Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Finn Balor, The Great Muta, Rick Steiner & More
April 5, 2023
DougMaynard.com

My nerves are shot to hell. Let’s talk about the King of Sports and see if that makes everything better. It’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. Let’s do this.

What’s harder, Finn Balor’s abs, or his massive balls for finishing that damn match just after getting emergency staples put in his noggin mid-match?

Balor is a tough guy and a total professional. Kudos to him for not only having a great match but also having the testicular fortitude to take a licking and keep on ticking.

Who should beat Roman now? Shane McMahon, Nick Aldis, or Matt Cardona?

Well, it definitely won’t be Shane. Aldis would be a great name to come in and challenge Roman or whoever the top guy in WWE happens to be. And Cardona? That would be fun to see as well. Woo woo woo. You know it!

What do you think about Negative One debuting on WWE TV in the main event of Wrestlemania?

I’m happy to see Brodie Lee Jr. being there and getting to see Cody live and to have Michael Cole acknowledge him. I’m sure that Snowman Tony Khan was probably freaking though and to be physically restrained from going after young Brodie on Twitter. If he flipped so badly about Ariel Helwani, who is an independent journalist, then having Negative One, who’s Mom is an executive with his company, as part of Mania had to set him off. If only I could be a fly on the wall of Tony’s office.

When does Gunther get a world title shot & when does Chad Gable become the IC champion?

When they’re ready. I could easily see Gunther in the main event at Mania challenging whoever happens to be the champion at the time. As for Gable, I can’t see a long run with any singles title for the former Olympian, but maybe a brief stay as a transitional titleholder could happen. I don’t see Gable ever beating Gunther, but after Gunther drops the title, anything is possible.

Ivan Koloff & Don Kernodle versus Alpha Academy (Chad Gable & Otis). Who wins?

Most fans today don’t remember or realize just how good of a team Koloff and Kernodle were, but luckily for me, I do. This match would be awesome and for the most part, evenly matched. Koloff was a great power guy, even in his latter years and Kernodle had a great amateur background that would counter Gable quite well. Ivan and Kernodle would come out on top in this match.

Tony Khan says that “Goldberg in ROH is never going to happen”. Thoughts?

But he didn’t say that Goldberg would never be All Elite and a part of AEW. Yes, we all know that they’re mostly the same thing, but we’re supposed to pretend that they’re not and are two separate companies. Yeah, Tony is going to try and sign Goldberg for some matches. Watch and see.

What was the best PPV over the past weekend? Impact/New Japan, ROH, NXT, Wrestlemania Night 1, or Wrestlemania Night 2?

The best, in my opinion, was Night 1 of Wrestlemania, followed by Night 2, then NXT Stand & Deliver taking the bronze medal for third place. The Impact/New Japan show would be next as it was a good show but had too many people I’m not familiar with. And then the mess that was ROH rounds it all out. When the most memorable part of a show is Dante Martin snapping his leg on a botched (and unnecessary) move, you have to know it’s not going to top any kind of list.

If you could book five fantasy dream matches for The Great Muta, against anyone from any era, what matches would you like to see?

Five great matches for Muta? How about Muta in his prime versus Seth Rollins? Muta versus Larry Zbyszko could be interesting. Muta versus Hulk Hogan during Hogan’s early WWF days might be fun. Muta versus Harley Race would be an instant classic. And finally, Muta versus The Great Kabuki in a battle of the mists.

Did you hear about Rick Steiner allegedly insulting and calling out Gisele Shaw, a transgender wrestler, at Wrestlecon? Thoughts?

Rick Steiner has always been known to be a bit of a bully back in his wrestling days, but this is kind of stupid, even for him. Steiner is involved in politics, serving on the local school board at his home in Georgia, so he definitely should know better. It’ll be interesting to see how all of this plays out. If Gisele wants to play make-believe, that’s his business, but Rick was stupid to make an issue of it and show himself as he did. Actions have consequences and Rick may have ruined his post-wrestling career as a result of not keeping his mouth shut.

MLW recently released Real1 (Enzo Amore), but Enzo says that he wasn’t under contract. Thoughts?

Both Enzo and MLW Owner Court Bauer are both drama queens getting mad and making an issue out of something that doesn’t matter to anyone with half a brain. If Enzo is telling the truth that it was just a handshake deal, then Bauer decided not to use him anymore, it’s still technically getting fired. Regardless of what happened and who’s at fault and whatever, Enzo isn’t working for MLW anymore and he’s not getting paid. And that’s the bottom line and you can’t teach that.

And there you go with another column in the books. My thanks for reading. Comments, thoughts, and any questions are welcome and appreciated. And with that, it’s time to wrap things up. Take care and stay well, my friends. Watch out for foreign objects and I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!