Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
CM Punk, Steve Austin, Kevin Nash & More
May 19, 2022
DougMaynard.com

More sass than the Exotic Adrian Street when Miss Linda has forgotten to iron his knickers, it’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. Let’s do this.

Shoot Fight: Mike Tyson versus Brock Lesnar. Who wins?

If Tyson can land some serious punches, he might get a quick win, but if Brock was able to avoid the punches and get hold of Tyson, then it would be Iron Mike who’s had a bad day. A good wrestler will beat a good boxer in a legit fight anytime and Brock is far better than just “good”. Brock would win.

Thoughts on Johnny Elite’s AEW debut?

It was cool to see John Morrison, aka Johnny Drip Drip, Johnny Nitro, Johnny Impact, Johnny Come Lately, Johnny Get Your Gun, etc, and whatever other name you want to use, show up at AEW and give Samoa Joe a good match. I was expecting a lot of different names in the “Joker” role, but Johnny was not one. He’s not, so far as I know, under any kind of contract and this was a one-shot deal, but if he’s a part of more AEW shows in the future, I absolutely would have no objections.

Am I the only one that thinks British Bulldog(Davey Boy Smith) should’ve been WWF/WWE champion at least once?

From what I’ve seen over the years, there are a lot of people who agree with you that Davey Boy should have had a run with the WWE title at least once. But truthfully, I’m not one of them. Davey Boy was a good wrestler, but based on what I’ve heard repeatedly his personal demons were kind of strong, and his backstage behavior wasn’t always ideal. Yes, I know HBK got several title runs, and his behavior was atrocious at times, but that was HBK, and Davey Boy was not HBK in that ring. Davey was limited as a promo and a character and just didn’t have the “it” that being the top guy back then required. HBK had it. Bret had it. Flair had it. Davey Boy? In my opinion, not so much.

Arn Anderson versus Tully Blanchard (in their primes). Who wins?

This would be a great match to see and these two men would no doubt bring out the best in each other for what even Meltzer would have to give five stars. No wait, it’s not Omega or the Young Bucks, so 3.5 stars max, asshole! But Arn & Tully would steal the show, have a great match, and leave the fans wanting more. And I think more often than not, Tully would come out on top.

A source from the AEW locker room allegedly says that MJF is hardly the only talent feeling some level of discontent and describes the backstage atmosphere as “chaotic” with a lack of structure. Thoughts?

Billy Gunn spoke on this in an interview over this past weekend about how he loves AEW, but it’s not organized and structured, but more of a chaotic mess most of the time. This is a problem when one person tries to do everything, please everyone, and doesn’t delegate as often as he should. AEW has good performers, good stories (some of them), and a lot of good things going on, but there is no one minding the ship in terms of coordination, structure, and making sure that things don’t repeat too often and make sense. Khan needs to delegate and allow others to do more to keep things flowing smoothly. Put Jim Ross in charge of talent relations. Bring in Road Dogg to help format and write the shows. Use agents/producers to help structure the matches and promos. And hire someone who knows the business to act as the booker. Tony can still oversee and throw out his ideas as wanted, but he needs someone to step in and tighten things up where needed. He needs a Jim Cornette or Paul Heyman for AEW. It all falls on Tony ad while he’s still going strong, the cracks are starting to appear and he can’t keep up this pace forever. And there you go.

CM Punk wore a pro-choice, pro-abortion shirt on Dynamite last night. Thoughts on this and wrestlers getting political?

I personally do not agree with Punk on this particular topic, but even if I did, a nationally broadcast wrestling show is not the place for political statements, regardless of the message. Punk should not be talking about abortion. JBL should not be talking about immigration. Cornette should not be talking about his hatred of Donald Trump. George South should not be talking about religion. Eddie Kingston should not be talking about BLM. Sonny Kiss should not be talking about transgenderism. Darren Young should not be talking about “Don’t Say Gay”. I don’t care who it is or what they do or don’t support. I don’t want to hear about politics or religion at the dinner table and I don’t want to hear about it when I’m watching pro wrestling. Do your thing and support your issues and causes when you’re on your own time, but when you’re being featured as part of AEW or WWE or whatever, leave the propaganda at home. I’m a fan of Punk, the wrestler and promo guy, but I think he was out of line with this action.

Do you think that Steve Austin will return to the WWE for another match or run?

Money talks and never say never. He proved that he can still do a solid match and now that WWE/Vince has gotten a taste of Austin 2022, the offers will be made and they’ll keep trying to get Steve to do one more match. That’s almost a certainty. Will he do it? We’ll just have to keep watching and see what happens next.

Who are your top five wrestlers you personally thought would be huge stars and never quite became that for whatever reason?

Five wrestlers who had all the tools, but never made it quite as big as I personally think they should have? My picks for such a list would be Curtis Axel, Jack Swagger, Victoria, Crimson (in TNA), and Al Perez. There are so many others, but these are the first five that came to mind.

Kevin Nash & Sean Oliver are getting together for a podcast called “Kliq This: The Kevin Nash Podcast”. Thoughts?

I’m intrigued. While I’m not a big fan of Kevin Nash, the booker or wrestler, he’s a funny guy with a good personality and I’m sure, thousands of stories to tell. And putting him with Sean Oliver, the man who carried Kayfabe Commentaries for so many years and is one of the best interviewers in wrestling-shoot history, it sounds like a winning combination. I just wonder if they’ll ever have Jamie Dundee as a guest on their podcast? I’m sure that Oliver still has PTSD from the interviews he did with Dundee a few years ago. I know that from watching them, and I still do. But Kev and Sean together. I think this might be good.

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 and be safe my friends. I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!