Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Joey Styles, The Warrior Award, Tony Schiavone & More
DougMaynard.com
Doug Maynard

I’m your guiding light and host. My name is Doug. And this is the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. Any questions? If so, I’ve got the answers below. Let’s roll.

With Wrestlemania being in Philadelphia, how about this? Joey Styles for the WWE Hall of Fame? Thoughts?

I would love to see it happen and the speech would be very interesting to hear, but I doubt it will be happening anytime soon. WWE has a few of their own, like Michael Cole & Lilian Garcia to be inducted first before moving to ECW, WCW, and other companies’ announcers. I know Joey was WWE for a while, but it wasn’t a great run and ended badly. If WWE ever does an ECW-only year of Inductions, he may make it and should, but unless that happens, I have a feeling we’re going to be waiting a while for Mr. Styles.

Kevin Nash won’t be at Sting’s last match despite Sting asking him to be there because WWE won’t allow him. Should he go anyhow?

Wasn’t Kevin Nash the one who said on his podcast just a few months ago that he doesn’t even watch AEW? WWE allowed Bayley to go to New Japan and TNA events so long as she wasn’t on camera and I’m sure that if Kevin just wanted to attend on his own, staying backstage and off camera, WWE would have no problems with that happening, much like Ricky Starks and Dustin Rhodes did last year at Wrestlemania to support Cody. Maybe I’m just cynical, but I think Kevin just doesn’t feel like making a trip and is using his WWE deal as an excuse. That way, he doesn’t look like a bad guy for not being there.

Adrian Adonis versus Drew McIntyre. Who wins?

If this was AWA or the Texas version of Adrian Adonis, or hell, even the early WWF version, this would be a fantastic match and these two men would steal the show. The overweight, WWE version of Adonis, with the make-up and boas, not so much. I’m thinking that Drew should probably win.

The Dream Machine, Troy Graham versus The Velveteen Dream, Patrick Clark with Special Referee, The American Dream, Dusty Rhodes. Who wins?

Talk about a dream match and here you go. I don’t remember much about Dream Machine, but in the few matches I have seen, courtesy of YouTube, I wasn’t impressed. I was impressed with Velveteen Dream’s rise in NXT and the way he progressed with every match and appearance, but I still don’t think he had the experience necessary to beat the Dream Machine. I’ll say that Velveteen Dream wins the match with a surprise roll-up, but then Dream Machine beats him down in a post-match attack. Then Dusty gets fed up and lays Dream Machine out with the bionic elbow. And there you go.

I never understood why some wrestlers would shit in others’ bags. There are many stories of wrestlers doing that. Is there something mentally wrong with some of them that they can’t seem to behave themselves? What do you think?

I’m not trying to be disrespectful here and I think most of my friends involved in wrestling would agree, but most wrestlers are not the most ordinary of people. The people involved in this business we all love are wired differently and live by rules and a code of their own and things that would freak most of us outsiders out, it’s just business as usual and another day at the office to these guys. Yes, shitting in someone’s bag is pretty extreme, but it sends a message and gets the point across, right? We may not understand or get it but it’s not for us to judge. Only those who have walked the walk talked the talk, and lived the life can do so.

Do you think WWE will continue with the “Warrior Award” as part of the WWE Hall of Fame inductions? Dana Warrior was released as part of the WWE merger with TKO so she’s not there anymore. Thoughts?

I have no idea, but I hope so. Although the Warrior himself was of dubious character, the idea behind this award was a good one. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what WWE decides to do, but paying homage to special people who do good things is never a bad thing in my opinion.

Only four matches, plus an interview segment for the WWE Elimination Chamber? Really? Thoughts?

Two of the matches, the Elimination Chamber matches, will be at least 40-45 minutes long, and then both of the other matches will be at least ten or more minutes so it’s not as bad as it sounds. Plus there is plenty of room for the Grayson Waller Effect to do its time with Seth and Cody and for that to possibly lead into another impromptu match with maybe Seth and Cody teaming up to take on Waller and his partner, Austin Theory. Maybe we’ll see Roman Reigns and The Rock show up and advance the story on the road to Wrestlemania. It doesn’t look like a lot on paper, but in reality, it should work well to make for an excellent show. I prefer this to the AEW marathon events where you get 15 matches crammed into a four-hour event.

If WWE were to do a 10-man Celebrity Battle Royal for Wrestlemania, kind of like what they did with the Gimmick Battle Royal at Wrestlemania X-17, what 10 celebrities would you want to see participate? And who would win?

Thinking as to who is currently on WWE’s radar and would be healthy enough to participate in an event like this, my ten celebrities would be Logan Paul, Bad Bunny, David Arquette, Shaq, Johnny Knoxville, Steve O, Stephen Amell, Rob Gronkowski, Snoop Dogg, and Mike Tyson. Since Logan Paul is currently a part of the WWE roster and is the current United States Champion, I’d have him as the winner.

Do you honestly think Mercedes Mone will move the needle for AEW?

I think she’ll have just as much effect on the ratings as Jeff Hardy and Edge have had. No more and no less.

Tony Schiavone is so lame on AEW. Why do they keep him around? Is it time for Tony to retire already?

Tony can be good when he is motivated, inspired, and not handicapped with a masked buffoon to carry at the announce desk. Tony has more experience than all of the other announcers in AEW, not named Jim Ross, combined and that counts for a lot. I’ll be the first to admit that his announcing as of late isn’t great, but look at what he’s trying to get over. No one can fake it that well. Should Tony retire? If he feels ready to do so and wants to get away from wrestling, then I would say yes. But the decision should be his and his alone. Right now, he’s trying to at least pretend to like what he’s seeing and that check from Tony Khan is too good to give up. When he finds that passion again, everyone will understand why he’s still there. AEW just needs to give him a reason why to be motivated and give more.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. Comments, thoughts, and any questions are welcome and appreciated. Be sure to like, share, and subscribe. And with that, let’s wrap things up so I can go to bed. I have to be up in three hours for a doctor’s appointment. Stay good and be well, my friends. Watch out for the guy in the hoodie. It’s probably Solo Sikoa ready to deliver a spiked thumb to the throat. I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!