Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Jake Hager, Darby Allin, Gunther & More
DougMaynard.com
Doug Maynard

It’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. I’m Doug. Let’s roll.

If WWE and AEW had a one-off Forbidden Door PPV, what is one match that you believe HAS to happen?

CM Punk versus Jack Perry. A tag team match with Punk and two partners of his choice versus The Young Bucks & Perry would be awesome too, but the singles match with Jungle Boy would be my first pick.

With Jake Hager leaving AEW, is there ANY interest in the former WWE World Champion having another run in WWE?

I would love to see it happen. I don’t know how WWE feels about it since Jake’s run in AEW was less than impressive, but I’d love to see a veteran Hager under the guidance and auspices of Triple H and HBK. It could be really good.

Call me crazy but Ethan Page/Jordynne Grace showing up in #WWENXT was more impactful than MJF returning to AEW! Yes or no?

I hate to admit it, but yes. Looking around online, the enthusiasm for a possible TNA/WWE crossover was the biggest thing I could find. Page was in the headlines more for his NXT debut than I’ve seen in the past several years of being part of AEW. And the buzz is still going on. So far as MJF goes, he got a great pop and the crowd was happy to see him back, but with no follow-up appearance on Dynamite, the buzz has died down rather quickly.

What WWE talent would you like to see show up on TNA?

Drew McIntyre and TNA Champion Moose are already making some noise towards each other and that would be fun to see. Could you imagine the buzz if Paul Heyman was to show up at the Impact Zone scouting for talent for his Tribal Chief? Imagine R-Truth just showing up and thinking he was on RAW. “My bad!”, he could say. The possibilities are endless.

What are your thoughts on Gunther’s promo skills? I think he needs to work on them and pick it up a little bit.

There is nothing wrong with Gunther’s promo skills. He speaks naturally, somewhat softly, but he gets his point across and makes an impact. He reminds me of the Masked Superstar back in the territory days where, in a world filled with men yelling and always being loud and angry, Superstar would speak intelligently, quietly, and just say what he needed to say. It made Superstar stand out from the rest and I see Gunther in the same way.

How do you think Eric Bischoff would do booking AEW, with the current roster, not bringing in people?

Eric certainly couldn’t do any worse than the current AEW booker, but Eric will tell you he’s not a booker. Eric would use the names around him that he felt he could trust and would in fact, “bring in people”, to handle the bulk of the creative process. Eric is a big idea guy and leaves others to sort out the details. That’s what worked for him in WCW and that’s what he would do in AEW.

Now that TKO owns WWE and Vince is gone do you think Martha Hart may allow for Owen to be inducted into the HOF?

No, I don’t think so. Martha blames the WWE for taking away her husband and the father of her children and just because Vince is gone, that isn’t going to change things. Maybe Owen’s children at some point may think differently, but I don’t think Martha ever will.

Will Ospreay recently stated that he thinks Scott D’Amore should be hired to run Ring of Honor? Thoughts?

Ospreay is right. It would take a lot of pressure off of Tony Khan, allow some new ideas into the company, and probably improve the ROH product quite a bit. If nothing else, Tony and D’Amore should at least have some conversations about possibly working together at some point. It certainly couldn’t hurt.

With their recent injuries in mind, do you think Eddie Kingston and Adam Copeland will return to AEW as full-time wrestlers once they’re healed up?

So far as Kingston goes, I expect he may attempt a return for a few matches, but I doubt he’ll ever be a full-time performer again. He was already considering retirement when he was approached by AEW and that was five years ago. With the new injuries, I don’t think his body could handle another full-time run. So far as Edge goes, I’m sure that this injury is weighing hard on him. Reality can be a bitch sometimes. I think he may come back for a one-off or two with Christian, but aside from that, I think the days of Edge as a full-time wrestler are over.

Speaking of injuries, do you think Darby Allin will still be wrestling in five years?

At the rate he’s going, I don’t think Darby will last two more years, much less five. The human body can only take so much and with the manner of abuse that Darby regularly subjects his body to, he’s at risk every time he steps into a ring. Sooner or later, the odds are going to catch up with him and it’ll be an injury he can’t bounce back from. As it is now, Darby is going to be using a walker by the time he’s fifty and in pain for the rest of his life. If things don’t change, it could be worse. Five years would be a miracle. I don’t think Darby has many of those left.

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, I’m out of here. Take care and be well, my friends. Watch out for foreign objects and I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!