Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Jey Uso, The Royal Rumble, Returns & More
DougMaynard.com
Doug Maynard

I’m Doug and this is a very stressed-out edition of the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. The wrestling stuff is cool. I’m the one that’s very stressed. Let’s do this anyhow.

So who is WWE’s biggest money mover (not counting The Rock or John Cena)? Punk, Roman, or Cody?

If I recall correctly, but no promises, the best-selling merch guy of the three right now is Cody. Roman’s stuff has slowed down a little since he’s rarely on TV. And don’t forget Jey Uso and Mami. I’m just guessing, but the names you mentioned, plus those two, would probably make up the top 5 in WWE.

Fabulous Freebird Michael Hayes has been mentioned in the latest version of the Janel Grant lawsuit. Should WWE fire Hayes?

Terminate? Nope, because of a little thing called innocent until proven guilty. However, if Hayes were to quietly retire, I don’t think anyone would be too upset. With this new revelation, true or not, I feel Hayes’s career in WWE is over.

Rate the Royal Rumble PLE from 1-10.

Four matches in 4 1/2 hours. The Rumble matches were solid, but the other matches just seemed long. Great matches, but the 2 1/2-hour RAWs and the 3-hour PLEs have spoiled me. I was let down by the ending of the Women’s Rumble, but the show still delivered. I’d give it a 7.5.

Jey Uso won the Royal Rumble match and is going to WrestleMania. Thoughts?

Who saw that coming, right? But it’s a surprise ending, and I’m happy for Jey. At first, I was like, WTF, but after a little thought, I like it. And few wrestlers in the WWE deserve it more. Jey just shattered that glass ceiling. YEET!

According to PWInsider, “Something went wrong with Drew McIntyre’s elimination from the Men’s Rumble. When McIntyre returned to the back, he was “screaming and cursing” that “someone had to get their moves in” at the expense of several stories in the match. We are told McIntyre pretty loudly stormed out of the building and was gone well before the Rumble match ended. Thoughts?

I’ve read and heard quite a bit more since last night, and it seems the guilty party might be LA Knight. I don’t think any disruptions were intentional, but more just forgetting spots and accidents happen. A live event, in front of 70,000 people, trying to remember cues and spots, can’t be easy and people do screw up sometimes. Hopefully, WWE production can fix any issues in post-editing, while any problems with moving storylines along properly can be addressed with a promo or confrontation on RAW or Smackdown, as needed, to make everything right again.

What do you think is the Mania direction for Reigns, Punk & Rollins?

My first thought as I watched all three men in a pile on the floor after Punk’s elimination was a memory of Starcade 1995 in WCW, where Ric, Lex, and Sting wrestled in a triple-threat match at the start of the show, with the winner going on to face Randy Savage at the end of the night for the WCW World Championship. With WrestleMania being two nights now, how about a triple-threat with Roman versus Seth versus Punk on Night 1, with the winner going on to face Cody on Night 2 in the main event? To even things up, Cody defends against the winner of the Elimination Chamber on Night 1 and then the winner of the TripleThreat on Night 2. Everyone works two matches that weekend, plus everyone gets to main event Mania. It’s a win-win for all.

Say his name and he appears. Thoughts on the Royal Rumble appearance of Joe Hendry?

It was far too short and didn’t last nearly long enough, but at least he was there. The foot is in the door of the main roster for Hendry, currently the TNA Champion, and just a stray cat that’s been given some food, they always come back for more. The Rumble appearance could have been better, but at least it happened. And now, Hendry is WWE. Believe that!

Thoughts on the new WWE Evolve show coming to Tubi on 3/5. Gabe Sabolsky is the guy in charge.

More developmental wrestling under the WWE banner to watch. I’m actually excited for this. And, it will be running on Tubi on Wednesday nights at 8:00 pm Eastern. Why does that timeslot seem so familiar? Tony Khan can’t be happy right now. This should be very interesting and, as a fan of the old Evolve, it’ll be good to see how this reboot turns out.

John Cena says he will compete in the Elimination Chamber and that ” me main-eventing WrestleMania is best for business.” What are your thoughts?

John looked rough last night in the Rumble. He looked skinny and pale, and while he hit his spots, it didn’t have the feel of the old John Cena. It’ll be cool to see Cena as part of The Elimination Chamber. Even the Temu-version we’re getting now is still John Cena, right? But main-eventing WrestleMania? Based on what I saw last night, a nice little match against Roman, Seth, Orton, etc., could be nice, but he doesn’t need to be in the main event.

Thoughts on the returns of Alexa Bliss, AJ Styles, and Charlotte Flair?

Alexa Bliss was a surprise, but she didn’t have much opportunity to do much. It was still very cool and I’m looking forward to seeing what she does on RAW Monday night to stir things up. AJ was back and like Alexa, he didn’t do much, but he had a solid match and looked great. I expect we’ll see him on Friday pick back up where he left off and do his thing. As for Charlotte, it was just too predictable for my tastes. I’m always happy to see The Queen, but this return was less than spectacular in my opinion.

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 guess I’m wrapping things up. Take care, and be well, my friends. Watch out for surprise appearances and I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!