Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Daniel Garcia, Hook, WWE Diversity & More
DougMaynard.com
Doug Maynard

I’m Doug and this is the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. If you have questions about the King of Sports, I’ve got the answers. Let’s rock& roll.

Tony D’Angelo has defeated Oba Femi to become the new WWE NXT North American Champion. Femi’s record-breaking reign has come to an end. Thoughts?

My guess is now, we’ll see Oba Femi move up to the main roster for a bit, while D’Angelo has a good run as the NXT North American Champion. This keeps a strong presence near the top in NXT while giving Triple H a chance to address this fake-ass racial nonsense and give a strong push to a black man on the main roster.

Is Darby the face of AEW?

He’s one of the faces of AEW, yes.

Daniel Garcia has announced that he’s staying with AEW. Thoughts?

Garcia decided to take the money and hope for the best as one of Tony Khan’s toys instead of focusing on getting better as a wrestler and trying to improve as part of the WWE system. He’s young enough so if he can avoid getting injured, he’ll probably have another chance in 3-5 years.

Jake Roberts and Don Callis had a talent switch, with Callis getting Lance Archer while Jake now manages Rush, Mortos, and Dralistico. Thoughts?

Hopefully, this will be the move needed to get Archer some solid momentum and a bigger role in AEW. He’s been needing a change and putting him with Callismay very well be that change he’s been needing. I don’t see much for Roberts and his team of luchadors, but I expect this part of the transaction will be forgotten within a couple of weeks and Roberts will go back to AEW limbo.

HOOK won the feud against Chris Jericho. Chris Jericho is on WrestleDream and HOOK isn’t. What a beneficial half a year that was! Thoughts?

AEW and Tony Khan don’t know how to book Hook or use him properly. He has scarcely grown as a wrestler or performer over the past few years and seems to be getting worse in my opinion. Hook was special with a ton of potential, but AEW just seems to have wasted it and thrown it all away. Sad.

If you could choose the next AEW World Champion, Women’s Champion, and Tag Champions to hold those belts for the next calendar year to steady the ship while Tony hopefully makes the changes he needs the company can regrow back to 2021/2022 status, who would you choose?

For the AEW World’s Championship, I’d get him as far away from Moxley and the BCC as possible and go with Claudio Castagnoli. For the Women’s Championship, I think my choice would be Thunder Rosa. And with the tag team championship, how about the team of Will Ospreay & Ricochet?

Is there a wrestler that you miss seeing on your screens? For me, it’s Keith Lee.

I miss seeing Curtis Axel and Heath Slater. I’d love to see WWE bring either of those men back.

Who do you see winning the Women’s NXT championship first? Giulia or Stephanie Vaquer?

Both women are excellent so it’s hard to make a choice. I’ll just flip a coin. Heads for Giolia and tails for Vaquer. And it’s tails so Stephanie Vaquer it is. She’ll win the NXT Women’s Championship first.

I’ll start by saying both issues are equally as important, and I don’t want to go into any tribalism. Thoughts on HHH seemingly getting more grief on black representation than TK on women’s wrestling?

Triple H and WWE are winning and are the big guys so people look for a reason to take shots and cause issues. WWE has a great diversity and plenty of POC all up and down their roster. Triple H explained that he books based on merit, ability, and what the fans want. But no matter what he says, there are going to be haters and complainers. Tony is seen as the underdog and plays up to the sympathy. So he gets less grief. Beit minorities wrestling or women, it should be talent, merit, and the ability to tell a story that matters and not race. Some fans are just too damn dumb to realize that.

You have just started a new promotion, what 10 wrestlers would you take from the current rosters in WWE, AEW, NXT, TNA, NJPW, etc to be the foundation of your promotion? (Max of 3 wrestlers per promotion).

From WWE, I’d want Drew McIntyre, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins. From AEW, I’d want Will Ospreay & Claudio Castagnoli. That’s five. And I’d fill my roster out with Tripp Cautious, Heath Slater, Matt Cardona, Sammy Love, and Joe Hennig, aka Curtis Axel.

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 it up. Take care and be well, my friends. Watch out for foreign objects and enjoy the WrestleDream PPV from AEW tonight. I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!