The Iron Yuppie

Oh no...I can actually envision this in Russo-booked WCW: Bayley cutting really awful and heatless SHOOTZ, which we know are REAL because Schiavone keeps screaming, "THIS IS A SHOOT!" And Mark Madden can refer to her as "Bayl-ME" 10,000 times in the two weeks before Vic Venom flips her back to the exuberant, childlike character without explanation.

I have not particularly enjoyed the guy's work over the last year-and-a-half. That said, I absolutely would wear a WHAMMY Brock Lesnar t-shirt.

I thought Billy Gunn was a legit great worker c. 1999 with a main-event look, but would never be main event because of his weak promos and decidedly midcard gimmick. That said, it's been 18 years since what I'd deem his in-ring peak. If Tana drags a good match out of him, it will sentiment The Ace as the best in the world of this generation.

I'm going

Man, I can't believe it's been 10 years. I remember it so vividly, especially the sinking feeling when I first heard details. That was very nearly the end of my wrestling fandom. I didn't watch another first-run WWE show for another two years, until a friend organized a party around the Raw hosted by Shaq. I tried sticking with Ring of Honor, but Nigel throwing around headbutts and Davey Richards suddenly wearing long tights and a vest while teasing Benoit spots turned me off to that, too. I only really got back into wrestling in 2011 when I moved across the street from a huge fan, and we'd get together for pay-per-views. The changes since were necessary and for the better. I hate to think what could have become of Daniel Bryan if WWE still had a lax attitude toward concussions. It also happened for REALLY cynical reasons -- I credit Linda's awful political aspirations as much, if not more than the Benoit murders -- but I'm glad WWE transitioned to PG. I cringe looking back at the Attitude Era, and honestly, some of the Ruthless Aggression era was even more embarrassing with its sleaziness. The show has a tendency to be really boring today, but I attribute that more to bad writing than I do PG. I have a son now who's too young for wrestling, but it's nice to think that in say, four or five years, I can watch with him without fear of shit like Katie Vick and Vince vs. God. As for watching Benoit matches, I haven't actively sought them out, but I have seen a few. I've also watched highlights of O.J. Simpson at USC, including the Game of the Century vs. UCLA in its entirety. I listen to Michael Jackson's music. Chinatown is one of my favorite movies. I don't know if that's right or wrong, to be honest. I would certainly never glorify any of them.

@Curt McGirt I'm happy to read I'm not the only person who's enjoyed Juice in 2017. He's improved so dramatically from his CJ Parker days. I'm hoping to see (and think we will see, based on the Taguchi Japan-LIJ feud building steam) Juice against Naito as part of the U.S. Championship Tournament. It's a ready-made storyline: Naito has already shit-talked the belt, which would juxtapose well with Juice eager to win it, his first championship, on his home soil. RE: Shibata, I watched that match the day after it aired and before I was aware of the severity of his injury. I thought it was a surefire 5* and perhaps better than the Omega match, though I did bristle at the headbutt. I've hated spots like that ever since Daniel Bryan and Nigel were recklessly smashing each other in Ring of Honor, but considering Shibata and Okada went another 5 minutes afterward, I was shocked to read how badly he'd been hurt. It's sad for a multitude of reasons, including as @Lawful Metal notes, that was a star-making match. Shibata was AWESOME throughout 2017: the Goto match at Wrestle Kingdom was excellent, he reined in Ospreay for what was easily my favorite WO match, he kicked ass in the New Japan Cup. Dude was ready to break out as a true main-event player.

Maybe the cameramen who worked Cubs games on WGN need jobs, since the Cubbies moved to Comcast.

I see brown spots. That banana's way too gimmicked.

1990-'91 UNLV basketball. Always and forever.

There's a tiny private university in my neck of the woods that was trying to gain some notoriety (and money) with its insane scheduling. You may remember Saint Katherine's playing and losing to San Diego State and Utah, in consecutive nights, on the road, by 156 combined points during the 2013-'14 season. This is infinitely more batshit.

They can fix him. They fix everything.

I love Elgin so much. I've done a complete 180 on him from roughly 5 (or even fewer years) ago in Ring of Honor. At the time, I thought his ceiling was BJ Whitmer and his most likely career arc was that of Erick Stevens. He's become so awesome in New Japan, though. Loved the ladder match against Omega last year, the Naito match from New Beginning in Osaka might be my MOTY, and he's shown way more charisma than at any time in his RoH run.

