Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Dustin Rhodes, Ole Anderson, Teddy Hart & More
December 4, 2022
DougMaynard.com

Last night, I went to work and they were playing Christmas music. It’s too damn early! And yes, I heard Mariah… multiple times. Just shoot me now! It’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. Let’s do this.

Who will AEW’s next big signing be?

Where Tony Khan is concerned, every signing is “big” and worthy of many posts and mentions to build excitement, only to be saying, “Who?”, when the actual announcement is made. This week, it was Juice Robinson, who is a good addition to the AEW roster. Well, he would be if they weren’t already bloated and way too large. And the next big signing? Whoever is first to kiss up to The Elite so they can ask Tony, “Pretty please!”.

Could Vince McMahon return to WWE?

Vince is the majority stockholder in WWE and if he decided to make an issue of it, he could pretty much do whatever he wants and no one could stop him. Tell him to leave? He owns the company. I doubt he will, but could he? Absolutely!

The Natural Born Thrillers versus The Nexus in a multi-man elimination match. Who wins? And which faction was better?

The Natural Born Thrillers were Mike Sanders, Chuck Palumbo, Sean O’Haire, Shawn Stasiak, Reno, Mark Jindrak, and Johnny the Bull. The Nexus was Wade Barrett, David Otunga, David Otunga, Husky Harris, Michael McGillicutty, Skip Sheffield, Daniel Bryan, Darren Young, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, and Michael Tarver. I think that, given that they were all legit rookies except for Stasiak, the Thrillers made more of an impact on wrestling as a faction and were far more important to the company (WCW) than the Nexus was allowed to be with WWE. The Nexus started strong but was quickly watered down and all ended up falling to the power that was John Cena. The stars of the Nexus went on later to have better singles careers with Wade Barrett, Husky Harris (as Bray Wyatt), Skip Sheffield (as Ryback), and Daniel Bryan all having great runs as top guys. For the short-term duration of their factions though, I think the NBT group had the better run. And so far as a multi-man tag match, Nexus would win simply because there are 11 of them and only 7 Thrillers. There is power in the numbers game.

What’s your favorite version of Mick Foley?

Mick was always entertaining to watch regardless of what character he was trying to portray, but my favorite will always be Cactus Jack. He was just so different and so unique and even when he lost the match, he would steal the show. Bang bang!

Dustin Rhodes has revealed he needs double-knee replacement surgery and may end up having to retire. Should he get a short run with the AEW Championship first?

I would love to have seen Dustin get a run with the top championship, but I don’t think it will ever happen and now that the news about his bad knees has come out, nor should it. Dustin is a phenomenal worker and talent and would have been a credible and worthy man to be the top guy for any wrestling promotion if given the chance. That’s all very true. But if he was to win the belt now, even if it was just to drop it the next week back to the champion, it would be so blatantly obvious, given his medical issues, that it was just a title switch to allow Dustin to say that he was once champion, it would kill any credibility that belt has and destroy any sense of belief in the match or wrestling. I know kayfabe is dead, but there is no need to piss on the grave by being so ridiculously obvious. Leave the fans some plausibility to suspend their belief for a few minutes. If no one knew Dustin had medical issues, then a fluke win would work and be believable. But as it is, it just wouldn’t work and would hurt the business far more than help.

Thoughts on Ole Anderson?

One of the greatest tag team wrestlers of his era and one of the best talkers in pro wrestling ever. Ole is a complicated person. You either love him or hate him and there doesn’t seem to be any gray area. He was an excellent promoter and booker for Crockett and Georgia, but his rough language backstage, stubbornness, and lack of social skills or political correctness didn’t make him many friends. He’s blunt and straight to the point. Do what you’re told or you’re fired period, and it worked for him. I don’t think I’d want to work with him, but I have a great deal of respect for Ole for what he did both in the ring as a wrestler and what he did backstage as a booker & promoter as well. A true legend and first-round Hall of Famer by anyone’s standards not named Vince McMahon. Simply, one of the best of all time.

Agree or disagree. Is Jade Cargill a better wrestler currently than Ronda Rousey?

I’ll disagree on this one. Cargill is improving and getting better every week as she grows and learns. Rousey seems to have hit a plateau with her ring work, but she’s still far more natural and legit than Cargill can ever hope to be. Cargill still gets sloppy and makes rookie mistakes. Rousey botches as well, but she has the aura or realness about her and is just a better performer all around. Cargill is good and getting better, but Rousey is the real deal and that makes all the difference.

Have you seen the documentary about Teddy Hart on Peacock? Thoughts on the show and Teddy Hart?

I have not seen the documentary, but I have listened to and read many reviews about it. I also watched a shoot interview that Hart recently did with that sham conman, Hannibal, breaking my own rule to never give that moron a moment of my time or attention, and well, Hart is a weird dude. He’s a great talent as a wrestler, but the guy has definite issues. He’s a scam artist and con man in my opinion and has many, many major issues. He’s not someone I’d want to be around or be involved with in any way, shape, or manner. I’m going to make it a point to watch that documentary but based on what I’ve already seen and heard about the guy, I doubt my opinion will change. Teddy Hart is bad news. ‘Nuff said!

Should Tony Khan let William Regal out of his AEW contract to rejoin the WWE?

Should he? Yes. Will he? From all indications that I’ve seen, yes, he probably will. And it will be good to see William Regal back home again where he belongs.

Do you think that one of the biggest “What IF” in history will one day be “What if McMahon hadn’t stepped down?”

I’m sure that as time passes, there will be many discussions about this very subject. If Vince hadn’t stepped down, would he have been forcibly removed? Would it have hurt or destroyed WWE? Would USA or Fox keep WWE on their networks if Vince was still the boss? There are a ton of questions that we’ll probably never know the answers to but will always ask. We’re going to be talking about this for years to come.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Comments, thoughts, and any questions you may have are welcome and appreciated. And with that, it’s time to bring things to a close. Until the next time, take care and be well, my friends. I’m going to go listen to some Alice Cooper now to get this Christmas music out of my head. Have a great one and watch out for foreign objects. I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!