ASK TITO: Why Our Wrestling Opinions Don’t Matter, Danhausen’s Popularity Boom, Roman at UFC Event, Jade Cargill’s Wig, and Much More
The Excellence in Column Writing is upon you, and this is the column that needs no assistance from artificial intelligence to help write the column or form thoughts. Why? Because the wrestling intelligence has always been here and has never left. The amount of wrestling knowledge that I forget in one day equates to the entire knowledge base of most online fans, especially ones needing mommy AI to remember, look-up things, and form their own written thoughts. With me, you get all Tito, baby, and whatever slop that follows.
This column is called Ask Tito where I provide my snappy answers to questions submitted by YOU, the readers, via email, private messaging on various social media platforms, and the comment below my columns. The former 2, of course, are with long-time readers who get first rights and privilege to asking questions. Oh, and I almost forgot… Other questions are submitted by lunatic that’s inside my head. He raises the blade, makes the changes, and rearranges me until I’m sane. Then, he locks the door and throws away the key, as there’s someone in my head but it’s not me. You got it? Good.
Now, before I answer your “questions”, I want to make a public service announcement (PSA) to the entire Internet Wrestling Community (IWC).
Are you ready to hear this?
Are you absolutely sure?
Ok, here it goes…
YOUR WRESTLING OPINIONS DON’T MATTER!
Sure, they matter to you and your infinite sadness of a world that you’ve created for yourself. But barking online, all day long, about whose wrestling opinion is RIGHT and whose wrestling opinion is WRONG is just a complete waste of time. Why? Because YOUR opinion doesn’t matter.
And neither does mine.
Outside of the NoDQ.com atmosphere, where does my wrestling opinion matter? If I didn’t post on LordsofPain or Top-Rope before this and now NoDQ, would you ever hear my lousy opinions? NO! But even then, with due respect to these 3 fine websites, we’re a small percentage of the wrestling base. Each week, the WWE is viewed by between 1.5 to 3 million viewers per week. Most websites do a tiny fraction of that on views, but most of that goes towards news and results NOT opinion. For social media, while many wrestling fans use it, they are using it for their personal needs and not for wrestling discussion.
Who fights all day long on Social Media, whether it’s for wrestling or political stuff? Those who are looking for a fight and use the rest of the world as their punching bag for whatever is pissing them off.
And I’m guilty as charged… Dirty secret about ol’ Mr. Tito is that my columns are just a creative outlet, and sometimes a much needed creative outlet when things are going rough. Go back to those late 2010s columns where I had a few deaths in my family and I was severely overworked. Yeah, there’s a metric ton of RAGE in those columns about how terrible the WWE was back then. Every damn column went off on how poor of a talent manager Triple H was and how terrible Roman Reigns was as a babyface. I needed that rage at the time and it helped get me through it…
BUT, were my criticisms of HHH and Roman during the late 2010s heard? No… WWE has enough loyal fans who will keep handing them money, no matter what I say online, and enough corporate sponsors happy with how many loyal fans keep handing WWE money. Ol’ Tito or anybody online is NOT going to break someone’s habit of watching wrestling on Mondays and then watching at least one PLE per month on the weekend. Ticket prices go up, they still attend events… Merchandise prices go up, they still buy crap (ugh, those expensive replica title belts!). Cost to watch WWE PLE goes up, thanks to the price gouging Disney/ESPN, people hand over their money.
Sure, there are some “small victories” (great Faith No More song) such as overturning Wrestlemanias 30 (Daniel Bryan), 31 (Rollins over Roman), and 40 (letting Cody finish his story), but WWE will eventually “get theirs”. Remember the famous “Summer of Punk” during 2011? WWE was hell bent on making Alberto Del Rio world champion and made that happen during SummerSlam 2011 no matter what it took. WWE kept trying and trying to get Roman over as a babyface that he headlined most of the late 2010s Wrestlemanias. Despite terrible matches, the WWE never took their foot off the gas.
Now, you have TKO running things and anybody who is represented by WME, of which the Endeavor executives partially own and still work there, gets pushed. Funny how both Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes are your world champions right now. Gee, what could be coming up later this year? OH YEAH, the Street Fighter movie coming out in October. I would venture to say that Roman and Cody will be squeaky clean babyfaces and still champions by the time that film comes out, NO MATTER what you attempt to say online.
