Tossing Salt Presents:
Ultimate Wrestling Q&A
Randy Orton, WWE Hall of Fame, Hulk Hogan & More
DougMaynard.com
Doug Maynard

Welcome to the show. It’s the only pro wrestling Q&A that matters. You have questions and I have answers. It’s the Ultimate Wrestling Q&A. I’m Doug, your party host and Guiding Light. Are you ready? Let’s do this.

Randy Orton will be at WrestleMania Sunday, but who will step up?

I discussed this in my prediction column for Night Two. I’d like to see Nick Aldis, Omos, or maybe even Karrion Kross step up, but my gut, plus the fact that they’ve been spotted in Las Vegas, an open challenge against Randy Orton would be a great way to reintroduce The Bulgarian Brute, Rusev, and Lana. It makes the most sense to me and would have the biggest impact. So, let’s go with Rusev stepping up to fight The Viper at Mania.

At the WWE Hall of Fame Induction, when Pat McAfee brought Stone Cold and Bret some beer, did you want to see Austin give Pat a stunner on the stage? I did.

I kept waiting for it to happen, but it never did. It would have made for a great Hall of Fame moment, but I guess they didn’t want to have beer spilled everywhere or mess up Pat’s expensive suit (rolls eyes). The weekend is still young though so maybe we’ll see Austin give someone the stunner. Keep your fingers crossed.

How would you rate the WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on a scale of 1-10?

It was long. Very long. But I think that had as much being held at that late night hour as anything else. Parts of it dragged, such as Michelle McCool’s long and meaningless dialogue. Parts had my allergies acting up, such as Luger, Fred Ottman, and parts of Triple H’s speech. And I cracked a few smiles too at the stories of HBK and Triple H. For an old-school fan such as myself, the part was picking out the faces in the audience. On a scale of 1-10, I’ll give it a 7.5. A good show, but they need to change the scheduling so everyone isn’t kept up quite so late.

HOF Match: Lex Luger, The Natural Disasters, and Ivan Koloff versus Triple H, Steve Austin, Bret Hart, and Kamala. Special Referee: Dory Funk Sr. Who wins?

What a chaotic event this would be. Confusing, but so damn fun with all the Hall of Fame inductees who actually deserve to be there being involved. Triple H, Steve Austin, Bret Hart, and Kamala would win.

Should there be an Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal for the women wrestlers, aka keeping all things equal in WWE?

And what would they call it? The Moolah Invitational? No, WWE doesn’t need this. A Battle Royal for the women at WWE Evolution 2, if it does happen this summer, would be cool, to give the women of WWE, NXT, TNA, Evolution, and LFG a spot if they don’t make it on the card. Maybe the winner gets a match against one of the Women’s Champions on RAW? But, that’s just an idea. A regular, annual Battle Royal for the Women? We already have the Royal Rumble. Unless it’s for a very special reason or person, WWE doesn’t need it.

There are rumors that Ken Anderson, aka Mr. Kennedy, may be signing with AEW and forming an alliance with MJF. Thoughts?

Anderson is getting up there in years and hasn’t been a major player in professional wrestling in quite a while. If these rumors are true and Anderson is brought in to work with MJF, more power to him. Congratulations. But, I honestly don’t believe it’s happening.

Describe Hulk Hogan’s impact on your interest in professional wrestling.

I grew up on Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and the NWA, so Hogan wasn’t as important to me as some others, but he was the first man to break that glass ceiling and make professional wrestling mainstream. The power of the WWF, combined with the power of Hollywood, made wrestling fun again and even if you weren’t a fan, you still paid attention. Hogan has a ton of issues and he may be a shit human being, but his legacy and impact changed wrestling forever and helped to make it into the multi-billion dollar entity it is today. Hogan affected all of our lives and deserves his kudos for that.

Who would be on your Mt. Rushmore of masked wrestlers?

The Masked Superstar, Mr. Wrestling II, The Assassin, and Mil Mascaras.

And there you go. Thanks for reading. Comments, thoughts, and questions are welcome and appreciated. Reach me by e-mail at Doug28352@yahoo.com or on X at @Doug28352. 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 I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!