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1. Day 1 - Favorite WWE Wrestler & Favorite Song

2. Day 2 - Least Favorite Wrestler Of All-Time & Least Favorite Song Of All-Time

3. Day 3 - Favorite Tag Team Of All-Time & A Song That Makes You Happy

4. Day 4 - All-Time Favorite Promo & A Song That Makes You Sad

5. Day 5 - Favorite WWE Match & A Song That Reminds You Of Someone

6. Day 6 - Favorite Finishing Maneuver & A Song That Reminds You Of Somewhere

7. Day 7 - Worst Finishing Maneuver & A Song That Reminds You Of A Certain Event

8. Day 8 - Worst Botch Of All-Time & A Song You Know All The Words To

9. Day 9 - Funniest Wrestling Moment & A Song That You Can Dance To

10. Day 10 - Favorite TNA Match & A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep

11. Day 11 - All-Time Favorite Heel & A Song From Your Favorite Band

12. Day 12 - Worst Promo Of All-Time & A Song From A Band You Hate

13. Day 13 - Favorite Royal Rumble Elimination & A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure

14. Day 14 - Hottest Female Wrestler & A Song That No One Would Expect You To Love

15. Day 15 - All-Time Stupidest Match Stipulation & A Song That Describes You

16. Day 16 - Best Ring Entrance & A Song That You Used To Love But Now Hate

17. Day 17 - Favorite Entrance Music & A Song That You Hear Often On The Radio

18. Day 18 - Best Memory Of ECW & A Song That You Wish You Heard On The Radio

19. Day 19 - Most Deserving To Be Entered Into The WWE Hall Of Fame Who Has Yet To Be Inducted & A Song From Your Favorite Album

20. Day 20 - Worst Gimmick & A Song That You Listen To When You're Angry

21. Day 21 - Favorite Hardcore Match & A Song That You Listen To When You're Happy

22. Day 22 - Most Underrated Wrestler Of All-Time & A Song That You Listen To When You're Sad

23. Day 23 - Worst Match Of All-Time & A Song That You Want To Play At Your Wedding

24. Day 24 - Favorite WCW Match & A Song That You Want To Play At Your Funeral

25. Day 25 - Best "OH MY GOD"/"HOLY SHIT" Moment & A Song That Makes You Laugh

26. Day 26 - Most Overrated Wrestler Of All-Time & A Song That You Can Play On An Instrument

If you have a Facebook page, there's a pretty good chance you, or someone you're friends with, is participating in some sort of 30 Day Challenge. The two most popular, at least on my news feed, are the Wrestling and Song challenges.

For those unaware, it's a "game" of sorts where a specific day has a specific question, and you answer that question with a picture or video to go along with it. Instead of doing these like everyone else and posting them on Facebook, I figured it would be fun to turn them into a new "series" of columns. Every single day this month, I'll be right back here to answer the question in the day's Wrestling Challenge, as well as the day's Song Challenge. They'll all be posted in this one entry, updated on a daily basis like I do with my normal HIPE columns. I think this is a fun way for people to get to know me better, as well as giving people yet more daily content to read. Let's get it underway, starting off with Wrestling, shall we?

Day 1 - Favorite WWE Wrestler

Really, this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone if you've read my columns. I've never been afraid to admit to being a fan of John Cena, going all the way back to his debut, as a green-as-goose-shit (thank you, Bill DeMott) rookie answering an open challenge by Kurt Angle. Through the years, my fandom has grown and grown, and I've stuck by him through a lot of trash talk from fellow members of the IWC.

I'm not here to fight for the guy, or to try and sway anyone's opinion of him. At this point, you either love him, hate him or respect him, and there's really nothing else. What I can say is that I've always respected his grind.. his hustle, if you will.. through everything he does. I'm not saying that hard work is something that only he can bring to the world of wrestling. That's not true in the slightest. However, I've said, and continue to say, that he puts in more work, when you combine his in-ring and out-of-ring contributions, than most wrestlers of his status. Some of it has to do with him having no children and being single for a large portion of his time with the company. He doesn't have to go back home to see his wife and his children from time-to-time like his co-workers do. When he's not wrestling, he's always been able to dedicate his entire life to the business. Television appearances, charity work, autograph signings, you name it. His work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, in particular, gets eternal respect from me. Late last year, he granted his 200th wish for the children's charity, and has continued working hard for them, including bringing over 30 children to WrestleMania 27 as his personal guests. He continues to be one of the most requested celebrities at Make-A-Wish, and chances are, that's not going to end anytime soon. I respect that attitude. He seems to truly understand that the fans, and the business itself, made him what he is today, and he's devoted himself to giving back to both. Props to him for that.

His in-ring work has never been on the levels of someone like Eddie Guerrero, Ric Flair or Dean Malenko, nor will it ever be. It's somewhat ridiculous that people look at him negatively because of that. The only person who will reach Eddie Guerrero's level is Eddie Guerrero. The only person who will reach Ric Flair's level is Ric Flair. The only person who will reach Dean Malenko's level is Dean Malenko. They're in their own world when it comes to workrate. I'm not going to punish someone for something that nobody else can accomplish. Sometimes, the IWC can.. actually, no, let me start that sentence over. Most of the time, the IWC can get lost in the amount of moves a wrestler can do, and it prevents them from actually sitting back and watching a match. I'm a fan of the indy scene, where you can see a seven-minute match feature nine different finishers from each guy, all of which were kicked out of at the last millisecond. I appreciate those matches for what they are. At the same time, I can watch WWE programming, see a John Cena match.. or a Randy Orton match, or a Miz match, or a Rey Mysterio match, or a Kofi Kingston match, etc.. and appreciate them for what they are. I'm a wrestling fan, way before the rap shit, bust the gat shit.. as well as before the "smark" internet columns.. and I take great pride in the fact that I haven't forgotten that.