Your opinions don’t matter when a company already has your money and your time, period.
Only chance that a wrestling company could change is if the majority of you legitimately start pulling back on your time and money.
So far, and the numbers show this, you’re not. Despite the high prices for Wrestlemania 42, they still found 50,000 fans willing to part their hard-earned money to be price gouged by the event itself, airlines heading into Vegas, hotels in Vegas, and literally every business in Vegas who is struggling with being price gouged by the city itself and passing on higher prices onto any consumer of their goods/services. With WWE jumping from Peacock to ESPN, a streaming service has either doubled or tripled what you previously paid to watch PLEs while also losing decades of archived footage to watch. Contrary to the inflated expectations of ESPN, streaming numbers haven’t changed versus the previous platform. Same viewership numbers on Netflix… Higher merchandise sales than ever despite their higher prices.
I keep waiting for the “shoe to drop” but the WWE brand has its teeth deep into the back pocket of every wrestling fan.
And that’s despite how foul the new TKO overlords are and how open they are to price gouge you. Meanwhile, TKO is somehow carrying over $4 billion in debt despite WWE and UFC serving as ATM machines for them. TKO just shelled out $60 million for the luxury of hosting an event on the White House lawn and is expected to take a $30 million loss after sponsor revenues. I understand the “once in a lifetime” opportunity and prestige to play on the lawn of the most important property in the country, but a $30 million loss is a $30 million loss. Meanwhile, the wrestlers and UFC fighters who are helping their respective events draw are requested to take paycuts.
But again, OUR online opinions about TKO, WWE’s Creative Team, wrestlers getting cut, etc. do not matter…
Nothing is stopping TKO and WWE from operating the way THEY want unless YOU change your habits.
And the only way your opinions would EVER matter is if they can influence change.
I’m hear to tell all of you “wrestling influencers” out there this: you haven’t influenced a damn thing!
I’ve been at this damn game since October 1998 and I haven’t influenced anything. WWE goes to the beat of their own drum. Sure, a few wrestlers or personalities will respond to me, but then big daddy WWE tells them to STOP doing things online. Just like that, any ground that I’ve gained is gone.
I’d say it’s been about 4 years since I hopped off of X/Twitter and went private. Best decision that I ever made because it FORCED me out of the daily in-fighting with wrestling fans. Suddenly, I had so much extra free time because the threats, personal attacks, and stupid drama was gone and I no longer had to respond to it. The only time I put back on the “troll cleats” is when someone fires off a personal attack in my comments section below my column or lately, attacks other readers. But that’s it, 100% contained within just one NoDQ post. If you weren’t following NoDQ or clicking into those post, you wouldn’t know me.
But getting off Social Media and leaving its wrestling war behind was the best decision that I’ve ever made as Mr. Tito. Suddenly, I didn’t give that much of a damn on which wrestler was pushed, what wrestler really needed to win a specific match, or what creative has been lately. If you read my columns during the 2010s, I was ripping Triple H to shreds as a WWE executive. Me through the mid-2020s, I’m mostly praising HHH. While I think he has improved, I’m not posting daily about him like many other fans on social media. Have you noticed that everybody is suddenly anti-Triple H? The man made WWE better during 2022-2024 but since then, all of TKO’s price hikes and corporate micro-managing have somehow been blamed on him. AGAIN, if you’re complaining all day about wrestling in the opinion spheres, you come up with these dumbass conclusions.
Your opinion doesn’t matter, and neither does mine.
Unless we can spark a massive movement that can break the loyalty of many dedicated WWE fans who DO NOT CARE what online fans think or say… We’re just wasting our time yelling at each other.
But if you currently carrying anger towards ANYONE online about pro wrestling… What the hell? This is a scripted form of entertainment and WWE always wins when they’ve captured either your time or money. You spending hours posting beneath news or opinionated posts, on social media, or other forums just proves my point.
When WWE has either your money or your time, they win. Always.
Here I am through 2026… The only money spent on WWE was $29.99 for ESPN+ during January, but I made that purchase to watch the NCAA BCS Title game between Indiana and Miami. Other than that, no monetary purchases for any of WWE’s material.
