Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
ZZ Loupe, Julia Hart, Roman Reigns & More
DougMaynard.com
Doug Maynard

I’m Doug and this is the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. My apologies for the sudden vanishing act. I had some stuff going on and spent a few days in the hospital. I’m doing better now. The questions have piled up, but I’ll tackle them as best as I can. So are you ready? Let’s do this.

Do you feel ZZ Loupe would have been a good fit for The Wyatt Family?

ZZ was a part of Tough Enough, Season Six, including Chelsea Green, Velveteen Dream, and Sara Lee, and was won by Josh Bredl. ZZ was a different dude with a unique way of looking at things and who marched to his own beat in many ways. He was chubby and lazy if I remember correctly, but had tons of charisma and personality. He was one of the runner-ups for Season Six and was signed to a WWE Developmental contract. And his day job? He handles wild animals and offers tours of the swamps in Florida. So would he have made a good candidate for a member of the original Wyatt Family, a cult-like group from the swamp? He would have essentially been playing himself. That would have been an excellent spot for Mr. Loupe.

Which male Pro Wrestler would you cast as James Bond?

For some reason, WWE Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis immediately came to mind. Look at the dude. And he’s British. He’d make the perfect James Bond.

Do you feel like Roman has lost a bit of his aura since returning?

Roman is not who he once was, but that’s as much by design as anything else. A weakened Roman invites sympathy and builds the story of a man seeking redemption against the people who cast him out, the new Bloodline. It all makes perfect sense to me.

Do you guys think the top names on Raw have lost a bit of their appeal and aura since Raw moved to 2 Hours?

Things do seem a bit more rushed right now. That’s true. The top guys are not getting as much time as they once were as WWE struggles to find room and a place for everyone in the space and time allowed. But I think it’s just a temporary setback. WWE is still telling great stories and the shows are still good. Once WWE moves to Netflix and Smackdown moves to three hours, the talents will be able to slow down and step up and be presented as the stars they are once more.

Who would win Brothers of Destruction or Tha Gangstas?

In a legitimate fight, I have no idea, but inside that wrestling ring, I’d put my money on The Undertaker and Kane.

What’s the reason that North American companies don’t promote more women matches?

They don’t promote Women’s matches more often because, with limited exceptions, Women’s matches don’t sell tickets or draw crowds. There are some great women wrestlers and Rhea Ripley, for example, is one of the hottest talents alive today, but for the most part, the Women are the special attraction and bonus, while the men are the stars who fans will pay to see. It’s simple logistics and common sense. Nothing more.

Julia Hart was teased at returning on last week’s Collision. What would you like to see with her return to AEW? Is she back with the House of Black or flies solo?

I’d like to see Hart cut good promos and be presented as a strong character who can go inside the ring and offer a true challenge to Mercedes and Toni Storm, among others. I think she’ll be presented as a solo act.

Who should face Goldberg for his retirement match? Gunther or Bron Breakker?

Based on the teases and their past interactions, it should be Gunther, although either opponent would be fun to see.

The women’s division in AEW seems unsettled. May’s and Mone’s title runs have been underwhelming. How would you fix it? Who would you push?

How do you rebuild something that is this damaged? Short of getting rid of everyone and doing a complete reboot, I have no idea. A strong and disciplined booker would be a good start to take control and restructure stories and matches so they make sense. Give the women involved a sense of purpose so they’ll tighten up on the matches to tell a story and not just be botch-mania going through the motions. Build up the women and the qualities that make them unique, strong characters, instead of generic cookie-cutter centerfold models. Lastly, cut out the egos so that the women are a team devoted to making things better for AEW instead of just trying to score hits for their OnlyFans. Who would I push? How about Thunder Rosa and Athena?

Do you think they should swap MITB with Elimination Chamber? I feel it would freshen both up and make the Chamber less predictable. It would add more intrigue around MITB.

No. Both PLEs are fine exactly where they are at.

And there you go. My thanks for reading. I’ll be playing catch-up for the next few days so you’ve been warned. Comments, thoughts, and any questions are welcome and appreciated. Be sure to like, share, and subscribe. Watch out for foreign objects and I’ll see you again shortly.

Ubuntu!