Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
The Four Pillars, CM Punk, Collision in Korea & More
DougMaynard.com
Doug Maynard

It’s time again for everyone to climb aboard the Ho’ Train! What? That train’s already left the station? Then I guess we’ll just do an edition of the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A instead. It’s almost as good. I’m Doug and Pinpin’ Ain’t Easy. Let’s do this.

Is Cody Rhodes the new Face of WWE?

He’s been the WWE Champion for nearly a year and his face is plastered on every truck and poster WWE has, so I think all signs point to YES.

Rank the AEW four “Pillars” (MJF, Jungle Boy, Sammy Guevera, Darby Allin) for 2024.

MJF had a failed babyface and spent most of the year either away or tied up in that “Devil” story with Adam Cole. Sammy Guevera has had repeated concussions and spent most of the year either injured or suspended. Darby was hit by a bus and his partner, Sting, retired. I think 2024 has been a rough one for three of the four original Pillars of AEW. As for Jungle Boy Jack Perry, he’s evolved into the “Scapegoat” character and just completed a long run as the TNT Championship. Perry has some momentum in his favor compared to the rest. So in terms of ranking, Perry had the best year, followed by MJF and Darby, with Sammy bringing up the rear.

CM Punk is said to be a ‘model citizen’ backstage in WWE since his return at last year’s Survivor Series. He is believed to have been ‘quite helpful’ in the company. Thoughts?

See what happens when a person leaves a toxic environment and is happy with his career, life, etc. I’ve always felt a person is the product of their surroundings and atmosphere more often than not and CM Punk is proving that to be true.

Are you excited for Eddie Kingston’s eventual return? What kind of storyline or rivalry would you like him to dive into when he’s back?

Truthfully, I had forgotten that Kingston was even part of the AEW roster. His return allegedly won’t be until the summer of 2025 at the earliest, so it’s too soon to get too excited about it. When he comes back, let him feud with MVP and Lashley. I’m not sure why, but that was the first name that popped into my head.

Who would you pick if you could pick one person from WWE to go to AEW, one from AEW to go to TNA, and one to go from TNA to WWE?

From WWE to AEW, I’d probably select Apollo Crews. He’s overshadowed in WWE and AEW, he’d at least get a push for a few months before being forgotten and ignored. From AEW to TNA, I’d go with FTR. TNA would appreciate them far more than AEW seems to. For TNA to WWE, I believe in Joe Hendry.

HHH is a lover of wrestling history. Could you see TKO being talked into buying the NWA as a way to get the Ten Pounds Of Gold into WWE ownership?

The original ten pounds of gold, the gold-domed NWA Championship belt is currently owned by Triple H and the WWE and is on display at WWE Headquarters. So Triple H already owns the belt and there would be no reason to get TKO involved. In regards to the NWA, it’s currently owned by Billy Corgan and if he was interested in selling, I’m sure WWE would be interested just for the copyrights and video library. But it would have nothing to do with the title belt.

What would you think about a mixed War Games match but with the WCW multilevels cell? The women would fight on the floor and the men in the other. It would probably suck for sure but just fantasy booking.

It would suck and be too confusing to make any sense to anyone. Let’s forget this question and never mention it again.

If there ever was another Collision in Korea to be created and company limits were off the table, what would be the modern-day 3 main events Who would be the cooker and booker of the millennium?

I could see Tony Khan trying this. Three main events? AEW Champion Jon Moxley versus IWGP Champion Zack Sabre Jr. NJPW Openweight Champion Gabe Kidd versus Kenny Omega. And finally, IWGP Women’s Champion Mayu Iwatani versus AEW TBS Champion and IWGP Strong Women’s Champion Mercedes Mone’. The rest of the card would be filled with random New Japan versus AEW matches, much like a Forbidden Door PPV event.

For his second-to-last match of all time, you can fantasy book Cena during a tag match. Who is his partner and who are their opponents? Who wins?

Just off the top of my head, I’d have John Cena teamed with Randy Orton to take on the team of Grayson Waller and Austin Theory. And yes, Cena and Orton would win.

When can we expect to see Christian Cage trying to lure Negative 1 to the patriarchy? Why are Momma Wayne and Amanda the match we never knew we needed?

The only times I’ve seen Negative 1 at any recent wrestling events was visiting Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania and sitting ringside. But for the sake of this question, we’ll assume he’s still part of AEW. Christian tries to recruit him and get a match between Mother Wayne and Amanda Huber as a result. This idea is so cringe-worthy and I hope that no one in AEW would take it seriously. It should never happen. NEVER!

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 for now. I think I need some breakfast. Take care and be well, my friends. Watch out for Mother Wayne and her evil ways. I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!