BUT – WWE still has my time, though much less than prior years. I keep up with WWE through clips on their official social media accounts and YouTube channel. I did cut myself off from watching Netflix RAW during 2026, so I’m winning there. I’m STILL writing columns for NoDQ, but at a decreasing rate. And I’m quite convinced that if I put down the Mr. Tito crackpipe, which I keep smoking in favor of my many, many loyal readers gained throughout the past almost 28 years (damn, I’m old!), I think the rest of my fandom also falls.
Even if I walked away, despite probably writing up between 4-5 thousand columns by now, the only people that would remember my wrestling opinions would only be just a percentage of those daring to click into the opinion sections of LoP, Top-Rope, or NoDQ.
The biggest names that you may know in the online community aren’t that influential, either. When has WWE ever cared about Dave Meltzer’s star ratings? Seriously… All of those 5-8 star matches that AEW receives isn’t boosting their viewership. Your attempt at being an influencer, like the rest of us, has failed.
So there you go, brutal honesty. I’m sure others will accuse me of “crashing out”, “melting down”, or possibly going insane, but I don’t care. I’ve written these columns purely as a hobby and as a creative outlet. It has connected to me to many great people for almost 3 decades now, many of which I consider good online friends and some of which got to see me in-person too. That’s what matters to me… I enjoyed writing these columns and will continue to do so unless I’m just tired of not mattering in pro wrestling.
Onto your questions or whatever my imaginary friend asks.
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ASK TITO: Your Questions, My Answers
What are your thoughts on Danhausen now that he’s received mainstream press during the NBA and NHL Finals?
When I was asked about Danhausen previously, I just said “he’s not for me” but avoided being overly critical because I knew many fans loved the guy and I felt that he was great to his fans. I just kind of backed off because I didn’t want to tear down something positive that many others liked despite it not being “for me”.
Now that I see him being worshipped by New York Knicks fans… And then Danhausen leaning into it… I gotta admit, I’m a fan now.
What makes Danhausen work, as I’m observing, is that he’s 100% committed to the character and 100% committed to making it fun, no matter what. You don’t see him break character, ever, which is how wrestlers SHOULD conduct themselves, even in public. He’s just fun, that’s all you have to describe, and he’s such a charismatic and extroverted person to actually pull it off. He’s likeable, period. That’s all you have to say.
The other day, Stephan A. Smith tried to get Danhausen to say something on President Donald Trump and he just didn’t take the bait, saying something fun instead about how his curses work. In other words, Danhausen has a talent to gain MASS APPEAL with literally any kind of person. Look at him, he’s a vampire or zombie looking character who puts curses on people but it’s all for silly fun. In total luck for him, him uncursing the New York Knicks led them to a championship and only losing 1 game within 3 series since that curse. The entire city of New York is forever going to love him for that and that love will spread throughout the country.
I totally get the appeal now and wish him the best. I’m now a fan…
Speaking of Danhausen, I wish that WWE could create a better platform for him. Danhausen is clearly less than 6 feet tall and under 200 pounds. Why not bring back the Cruiserweight Division and let him wrestle in it? Just push all kinds of smaller wrestlers with silly gimmicks through that and it could be a massive hit. I know that many want Enzo back into the WWE… Well, there you go, you’ve got 2 fun characters wrestling as cruiserweights with Danhausen and Enzo.
The Triple A stuff is teaching us all a lesson about pro wrestling… You can push any character out there, but if they are 100% committed to the characters and acting like a title or a rivalry means something, fans will commit too.
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Do you think that CM Punk is purposely reaching out to AEW for a future return?
This was mentioned underneath my last column about CM Punk… There are some rumors online that CM Punk was trying to repair his burned bridge with AEW, specifically with Tony Khan. It’s the usual LACK of documented fact, but an AEW reunion would be impossible until CM Punk gets out of his current WWE deal.
From what I can see, Punk is still on his 3-year deal that he signed from November 2023 though CM Punk is quoted during 2025 saying he was offered a 5-year extension. I don’t see any record of Punk signing that deal, but there’s a chance that WWE adds more time to his deal due to injuries sustained. For example, the Royal Rumble 2024 triceps tear that kept him out of action for like 5-6 months.
