Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Ava Raine, CM Punk, The Elites & More
October 13, 2023
DougMaynard.com

Are you ready? I said, ARE YOU READY? It’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. I’m Doug and you’re not. Let’s do this.

Paul Heyman was recently spotted talking to Ava Raine. So will Raine be brought up to the main roster as part of The Bloodline?

Honestly, based on what I’ve seen of her in NXT, I don’t think Ava Raine is ready to be brought up to the main roster just yet. Honestly, if her father wasn’t who he is, I don’t think she’d still have a job with WWE/NXT. But back to the question? I think this incident, Heyman talking to Raine, is what is known as planting seeds and doing a tease. She might be brought up at some point, or she may not. But we’re talking about it so the tease did its job.

The numbers are in. WWE NXT crushed AEW Dynamite in the ratings by nearly 300,000 viewers. Thoughts?

Triple H and HBK have Tony Khan a spanking. And that’s all I need to say about that.

Meltzer says that WWE has decided not to bring in CM Punk. Thoughts?

Meltzer has said this and every wrestling site in the world has reported it, except the one that I actually trust, which verifies news, requires a second source for their reporting, and sticks to news instead of speculation and theories. Meltzer reported this? Who cares? When I hear it from Mike Johnson or PWInsider, I’ll believe it. Until then, it’s just Meltzer being the same non-credible storyteller he’s always been. Punk will be in WWE sooner rather than later. And Meltzer can choke on that, slapnuts!

Orange Cassidy is the NEW AEW Continental Champion, while Hikaru Shida defeated Saraya to become the new AEW Women’s Champion for the third time. Thoughts?

It’s just the typical hotshot booking from Tony Khan and AEW, nothing more. Cassidy regained his former title from the guy who wasn’t even supposed to win the belt, while Shida regained her belt from a champion who couldn’t defend it and only won the belt in the first place to give the fans a feel-good moment at Wembley. Nothing more than that.

The Undertaker laid out Bronn Breakker. So one more match for Taker? Thoughts?

I would hope that there is a match or some sort of payoff in the future as a result of this angle. Beating Taker would be a great way to elevate Breakker to the next level, even at this stage of Undertaker’s career. Otherwise, what’s the point? There has to be a follow-up and payoff.

If AEW was going to pull out all the big guns to beat NXT (C show btw), why did they not put their EVPs on the show?

That’s a very valid point. AEW loaded the card, but there was no sign of either Kenny Omega or The Young Bucks. Can it be because they actually tend to lose viewers when they’re on TV? Maybe the MVPs knew, as we all did, that Dynamite was going to get throttled on Tuesday night and didn’t want to be part of the show, so they could have some deniability. It is an interesting point since, as the biggest stars of AEW, they should have been there and part of the show.

Juice Robinson with a roll of quarters with MJF’s name written on them. Anti-Semitic or a good wrestling angle? Thoughts?

It’s just a wrestling angle that fits in with Juice’s character and stories that MJF has told about his youth, but the timing was really bad. To work an angle involving MJF’s Jewish background the day after Israel was attacked by Hamas and a war has started, with thousands dead already, was just dumb and thoughtless. That part of the angle should have been scrapped and changed. It wasn’t intentional on the part of AEW, but it was a major screw-up that I’m sure they’ll end up regretting.

Who are your perfect teams to face off in this year’s Survivor Series WarGames match?

How about a Bloodline/Judgement Day alliance, with Jimmy Uso, Solo Sikoa, Damian Priest, Finn Balor, and Dom Mysterio, accompanied by Paul Heyman & Rhea Ripley, versus Cody Rhodes, Jey Uso, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and LA Knight. Works for me. Yeah!

Tony Khan: “I’m Pretty Sure 10/10 NXT Blew Whatever Chance Shawn Michaels Had At Winning ‘Booker Of The Year”. Yes, he really said that, Thoughts?

Tony needs to put the phone down and lay off the stimulants. He sounds like a petty child and a morUltimate on.

The Judgement Day (Finn Balor, Damian Priest, Dom Mysterio) w/ Rhea Ripley versus The Elite (Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks) w/ Hangman Page in a War Games Match. Who wins?

Rhea could probably take out the entire Elite by herself. This one goes to The Judgement Day.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Thoughts, comments, and questions are welcome and appreciated. And with that, let’s wrap things up. I have to be at a doctor’s appointment in twenty minutes. Take care and be well, my friends. Watch out for foreign objects and I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!