Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Saraya, Antonio Inoki, Bandido & More
October 5, 2022
DougMaynard.com

Are you ready to talk wrestling? It’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. Let’s do this.

Would you like to see Sami take the belts off Roman then go on to face The Rock at WrestleMania?

While I would love to see Sami get an opportunity to wrestle and maybe have a run someday with the WWE Championship, the scenario described above doesn’t work for me. Sami versus The Rock at Mania makes no sense from a business standpoint and wouldn’t work. The money is Roman versus The Rock, and that is where the WWE should be headed if The Rock is willing and available. I want to see Sami have a lot of success and glory in his career, but his day will hopefully come. The Rock versus Roman is the match we need to see.

How do you guys feel about people comparing Mandy Rose’s knee finish to Omega’s V-Trigger lately?

I haven’t heard this comparison, nor do I care. People steal moves all the time and it’s not a big deal. Be it Mandy’s knee or Omega’s V-Trigger, it’s all the same. If it works for them, so be it. Good for them.

Simple question, during which match does Bray make his return at Extreme Rules?

It’ll have to be towards the end of the show since the return of Bray would pretty much overshadow anything else that happens at the Premium Live Event. So whatever the last match is, look for Bray’s return during that event or immediately afterward.

Plain and simple, who’s your bet on the 2023 Rumble winner?

For the men, I’ll go with Sami Zayn, while for the women, I’ll go with Asuka. No one is ready for Asuka.

Do you believe Saraya will actually change things in AEWs women’s division?

I would hope so, but unless she’s actually wrestling, I seriously doubt it. The AEW Women’s Division is a mess and without some serious new talent and revamping the entire division, I don’t see it getting any better anytime soon.

For people who haven’t seen any of his matches. What would you recommend to watch in honor of Antonio Inoki?

I honestly haven’t seen many of Inoki’s matches either, but off the top of my head, I’d go with the match against Flair at WCW’s Collision In Korea event, and the match against Muhammad Ali in 1976. That last match was a bomb and boring as hell, but it’s still Inoki and Ali and that’s a pretty cool concept & idea.

Do you think Bandido would be a better addition to AEW or Impact? He’s incredible so AEW should be interested and could obviously put him to good use but I feel like Impact could too and could benefit more with his type of style and his status.

Bandido is a good talent, but I’m scared with AEW, he’s just another face and will be quickly lost in the shuffle before long. Tony Khan’s booking is questionable at best and working with a talent like Bandido, he’s in way over his head. Impact would use him much better and hell, so would WWE, although he’d never get a top spot with the latter company, even under the HHH regime. I’m sure the money at AEW is better for Bandido, but Impact Wrestling would have been a better choice in my opinion.

It’s been a while since Charlotte was on TV but considering she has pretty much done it all in WWE now what’s really left for her? She’s beaten pretty much everyone, headlined events, etc. Would a move to another company help her career as unlikely as that is to happen?

A move to another company, that doesn’t know how to book wrestling (AEW) would be a disaster for her and damage her credibility and status. Working with Impact would be a great move for a chance to work with strong new opponents and talented women, but from a financial standpoint, staying with WWE is the best option. As for what’s left, a few more runs as the champion and beating her father’s number of title runs is a good goal to aim for. A few more headline matches at Wrestlemania could be pretty good too.

Assuming Saraya is ok to wrestle again, who would you book her first feud with that ISN’T Britt Baker?

How about Saraya versus Serena Deeb. Deeb is a quality wrestler, very talented, and can work safe enough to protect Saraya, making sure that we get a quality match with little chance of anyone getting injured while Saraya slowly works her way back into in-ring action. Works for me.

Why can’t wrestling companies just release wrestlers who want to be released? Both sides have them and if one did it then the other would kind of be forced to do the same no?

Why spend a lot of money and time building and helping to create and promote a character and then, just as they’re really getting over, just let them go work for the opposition and make the other company bigger and more successful? It doesn’t make sense. Yes, just letting the other wrestlers leave would be nice, but it would also be bad business, a bad return on investments, and basically, be cutting your own throat as a promoter and business.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Comments, thoughts, and any questions you’d like to ask are welcome and appreciated. And with that, I’m out of here. Take care and be good. Watch out for foreign objects. Be good and I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!