Personally for me, CM Punk will NEVER return to AEW in any way, shape, or form as long as the Young Bucks remain Executive Vice Presidents there. I don’t care how good Tony’s money is, the Bucks are a problem and can create a toxic work environment for anyone. While CM Punk can make possible amends with Tony, and I’m sure Tony is willing to apologize on behalf of the Bucks, I just don’t see an AEW return. I think once Punk is done working for WWE, he’ll be done with his in-ring career and then either chill in retirement or contribute to wrestling or MMA in management somewhere. But I think for Punk, it will be through his own private enterprise versus working for Tony or TKO.
I just don’t see Punk working in a non-wrestling capacity for TKO… That is a fire waiting to explode, if it happens.
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What do you make of everyone mocking Jade Cargill’s wig coming undone?
I think wrestling fans obsessing over Jade’s wig falling off are coming undone. Seriously.
To many wrestling fans, the perception of Jade is that he’s completely manufactured and not authentic as a wrestler or personality. That plays into this, a tad, along with this weird stereotype often heard about black women and their hair. On that latter point, that’s unfortunate and FINGER OF SHAME to anyone mocking her due to that stereotype… But I would say from a wrestling standpoint, her WWE tenure has been a bit underwhelming despite the claims and promises that WWE would “improve her” versus the possible lack of training she may have received in AEW.
Nope, as it turns out, she may have two left feet, doesn’t have the personality or knack for the business, and much of those muscles may be cosmetic. While Jade looks jacked, someone like Bianca Belair is much stronger. Jade is female Lex Luger, as Lex struggled lifting wrestlers of a certain size and length into his torture rack…
With Jade Cargill, we need a reality check to realize that she’s only been doing this 8 years and been on a massive stage for less than 7. Like Lex Luger, it takes years to figure this business out and eventually get good. For Luger, he started in 1985 but it wasn’t until 1995 when he found his character and figured out how to put everything together. His 1995-1997 run was amazing.
I think with Jade, she just hasn’t improved since her AEW days and many wrestlers are fatigued by it. Her wig falling off just created an opportunity point and show had “fake” she is, though many piled on for the unfortunate reasons too.
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Do you think Cyndi Lauper goes into the WWE Hall of Fame for 2027?
Funny how I ranted that your “opinions don’t matter” above, but I think this one bubbling up with many fans was heard by WWE. Forbes is reporting that WWE is going to release her as an action figure in a 3-pack with Lou Albano and Roddy Piper. For one, that’s a cool item especially if you’ve been watching Wrestlemania since its inception during 1985. But I do think that Cyndi’s involvement receive the proper credit that it deserves and I hope this is the beginning of a good relationship again.
This is a baby step towards getting her into the Hall of Fame for 2027 (I hope she likes traveling to Saudi to receive it!). She’s about to turn 73 years old and not getting any younger. I think she’d be a GREAT speaker for the Hall of Fame, providing her insights into all of the Mtv WWE stuff that happened back then along with working with such greats as Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper.
This is what I like about Triple H. He listens for gaps like this, such as getting the Ultimate Warrior and Bruno Sammartino into the WWE despite major Vince McMahon issues or pushback. This is the beginning to giving Cyndi her rightful flowers.
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Should Roman Reigns attend political things, such as UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House?
I think Roman can attend whatever show he wants, and TKO can have anyone attend whom they want.
While yes, we know who is President and he’s very polarizing… And yes, his Freedom 250 is a political action arm of his presidency, hence why that concert quickly fell apart when the artists heard it was a political function (Martina McBride, Brett Michaels, one-half of Milli Vanilli)… UFC Freedom 250 was still a legitimate UFC event that someone could attend. Further, UFC is owned by TKO who also owns WWE. Placing celebrities at ringside, especially ones under your contracts, is any easy way to provide additional attention.
Is it any different than the New York Knicks placing celebrities at courtside for their big playoff games?
What I see, though, is why Roman is there… TKO is heavily incentivized to keep Roman Reigns as its top star and make him known in pop culture. Roman being successful in the WWE makes them money, but as I’ve mentioned above, TKO’s executives are also agents or owners of the WME agency that Roman uses. Having Roman there isn’t just to promote their side WWE venture but to get his face out there to help promote things like the Street Fighter movie.
