Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Nikita Koloff, Ryback, Steve Corino & More
February 9, 2023
DougMaynard.com

You have questions and I have answers. It’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. Let’s do this.

Can you explain what exactly happened with AEW suddenly dropping the Bow Wow/Jade Cargill storyline? Was he trying to romance her or was this gonna lead as a way to introduce Mercedes Mone, who challenged Jade for the TBS Title? The entire thing was so bizarre.

I have no idea what that whole situation was supposed to be about and no idea why it was suddenly dropped. Hell, I still can’t figure out why it started in the first place. A bad idea with no purpose or reason for being. It was just a forgotten B-rate celebrity interacting with a B-rate wrestler. That’s all.

Ronda Rousey seemingly wants to be a tag team champion instead of a singles champion. Thoughts?

I guess that she’s tired of the same old thing and wants to switch it up a bit. Having Rousey as a tag team champion, most likely with Shayna Baszler as her partner, will add some credibility to the tag team titles and probably just be a nice change of pace for Ronda as a performer. I can see her point and reasoning. Now the thing is to see if WWE agrees.

Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura versus Alpha Academy. Who wins?

Adonis and Ventura were a great power team. They were Champions together before Adonis got out of shape and bloated and with his in-ring abilities and Ventura’s power as the resident strong-man, they were nearly unstoppable. Alpha Academy has the science and technical ability of former Olympian Chad Gable and the pure, raw power of Otis, making them an excellent tag team as well, only that they don’t win quite as often. This would make for a good match. And the winners? He may not have had time to bleed, but I’m sure he can celebrate a victory. Ventura and Adonis would win.

Nikita Koloff recently revealed that he turned down the chance to be NWA World Champion twice. Thoughts?

Let’s be glad he did because I remember Koloff after the unfortunate passing of his wife when he made his return and he was smaller and less intense, a shadow of his former character. It’s quite understandable as to why, but the pressure of being the NWA Champion at the time would probably have been too much for him. I doubt that the fans would have accepted him at that point for any kind of long run as the top guy. It would have made for a nice moment, but I just don’t think it would have worked well in the big picture of things.

Would you like to see WWE induct Kevin Federline into the WWE Hall of Fame?

I would love to see that happen just for the publicity and shit-talking from the IWC and Hollywood that would come along with such an induction. Federline’s brief feud with John Cena was excellent and Kevin’s attitude toward the business and the natural heat he got from the fans, was amazing to see and a bright spot for that time and era. Federline is more deserving than several others already in the Hall of Fame, like Drew Carey, Torrie Wilson, James Dudley, etc. It will never happen, but if it was to be announced, the smile on my face would be huge.

Ryback recently talked about wanting to get back in the ring and mentioned Wardlow as someone who he’d like to wrestle. Thoughts?

No one wants to see Ryback return to wrestling, except maybe for Ryback himself. I know I sure don’t. But I will admit that a match with Ryback versus Wardlow would be interesting to see. Ryback was not an awful wrestler and was capable of having decent matches. He was clumsy at times and hurt people, but he wasn’t always totally sucking. My main heat against him is that mouth and the annoying POS he’s been since his retirement after being fired by the WWE. Return or not, I don’t care. I won’t be watching anyhow.

The latest rumors are that Naomi has no plans to return to the WWE. Thoughts?

WWE has shown that they don’t need her and honestly, she’s not missed. I’m sure that her husband, Jimmy Uso, would be happy to see her back in WWE. Two paychecks are better than one after all, but maybe they’re planning on having kids or are having issues. He hasn’t said and I’m just speculating as to why she’s not back yet. If she ends up coming back, then great. And if not, then it’s no big loss for WWE and life goes on.

If you could recast the Addams Family, using WWE Superstars, who would play each role?

For Gomez, how about The Miz? Morticia is absolutely Sonya Deville. Uncle Fester? Let’s go with Dexter Lumas. For Pugsley, how about Otis? Lurch? I think Omos would work well. For Grandma, too bad Mae Young has passed because she’d be perfect, but let’s go with Bayley. And for Wednesday, Nikki Cross. Hornswoggle as Cousin It. And finally, Baron Corbin as Thing.

Since Cody Rhodes and Paul Heyman brought up Steve Corino in that amazing back-and-forth promo on RAW, do you think an appearance by Steve Corino is possible?

Steve Corino, who is a former NWA World Champion and former ECW Champion, currently works for the WWE at the Performance Center as a trainer so he can show up as part of the Heyman/Roman/Cody storyline. It’d be an interesting way to connect when Cody and his family were going through Hard Times and Cody’s current quest to take the titles from Roman at Mania. Have Heyman bring out Corino as a blast from the past to take Cody out of the picture. It’d put an interesting spin on things and could maybe even be used as a way to bring in Colby Corino, Steve’s son, who has been working for the NWA and whom I keep hearing WWE is interested in. Given the story that Heyman told on Monday night, Corino would be a great swerve for the entire Cody/Roman program. I’d like to see it.

Bayley recently said that she’d like to have a match with Michael Cole at Wrestlemania 40. Thoughts?

Why wait until Mania 40? Let’s do it on RAW this coming Monday night. Watching Bayley and DAMAGE CTRL beat up Michael Cole would make for some great television. Book it, HHH.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Comments, thoughts, and any questions are welcome and very appreciated. And with that, I’m out of here for now. Take care and be well, my friends. Watch out for foreign objects and I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!