Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
The Four Horsemen, The NWA, Tony Khan & More
August 27, 2022
DougMaynard.com

It’s way too early in the morning to be awake. Let’s talk wrestling. It’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. Let’s do this.

Now that Arn has the trademark for the 4 Horsemen, I was thinking who in AEW would fit. Obviously with Arn as manager. My 1st 2 were Brock Anderson, and Pillman, 2 Horsemen legacies. Then Buddy Murphy and Kenny Omega are in the Flair spot. Who on the roster do you see as a good fit?

I don’t think that there should be any new “Horseman” faction in any way shape or form. Arn owns the name, but he should use it for shirts, reunion events with the real Horsemen, and things of that nature. A new faction calling itself The Four Horsemen, with or without Arn, would be a slap in the face to all fans of the original group and would pale in comparison anyhow. But I will answer your question as to if AEW and Arn were to bastardize the Horseman legacy with a new faction, who should be the members? Brock Anderson and Brian Pillman Jr. make sense, as does Buddy Murphy. But your final name? No way and no how. Instead of Omega, how about Claudio Castagnoli. With the former Cesaro as the leader of the group, it would be a team almost worthy of a variation of the Horseman name. Almost.

I do not watch or follow the NWA, but I am a huge fan of The Smashing Pumpkins & Billy Corgan, so I know all about Billy’s passion for pro wrestling. What are your thoughts on what he has done with the NWA so far?

I think Billy has taken what was a dead promotion and slowly, but steadily rebuilt it to be a solid part of the world of professional wrestling. The NWA hasn’t become the top company and hasn’t tried to compete with the WWE or AEW, nor should they. Sometimes slow and steady works better and I expect, at this rate, Billy Corgan’s NWA will be around much longer than AEW. Corgan has a vision and that’s what he’s working towards. I think he’s doing an excellent job.

With Ric Flair having had his last match, could we see a similar PPV for Terry Funk?

From what I understand, Funk is not in good physical health and can not travel. He doesn’t even do signings or appearances anymore and that’s for a reason. He can’t. Flair was lucky to get through his “last match” without serious injury or worse. I doubt Funk would be that lucky. A “Funk’s Last Match” PPV should not ever happen, nor do I think it will.

If you were advising Tony Khan right now, what would you be telling him about his recent shows?

That he needs to slow down, quit trying to imitate Vince Russo’s “crash TV” ideas, cut back on the blood, and get some experienced help with the stories and booking of matches.

With Vince McMahon out, do you think MJF’s chance at a real push in WWE just improved, if he chooses to go there?

I think HHH would be much better at promoting and pushing MJF than Vince could ever be, and if MJF was to go to WWE, he would immediately be a top guy under the HHH umbrella.

Hear me out here: Even after all this is done, could WWE bring back Vince McMahon as a performer on their shows?

Could they? Yes. Should they? Nope. Right now, they need to keep Vince as far away from the company as they can to avoid the negative baggage he would bring with him. And even if they wanted to bring back Vince as a character, what could a man of Vince’s age actually do? Best to let him enjoy his retirement and keep him as far away from the spotlight and WWE as possible.

Now that Tony Khan has relaunched ROH and Vince McMahon is out of a WWE creative and decisional role, are there any chances to see Gabe Sapolsky another time on a big level? Would you like to see him? Leading ROH or in some WWE role?

Gabe Sapolsky has a great mind for the business and would be perfect to help Tony Khan get his booking and creative skills up to par to improve the AEW/ROH product. Could you imagine how much better AEW would be under the creative direction of the team of Sapolsky/William Regal? Or having Gabe back in WWE/NXT, working under HHH/HBK, would work extremely well too. Hopefully, someone will be giving Gabe a call soon. He’s too good to be sitting at home.

Is it time Brock Lesnar calls it a career in WWE? If his SummerSlam match was his last, you can’t go out in any better blaze of glory than that.

That last match at SummerSlam was awesome, but should Brock call it a day and retire? I don’t think so. Brock is a very valuable commodity for the WWE and I think he still has quite a bit to offer in that ring for a few more years to come. If he was to choose to call it a day, that would be a great way to end it, but I hope that he’s around for a while longer. I want to see Brock versus Gunther a few times before all is said and done.

Is it me or has Tony Khan totally lost it as a booker?

It’s not you. Khan is way in over his head right now trying to book Dynamite, Rampage, two YouTube shows, ROH, and the pay=per-views. That would be insanity for the most experienced and creative of bookers and while Khan has done admirably thus far, he’s not very experienced and it’s taking its toll, big time. Khan needs to hire experienced bookers and writers for each show and each promotion and let them handle the major work. Khan could continue to oversee and supervise, but he needs to give up some control and delegate for a while instead of trying to do it all by himself. Yeah, he’s losing it and losing it fast.

When do you think Pat McAfee wrestles again?

Oh yeah, most definitely. It’s not a question of if, but just when.

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

Ubuntu!