It’s not like Roman was heavily praising the president, wearing a MAGA hat, or acting like a political hack. No, he just attended a UFC event and he’s attended UFC events previously, while also incorporating MMA moves into his WWE character’s moveset. Honestly, it’s not a big deal that he attended as he just enjoyed the event on TKO’s dime and TKO/WWE can write that off as an expense.
Many of you are just looking too much into things like this. Further, when you get the opportunity to visit something at the White House, it’s hard to say “no”. If you don’t like the leadership there, then attend the event professionally and then provide your opinions right to their face. For Roman’s case, he was just there to watch MMA and be a celebrity for TKO to advertise for both WWE and Street Fighter.
It’s painful that I have to explain the simplest of things. Some of your online fights about Roman attending UFC Freedom 250 were just ridiculous. If TKO cut you a check, flew you on a private jet, and gave you amazing hotel accommodations to watch people beat the crap of out of each other on the White House lawn, you’d do it too. Geesh. Trust me, you’ve said “YES” to much less at your workplace.
Notice how the criticisms were about Roman attending, but not Triple H who was also at UFC Freedom 250. Well, Triple H has attended multiple White House functions and has acted professionally, not politically, at each one. Thus, we’re used to seeing him supporting events that the President promotes. It’s not so common with Roman, so everyone panics.
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What are your thoughts on the latest shake-ups in TNA?
Being totally honest, I haven’t thought about TNA in like 2 decades… Only time that I wrote about them was suggesting to have a better developmental system in hopes to groom and create their own breakout star as the only way they could become competitive. I’m of the mind that if I don’t follow your promotion, I’ll go silent on it. TNA, Ring of Honor, and recently AEW receiving my silence is a sign that I don’t watch or want to cover them.
Two things are interesting to me about the recent “shake-ups”. For one, TNA is letting go of Tommy Dreamer and may reportedly bring in Road Dogg as his replacement. From what I’ve heard, Dreamer was well liked there and seemed to be doing a good job… But to go to Road Dogg as his replacement, ehhhh… Did you not see his recent work with WWE? How about his year 2017 work with WWE? While he’s very charismatic and talented himself as a worker, that doesn’t translate into teaching others or making others great.
I do like the other story that TNA and Ohio Valley Wrestling are working on a deal to work together. While OVW isn’t what it used to be under Cornette, Rogers, and Davis, it’s still a functioning wrestling promotion and still a good place to send wrestlers to train. That said, with OVW still remaining in Louisville, KY, if I were TNA, I’d seriously offer Louisville local Jim Cornette a consultant deal for that developmental system. OVW is under new management and has been since April of last year, but they have one of the BEST wrestling minds in town RIGHT THERE. Yes, he can go off like a bomb, but knows his stuff and his well-trained wrestlers performed well and consistently for the WWE for decades (Kane, Cena, Batista, Lesnar, Orton, etc.).
The ONLY way TNA or AEW could ever defeat the big WWE machine is if they create and develop their own big wrestling stars that the WWE has never had or if they repackage a free agent well. Remember, WWE only defeated WCW because they repackaged Foley/Austin/Triple H and created the Rock. Without those talents, they aren’t defeating the free agent heavy WCW through 1998.
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THE LAST WORD: That’s all that I have in the basement for now. Being totally honest, calculate the amount of time you spend arguing and debating wrestling. Then, consider how much it adds to stress or reduces from time spend building relationships in your life. Best thing that I ever did as Mr. Tito was to stop wrestling columns during the Summer of 2006 and I didn’t return to writing again until early 2010. During that time, I had no contact with other wrestling fans, I watched much less (really stopped after the June 2007 Benoit stuff), and I was fully available to build on relationships in my personal and professional life. I grew a lot in those years and have a solid life and career because I stopped being obsessed with a hobby that doesn’t provide tangible items for me.
Before you flame your next wrestling fan about their opinions, take a moment to think “is this really worth it”? As someone who has been deep into the opinion trenches and still is to a degree, IT’S NOT.
If you like my columns, THANK YOU… If you hate my columns, then why are you here?
Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