Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
WWE Hiring Freeze, Tony Atlas, CM Punk & More
April 26, 2023
DougMaynard.com

It’s a great day to be alive. It’s also a great day to talk about the King of Sports. It’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. Let’s go.

WWE has had a hiring freeze in place since the beginning of 2023 and has, because of this, missed out on a lot of free agents such as Nick Aldis, Jay White, Naomi, and others. Thoughts?

It’s a shame, but that’s what happens when a business goes on the block. Costs are cut and things are streamlined to make the company look as efficient and cost-productive as possible. I have a feeling that once the dust has settled, we’ll see Aldis being signed up for WWE at some point over the next year. From what I’ve seen so far with Jay White, it’s no big loss and as for Naomi, she walked out and thought that being aligned with Sasha would work in her favor. Well, it didn’t and Sasha has moved on without her. Oh well, shit happens. But back to the hiring freeze. It happens. It’s business. But once things are back to normal with WWE, I’m sure that every single one of those missed opportunities will be rectified.

What are your thoughts & opinions on Dory Funk Jr?

One of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time and a true legend. I met him once in Bennetsville, SC back in the early 80s and he was a nice guy, despite being a heel at the time. Funk is a legend in that ring and also one of the most renowned trainers of all time too, with the Funking Dojo. He’s absolutely one of the good ones.

Tony Atlas turned 69 years old today. Thoughts on the Black Superman?

Tony had an amazing physique as a young man and was fair in the ring as well. I think he didn’t get used as well as he could have been due to his demons and was taken advantage of with some bad career moves such as Saba Simba and the before-mentioned Black Superman. Tony’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’s a wrestling icon who loves feet. And there you go.

Omos versus Viscera. Who wins?

I can see the ring crew reinforcing the ring already for this one. That would be an incredible amount of man meat slapping around and I would feel sorry for the referee having to control those two men. It would be nothing but power and size fighting power and size. And in the end, Omos would walk out with the victory.

Ray Stevens & Jimmy Snuka w/ Gene Anderson versus Dory Jr. & Terry Funk. Who wins?

Two classic teams of legends versus legends. It would come down to who wants it more and in that, manager Gene Anderson would be the deciding factor. I can already see him nailing Dory from the outside of the ring with his cane, with that being followed up by the Bombs Away by Stevens, while Snuka and Terry battle on the outside. Sunka and Stevens win.

What wrestler that’s still alive do you wish you could have a long convo with?

Jim Cornette was the first name that came to mind, but then another name popped up and it would be even better for me. Ole Anderon. I understand that Ole has lots of medical issues these days and is losing his hearing and memories, but just imagine several hours under the learning tree of wrestling’s original Rock. That would be awesome!

A new World Champion at the Saudi PPV. Thoughts?

I guess WWE has realized the situation that they’ve put themselves in with Roman as the Undisputed Champion for so long and it’s time to fix things by bringing in a new World Championship and essentially reinstating the Brand Split. It’s a move that is much overdue and I’m glad to see WWE and Triple H finally taking the steps to rectify the situation. It’ll be interesting to see how this all develops.

CM Punk was backstage at RAW. Thoughts?

And the internet has exploded. The story, according to Mike Johnson of PWInsider is that Punk shared a flight from Florida with several WWE stars and essentially on a whim, decided to go to the RAW taping in Chicago and visit some friends, mend some fences, and say hello. After speaking with Miz, Baron Corbin, Lashley, and Tamina, among others, Punk also spoke briefly with Triple H, and the two ended up shaking hands. Triple H called Vince and then Punk was asked to leave and he did. And the world went crazy. If Punk just wanted to make news and stir up some publicity for his upcoming return to AEW, he did. If he just wanted to visit and say hello, maybe mending some fences, he did that too. And if he’s doing what Meltzer is implying, looking for a job, well let’s remember that Punk is under contract to AEW for a while still to come to that makes no sense, but it’s Meltzer so what do facts and logic matter? Let’s suffice it to say Punk broke the internet again and it’ll be interesting to see what Tony Khan, The Elite, Jericho, and the other haters all have to say in the next few days. It should be very interesting.

What’s up with Chavo Guerrero and his comments about Rey Mysterio and Rey’s “tributes” to Eddie, accusing Rey of prostituting the Guerrero name? Is Chavito just being an ass or do you think this might be an angle with “Uncle Chavo” showing up at WWE to align himself with Dom?

I saw this and I also saw where Chavo backpedaled and said that he was just “playing heel” and fooled everyone. Who knows what is going through the mind of Chavito? Maybe it’s just a half-hearted attempt to distract from the craziness going on with Vickie Guerrero and her daughter or maybe he’s trying to work himself into an angle with Rey and Dom, to get one last run with WWE. I have no idea, but I do like the idea of Chavito and Rey working some matches as Chavo comes to support his “nephew”. Chavo can still go and the matches would be fun. So it could be that or maybe Chavo was working us, or hell, maybe he was just drunk tweeting? We’ll have to watch and see if anything else on this develops.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Comments, thoughts, and any questions are welcome and appreciated. And with that, let’s wrap things up. I need to go to the grocery store and I want to get there before all the crazies come out. Take care and be well, my friends. Watch out for foreign objects and I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!