Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Vince McMahon, Ric Flair, Terry Funk & More
July 23, 2022
DougMaynard.com

I’m back. It’s been a few days and the world of professional wrestling seems to have gone totally insane. Or maybe it’s just me? Regardless, it’s time to answer a few questions about the craziness that is the world’s greatest form of entertainment. It’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. I’m your host with the most, Doug, and let’s get to it. Let’s do this.

Do you think that Terry Funk hurt his legacy by coming out of retirement so many times?

Maybe to a degree, he has, but it’s Terry Funk and unlike some people who had the big send-off at the largest show of the year and then came back a few months later like it didn’t matter, Funk has ‘retired’, but it was always just an announcement and then back because, better than ever, because he truly loves pro wrestling, not because of a love of money or the ego. Funk retiring has become a running joke like Tom Brady’s rings or Elizabeth Taylor’s weddings, spoken of more with fondness than any disdain or contempt. For most wrestlers, it would be a bad thing, but Terry’s love for the business, passion inside that ring, and just the fact it’s Terry Funk make him the exception and not the rule. Funk4Life, ’nuff said!

Thoughts on the Flair-Lethal-Jarrett video angle with Lethal & Jarrett beating down Flair in the parking lot?

My first thoughts on hearing about this video were how cheesy it sounded, but then I went and watched and was immediately transported back in time thirty years to The Horsemen beating down Dusty in the parking lot and I was excited & fearing for Flair’s safety and all of my skepticism and disbelief was gone, if only for a few minutes. It was totally old-school, well done, and something that is missing from today’s product and I loved every second of it. Seeing Flair busted open like that made me forget it’s a 73-year-old man and instead, I saw Ric Flair as Ric Flair again. I’m still not happy about the idea of him, with a pacemaker and injured foot, wrestling again and I think that it’s a big mistake, but that quick little moment, unlike the generic “parking lot brawls” we see on WWE or AEW, made me appreciate the moment and the magnitude of the upcoming event. I’m getting caught up in the hype now and am actually looking forward to this event. I just hope it all goes well. And this vignette? It did its job. Diamonds are forever and so is Ric Flair. Woooo.

Do you think that this will really be Ric Flair’s last match?

It’s Ric Flair and if he makes it through this event safely and without further injuries or major traumatic moments, I don’t think his ego will allow him to stop. While I don’t think he’ll be booked in any more matches as a participant, I do think we’ll see him more active in and outside the ring, as a manager or in some capacity, getting physical and trying to take bumps. Ric Flair is the Mae Young of pro wrestling in that he’ll never stop until he’s so incapacitated that he can’t do anything or dead. And if someone comes along with a big enough wallet, he’ll wrestle again and again. He can’t help himself. He’s Ric Flair.

Tyrus will be replacing Nick Aldis in the NWA Championship match against Champion Trevor Murdoch at NWA 74. Good move or not?

From what I have heard, Billy Corgan and Nick Aldis seem to have had a falling out of sorts, but that actually sounds more like work to me than real. My own personal thoughts are that Aldis has been kind of overexposed as the top babyface of the company for too long and Corgan realizes this and thus, he removes Aldis to allow him a subtle heel turn to refresh the character and take Aldis in a different direction, while at the same time, giving Tyrus a big push. Tyrus, due to his job with the Gutfield Show and Fox News is easily the most recognizable and most frequently seen member of the NWA roster, and his presence in the main event will do what it’s supposed to do, draw attention and put butts in the seats. And can you imagine the reaction if Tyrus were to show up on Fox wearing the NWA World Championship? The publicity for the company would be outstanding. So the bottom line is that this allows Aldis to freshen up and redefine his character a bit, plus it gives the NWA more opportunities to be seen by more people on Fox. It’s a win-win and a good move by the NWA for sure.

The Briscoes have reportedly signed a long-term deal with Tony Khan and ROH. Thoughts?

It’s a good move, especially if Tony Khan is serious about rebuilding the ROH brand and promoting shows under the ROH name separate from AEW. The Briscoes are one of the top tag teams in pro wrestling today and have long been the public faces of ROH. Even though the politically correct management of Warner Bros. won’t allow Khan to make them part of AEW, having them under contract and as part of the efforts to rebuild and rebrand ROH is a smart business move to keep the potential fans for ROH happy. The Briscoes are where they belong and I’m happy for them.

Thoughts on the Jericho-Kingston Barbed Wire Match on Dynamite?

While the concept was intriguing, the actual delivery was less than great in my opinion. I watched and didn’t see a competitive fight, but more just a lot of cringe and messed-up spots. Jericho and Kingston are both much better than this and the match was over-booked and just bad. It was shocking for the sake of shock and any logic or good story-telling was thrown out the window at the start and it just got worse from there. So my thoughts? An A for effort, but for the delivery, we’ll go with a D. I wasn’t impressed or happy.

Harley Race versus Nick Bockwinkle – 2 out of 3 Falls. Who wins?

This would be an old-school wrestling clinic with two of the absolute best of all time going at it. Bockwinkle was smoother and more polished, but Race was so tough and willing to do whatever it takes, that it’s impossible to determine who was better. So I’d go with them splitting the first two falls, and then the third fall going to a no-contest as both men are counted out or disqualified. That’s the only way this match could be booked to end.

Vince McMahon announced his retirement today. Thoughts? And what does this mean for the future of WWE?

And now, the biggest news of all, Vince McMahon is retiring from the WWE. We knew it was coming, but no one thought it would happen. My thoughts? Hell just froze over. It’s definitely the end of an era and it’s going to be very interesting to see where things go from here. I think Vince and his behavior, the NDA’s, and everything else has just caught up with him and he realizes that if WWE is to survive and keep thriving, he had to remove himself from the company. Despite no official role, Vince is still the majority stockholder and will never be totally out of the picture with WWE. It’s just time to hand control over to other people, Stephanie & Triple H, and see where it goes.

As for the future of the WWE, this is a mixed blessing. I don’t think we’ll see any major changes so far as the look of the company and the product at first, but the changes will come. Tony Khan and Stephanie are the new Co-CEO of the company and I think that will mean business as usual on the business end of things. With Hunter in charge of talent relations, I think we’ll see some old faces returning, more independent talents getting signed, and more focus on the wrestlers than in the past. I don’t expect to see Bruce Pritchard or Kevin Dunn sticking around much longer since both were known to be Vince loyalists and both are said to have heat with HHH and Stephanie.

The biggest question right now is the creative direction of the company and who will take over from Vince as the head of Creative. Paul Heyman is there, but while I can see Heyman in an advisory capacity, I can’t see him wanting to deal with booking the entire company. So I do expect HHH and Steph to contribute strongly to building a new direction, but I also expect that we’ll see some new (or maybe old) faces brought in to direct and lead the writing staff, with a more serious and old-school booking style than we normally would see with Vince. I think WWE will either improve now that the shackles of Vince are off or it will go into freefall and be a disaster. I’m hoping for the first, but we’ll just have to watch and see.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Comments, thoughts, and any questions are welcome and very appreciated. Drop them in the comment box or else contact me at my e-mail of Doug28352@yahoo.com. I can also be found on Twitter at @Doug28352. Until the next time, take care of yourself and be good. Watch out for the foreign objects and I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!