Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Otis, Ring of Honor, Kenny Omega & More
March 31, 2023
DougMaynard.com

So, are you ready? I said, ARE YOU READY? So for the dozens reading this and wondering just what in the hell I’m smoking, it’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A, where I tell it like it is and nothing is off limits. Let’s get ready to read it! Yeah, I know. That sucked, but I have nothing today and am just winging it. Let’s do the Q&A and talk about some wrestling.

If you were booking an AEW VS WWE SuperCard and the main event was Blood & Guts, who would you pick to represent each side?

Why do I always seem to get this same question so often? If I was booking this match today, it would be Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks & Bryan Danielson versus Roman Reigns, The Usos, Kevin Owens & Brock Lesnar.

Is Otis the only one able to make Maximum Male Models work? Will they become the 21st Century JOB Squad as a result and leave poor Gable in the cold again?

So far, the entire Maximum Male Models story has been a complete bust and yes, I do think that adding Otis to the mix is probably the only way to save it and make it worth watching. I doubt that regardless of who is added to the faction that they will ever mean much of anything on the WWE roster so your JOB Squad comparison is probably pretty accurate. Chad Gable will be okay regardless of what WWE does with Otis and the Models. He’s a solid guy with a legit Olympic background. I don’t think he has much to worry about.

Is CM Punk a big enough star to base ROH around to get it a TV deal? Follow-up question, is CM Punk too big a star to keep in ROH?

Yes to both. Punk is a big name and they could easily rebuild ROH around him, but given the limited availability and exposure of ROH these days, it would be a waste of the name value and talent that is CM Punk.

FTR seems to be a backstage problem for AEW, so what do you think about them losing against the Gunns next week, returning to WWE, and Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr., the Killer Elite Squad reuniting to take the titles from the Gunns at Double Or Nothing in like 5 minutes?

Losing against the Gunns and going back to WWE, that [art I like. And the idea of Archer and Smith teaming up to challenge the Gunns is pretty good too, but Tony Khan would never let it happen and if Smith was to sign with AEW, he’d be pushed for a week, sent home, and then forgotten, just like every other big name debut. A successful tag team with name recognition and history. Tony and the Young Bucks would never allow that to happen.

Would you think it’s feasible to have Kenny take the title from MJF? Kenny has IT; he has his god aura back and I don’t think he’s had it as good as this in AEW. He’s a draw for the company and is so so over. Is it a no brained to make him the face of the company?

Every time Omega comes on TV, the people turn the channel and the ratings drop so I’m not sure about how over he currently is. He’s already one of the faces of the company which is one of the reasons they can’t break one million viewers for Dynamite consistently. But yeah, they can make him a champion and have him take the belt away from MJF. His first run as the AEW Champion was so successful, why not do it again? sighs

Ring of Honor has been back with weekly products for around a month now. What’s your overall impression so far, and are there any changes you’d like to see?

So far, I’m not impressed. The wrestlers are trying hard, but the inconsistent booking and lack of storytelling, the same issues that plague AEW, are still pretty strong, plus having to subscribe to a pay site to watch ROH doesn’t help either. The changes I’d love to see are a TV deal where everyone can watch without having to pay extra, plus a legit, consistent, strong booker not named Tony. Unless those two things happen, ROH will not grow any from where they are right now.

Do you think it’s worth Tony Khan letting Christian appear at Mania for a Brood reunion?

It would be a good public relations move for Tony and would make wrestling fans happy, but I can’t see Tony doing it or allowing Christian to work a WWE angle at the biggest show of the year. Isn’t Tony the one who said that AEW is at war with WWE just a few weeks ago? If you’re at war and another company is allegedly tampering with your employees who are under contract, as Tony claims, you don’t give them aid and loan them one of your biggest names. But then again, Tony is kind of bipolar and if he’s approached after a trip to the snow factory, he’s liable to say yes and be all for Christian being part of a Brood reunion. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

If you could add a crazy stipulation to a WrestleMania match, what should it be? Extra points if it is for the Omas/Brock match.

A crazy stipulation for the Omos/Brock match? How about making it a street fight and the winner wins the services of the other’s significant other/manager for 24 hours? If Brock wins, he gets MVP as his servant for 24 hours. And if Omos wins, he gets Brock’s wife, Sable, for 24 hours as his maid/servant. Hell, even I’d watch that just to see what happens.

If you could add any AEW wrestlers to any existing AEW stable who would you add & why? I would love to have Abaddon and Darby(heel turn perhaps?) join the House Of Black.

There are too many factions in AEW already and none of them actually seem to matter or mean anything in the stories or week-to-week booking, but hell, I’ll play along. I’d put Brock Anderson as part of the Jericho Appreciation Society, just to get him some TV time to watch Arn and Jericho cut promos on each other. I’d put Fuego Del Sol with QT Marshall’s group just because of the great chemistry they have together and I know that it would get over. And just for shit & giggles, Danhausen in The Elite. We have to make them entertaining somehow so maybe adding Danhausen to the mix would do it? It couldn’t hurt.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Comments, thoughts, and any questions are welcome and appreciated. And with that being said, it’s time to wrap this up. I have a few errands to go run and then I’ll be back with my predictions for Wrestlemania. So keep your eyes open for that. Take care and stay well, my friends. Watch out for foreign objects and I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!