Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Logan Paul, Josh Alexander, Death Match Wrestling & More
November 17, 2022
DougMaynard.com

It’s the day after hump day and I’m still humping along. It’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A and never forget, my brother is better than yours. Love you, k-Mak. Let’s do this.

Who do you think doesn’t get enough love from the WWE fanbase right now?

The first name that comes to mind is Baron Corbin. He’s consistent, and always has good matches, good promos, etc. He’s everything you look for in a professional wrestler, but despite that, he doesn’t seem to get much respect or love from the WWE audience. Hopefully, this latest affiliation with JBL will help fix that.

Do you think that WWE should have another show like Sunday Night Heat just because 2 matches on Main Event just aren’t enough to showcase the growing roster?

I cringe at the thought of yet another show to try and watch & keep up with, but if WWE was to bring back Heat, I wouldn’t hate that idea. I got my start in writing about wrestling by being the recap guy for Sunday Night Heat way back in 2000 for a now-defunct site called TheWrestlingInformer.net. Then I added covering RAW to my duties, covering the Japanese wrestling scene, and eventually writing my column, Tossing Salt – Worldwide News. So if you’ve ever wondered by everything I write starts with “Tossing Salt Presents”, well now you know. I don’t think WWE needs another show, but if they added one for Sunday nights and called it Heat, I would find a way to watch, for nostalgia’s sake if nothing else.

What match are you hoping to see at Mania 39?

Now that people have started talking about it, CM Punk versus Steve Austin sounds good to me. Logan Paul has issued a challenge to John Cena so that is another that would be fun to see. And finally, how about Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn taking on and defeating The Usos to win the tag team titles? Any of those matches would put a smile on my face.

What title do you see Logan Paul winning first in WWE? I’m thinking either the IC or US.

If Paul wins a title while in the WWE after recovering from his injuries, I agree with you that either the United States or Intercontinental Championship would be the most likely. But that being said, Paul has a full-time career outside of wrestling and doesn’t need to win a title to get over. Just continue to have good matches and be himself and that’s all he needs to do. No need to tie up a championship on a part-timer when there are so many full-time WWE stars that are more deserving and could give the titles the attention they deserve. Hey Roman Reigns, are you listening?

Josh Alexander. Overrated or underrated?

I’m going to go with over-rated. He’s a good, consistent wrestler who has good matches, but there is no flash or sizzle to him. He’s just there. His lack of size or promo ability doesn’t help his cause either. By all accounts, he’s a great guy and adds to any promotion he works for, but he just doesn’t have that “it-factor” in my opinion. I may be wrong and he might be the best wrestler in the world, but if you can’t draw fans and put butts in the seats, are you really that good? I just haven’t seen anything yet.

What’s your take on the change in Austin Theory’s character?

I like it. He’s looking more confident and the tweaks to the character make sense. I’m looking forward to seeing what direction he goes with the new momentum and what’s next for Mr. Theory.

Is it a mistake for WWE to have Roman Reigns be an unbeatable champion for such a long time(supposedly until next year sometime), instead of elevating more guys to the world championship?

Both titles, unified on Roman, were in my opinion, a bad idea. All of the long-term champion storytelling could have just been done with the Universal Championship instead of both belts. I get it. We all do. Roman is a badass who rarely defends the titles except for big matches and he wins those. But while Roman is picking and choosing his opponents, what are the other stars on the roster supposed to be doing? I remember so well so many wrestlers back in the day talking about how the ultimate goal of every wrestler should be to be the World Champion. I agree with that concept, but when the World Champion is so protected, as Roman is, why are the other wrestlers even there? They need to find a way to split the titles back up asap so the rest of the roster can have opportunities as well.

What are your thoughts on Deathmatch Wrestling?

Used sparingly as a special attraction, I don’t mind it, but when it’s the same thing, match after match, watching the wrestlers kill themselves for a forgettable pop, it’s just crazy. Steak is just another slab of meat if you eat steak every day, but when you only get steak on special occasions, it’s a delicacy and a special moment. Death Match wrestling is like steak. It’s been so often, with so little meaning behind it and so little reward for doing it, it’s just another slab of cheap meat.

What do you think of Progress Wrestling deciding to turn their back on their LGBT fans, and do a show in a murderous anti-LGBT dictatorship?

Progress Wrestling is a British-based wrestling promotion that has been around since 2011. And despite doing an internet search, I could not find what murderous dictatorship Progress Wrestling allegedly did a show for. I seriously doubt though that Progress Wrestling is deliberately turning its back on any certain set of fans. If they did a show somewhere, it’s a business decision to make money and help build their promotion and fan base, nothing more. It’s what all wrestling promotions do and why we see WWE in Saudi Arabia, AEW working with New Japan, etc. Just because one person gets their feelings hurt for a business decision they do not know about is not turning a back on anything. It’s called doing what’s best for the long-term survival and profitability of their promotion, nothing more.

Let’s say AEW did an invasion .. Survivor Series 5v5 WarGames: The Bloodline vs what 5 for AEW, and if you were the booker who would win?

If it’s against the Bloodline, then Jon Moxley has to be one of the participants, given his history with Roman. Then I’d throw in the three EVPs of the company, The Elite. And I’d wrap the group up with Bryan Danielson as the final guy. And since it’s WWE and the Survivor Series, and since I have very little use for The Elite, WWE and the Bloodline would win.

And there you go. Another edition of the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A is done and in the books. Any thoughts, comments, or questions you may have are very welcome and appreciated. And if you’d like to have the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A delivered to your inbox, then subscribe at the site, DougMaynard.com, and make it a part of your daily life. And with that, I’m out of here. Thanks for reading. Be safe and watch out for foreign objects. I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!