I've watched the full show EXCEPT the main event. I thought both Naito-Tana and KUSHIDA-Hiromu out-did their Wrestle Kingdom matches. KUSHIDA might be my favorite wrestler in the world at the moment. He had incredible matches with Taguchi and BUSHI in the Super Juniors, then he and Takahashi absolutely delivered at Dominion.

Oh man, I remember this vividly. I had just started following ROH in the summer that year and was certain Joe was dropping the title to Punk, either as the culmination of a King's Road kind of story arc, or by turning Punk full heel and having him break the Code of Honor to finally beat Joe. Reading the Final Battle results the next day was the first time booking had truly shocked me since Austin's turn at X-Seven.

I grew up in rural Arizona, which may as well have been the Deep South; just a whole lot drier. I live in California now, and there are areas out here that are the exact same: Bakersfield, the Inland Empire. Much like @NikoBaltimore mentioned with Cecil County, Fontana, California -- population 200,000 -- backs up against wilderness, hosts an annual NASCAR race and has the nickname "Fontucky." ODB is awesome. Such a terrific gimmick that really stands out. I was watching a lot of Impact around the time of the Main Event Mafia angle (it was a dark period; I wasn't tuned into WWE much post-Benoit and into the PG transition, but I still had a wrestling itch) and ODB was consistently one of the company's redeeming qualities.

Sure, and No Mercy was always October from...'99 to the inception of Hell in a Cell. And I remembered Backlash was always April. But then you had No Way Out, which was always February...except when it wasn't (St. Valentine's Day Massacre). And I swear there was a Judgement Day in the fall or winter once, and DEFINITELY an Unforgiven in the spring (that was the first Austin-Dude Love match). That name was moved at some point, but not before going on hiatus and taking on some other, generic nu-metal-sounding name.

I agree with this. Judgement Day, Vengeance, Armageddon, Unforgiven all sucked, and I couldn't tell you where any fell on the calendar without looking it up. That said, it's a shame we don't get names like the Royal Rumble, King of the Ring, Survivor Series, Summerslam anymore. They're catchy and immediately convey the general idea of what they are.

Man, Sarge vs. Hogan at Mania 2 just might have been a main event worthy of the L.A. Coliseum. Sarge's bitter soldier gimmick in the mid-'80s, with that decade's prevalent jingoism, would have drawn incredible heat. Add that Hulk was a star on the rise at the time, and not hurdling quickly on the downslope, and that's an amazing main-event feud. I think Sarge-Hogan when it happened, with the added grab-ass interjected (the Photoshopped picture with Saddam, Sarge in a Keffiyeh, Hulk analogizing burning his t-shirt to burning the American flag) really helped sour the mainstream on wrestling. It's tough to pinpoint that angle specifically, when the steroid trials and sexual assault allegations surfaced almost immediately after, but Mania VII certainly did WWF no favors. I know Bob Costas publicly lambasted it; and since Vince is a petty bastard, I don't doubt that had Vince already steaming before his meltdown on Costas Sports a decade later.

Yeah, the original heel stuff with Slaughter in 1990 was pretty good and creative. The Iraqi sympathizer gimmick was exploitative trash (save for the bitchin' pointed toe boots Sarge started wearing).

Takahashi plays a creepy sleaze so well. I love him feeding off the arrogant asshole-ishness that is Naito.

Lesnar's become bottom of the barrel for me. His standard match now is a retread of Scott Steiner-HHH: Suplex, suplex, gassed, gassed-suplexes, but with the added benefit of no-selling for the opponent. I really detest Heyman's promos at this point, too, largely for the phlegmy BROCK LESNAAAAAAAR shit. I like Joe, I'm glad he's being used, but I also fear this will be another burial in the vein of Brock-Ambrose at Mania.

I've been on a recent Network kick watching pre-steroid trial stuff, and I just finished watching all of WrestleMania VII (previously, I'd only seen Warrior-Macho, an all-time favorite, and Jake Roberts-Rick Martel. Unrelated takeaway: Warlord-British Bulldog from that show is an excellent match, way better than it has any right to be). The main event angle played off Desert Storm was tasteless, hurt the business and even more cringeworthy in retrospect, given how much of a dirtbag Hogan's proven to be. A What-If from that era: What if the WrestleMania VII was the culmination of a nearly year-long build to Hogan-Earthquake? Earthquake was initially built brilliantly, moved well and had an intimidating, main-event heel aura before being cooled off. Vince was never going to fill the Coliseum, but would the WWF have been better off closing VII with a proper Hogan-Earthquake blow-off and eschewing all the Desert Storm crap?

Better than Punk's elbow drop

A Mickey and Mallory gimmick would own so much