This one isn’t even close. Most people only remember Lord Hayes as the goofy announcer with the WWF, but before all of that Hayes was a fantastic wrestler and manager all over the world, with some great runs in the AWA, Flordia, the Mid-Atlantic territory, etc. He was actually a far better wrestler than many of the men that he managed. And Corey was good in his NXT days and I have no doubt that he could have one helluva match with his Lordship. But that being said, Lord Hayes would most definitely win.

Conrad Thompson (The Podfather) already has podcasts with Arn Anderson, Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, Booker T, Jake Robers & DDP, and Jim Ross. If by some miracle, he was able to find time to add another podcast or two to his network, who would you be interested in hearing him work with?

How he manages to find the time to do the shows he has, as well as run his business, I have absolutely no idea. The man definitely doesn’t sleep, and I have a feeling that he’ll be regretting the renewed partnership with Flair sooner rather than later. But if he did decide to add a few more shows to his Podcast Empire, the people I’d like to see him work with, who don’t already have podcasts of their own, would be Lisa “Ivory” Moretti, Teddy Long, Dutch Mantell, or “Big Sexy” Kevin Nash. Any or all of these folks would be both interesting and awesome to hear.

I saw where at an Indy show, it’s FTR w/ Bret Hart taking on Brock Anderson & Brian Pillman Jr. w/ Arn Anderson. Arn with two second-generation Horsemen. Would you like to see him recruit some other multi-generation Horsemen (Tessa Blanchard, David Benoit, Brad Anderson, Bo Dallas, Joe Hennig, Windham Rotundo) for a Horsemen 2.0 faction?

The idea of a new Horseman-style group always interests me and using the sons, daughters, and nephews of former Horsemen, under the guidance of the original Enforcer of the Four Horsemen would be a nice twist on the idea. I think David Benoit, as nice of a kid as he’s been said to be, would be too controversial, while Windham Rotundo is too well known as Bray Wyatt, might be too big to be a good fit. But Joe Hennig, if his current gig as a WWE Producer doesn’t work out, could be a good fit. And for the fourth guy? I wouldn’t go with a Horseman relative but instead, go with a second-generation Kliq/NWO persona instead. Just picture this group, under the guidance of Arn Anderson. Brock Anderson, Brian Pillman Jr., Joe Hennig, Tessa Blanchard, and finally, Cody Hall. Not the Horsemen 2.0, but instead, keeping in the same train of thought, Revelation!

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Any comments, thoughts, or questions you’d like to ask are welcome and appreciated. Until the next time, take care and be safe. Happy Easter. I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!