Would I still like Cena to turn heel? Yes, of course I would. However, at this point, with his WrestleMania 28 match already being booked, I've accepted the fact that we'll have to wait at least that long to see a turn happen. No more predicting heel turns for him at this pay-per-view and that pay-per-view. No more hoping. No more wishing. Just waiting. I have no doubts that a turn will happen, and when it does, I'll still be there as a fan of his, and I eagerly anticipate all of the bandwagon jumpers that come along and claim that they've been Cena fans for years.

Day 1 - Favorite Song

A lot of people are surprised to find out that hip-hop isn't my favorite genre of music. It's not. I love hip-hop, but R&B has always been the type of music that has had my heart, even going back to when I was a very, very Lil' Hustle. Raised by my Grandparents, I came up listening to old-school Motown music. The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Spinners, The Commodores, etc. Throw in other old-school acts like Earth, Wind & Fire and The Isley Brothers, and you have the music that would fill my heart and soul from the beginning.

I wish I had some sort of fancy story to tell you about why "Cupid" is my favorite song of all-time, but I don't. I bought 112's self-titled debut album in the summer before my freshman year of high school, and I was instantly hooked. That song just stuck with me. The harmony, the laid-back vibe, the message that damn near every man reading this can relate to (not wanting your woman to misinterpret what you say, turning your words into lies).. I just love the song.

I have a pretty eclectic taste in music, so you're bound to see a wide variety represented here in the next four weeks. Should be fun.

-------------------------

The first day of the challenge looked at my favorites, so, naturally, today would be the flip side to that coin. The way these challenges are worded is somewhat strange to me. Yesterday's Wrestling entry was simply "Favorite WWE Wrestler". There was no indication that the question was of the current or all-time variety, so I just answered it how it came to mind. John Cena is, obviously, my current favorite, while Eddie Guerrero or Hulk Hogan would get my vote for all-time. For the Song challenge, once again there were no indications of the question being about all-time or current, but "Cupid" is my favorite song of all-time, without question. Some questions clarify the all-time discussion, while some don't. I'll be sure to keep the clarification going for everyone else. Hope that clears things up a little bit for people who have been asking me. Before I handle business here, I forgot to mention yesterday that I'd love to hear everyone else's answers for the day's topics. You know how to contact me. Now, let's move on to the next one..

Day 2 - Least Favorite Wrestler Of All-Time

What? You were expecting someone else, perhaps?

It's still #FuckYouMattHardy all day, err'day. However, with all of the hate I put out towards Matt Hardy, he's still an average, at best, performer. More than anything else, he's just incredibly boring, but nothing offensive in the ring. The same can't be said about The Sandman, and that's been true since the day I first saw him in ECW, way back in 1994.

Back in the original days of ECW, I considered myself a fan of the product and just how different it was from anything we were exposed to with the WWF or with WCW. The characters, the production values, the fans, the matches.. everything was just different and unique, and it caught the attention of this guy when I was 12-13 years old, to say the least. Taz. Sabu. Rob Van Dam. Raven. The Gangstas. The Dudleys. The Eliminators. Shane Douglas. Tommy Dreamer. Cactus Jack. The list of ECW workers that I found entertaining at the time goes on and on.

The thing is.. damn near everything from those days hasn't been able to stand the test of time. When I go back and watch a lot of the matches from ECW, I cringe at just how bad they really were. It was like watching a bunch of people who weren't trained parade around and act like wrestlers. It had me fooled when I was 12, but all these years later, perhaps I've been spoiled by "real" wrestling, because that shit isn't fooling me anymore.

Even as a 12-year-old, however, I wasn't a fan of The Sandman. He wasn't good at anything he did. He couldn't wrestle. He couldn't cut promos. He didn't look intimidating. He didn't have an interesting character. Hell, he didn't even have a character. He was just an out-of-shape guy, drinking a bunch of beers and smoking a bunch of cigarettes. There were a lot of people that were brawlers in those days of ECW, but The Sandman couldn't brawl like, say, New Jack could. He couldn't brawl like Terry Funk could, like Sabu could, like The Pitbulls could, like Public Enemy could, like Tommy Dreamer could, etc. When the only thing you bring to the table is brawling, and you're not even good at that, it doesn't look good for you.

As time went on, Sandman actually began to get worse. His beer belly began to grow, his heavy smoking clearly started taking a toll on his stamina and his ability to do, well, anything without looking as if he just finished running a marathon. I couldn't watch any of the shit he did. Couldn't then, and I damn sure can't now. That's just how it goes, I guess. Sorry, ECW fans.

Day 2 - Least Favorite Song Of All-Time

Are there worse songs throughout history than the Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps"? Yes, of course there are. However, most, if not all, of those songs don't get the type of play that this song got. Don't even begin to come at me with discussion about Rebecca Black's "Friday", by the way. For one, she's only 13. Two, it wasn't anything that was taken serious by the people who wrote the song or shot the video.

This song is just Head AIDS in audio form. David Payton and will.i.am should both have United States Special Forces hunting them down for the lyrics they wrote for this monstrocity. For example..

"They treat me really nicely.. they buy me all these iceys.."

"My love, my love, my love, my love.. you love my lady lumps.. my hump, my hump, my hump.. my humps, they got you.."

"What you gon' do with all that junk.. all that junk inside that trunk.. I'ma get, get, get, get you drunk.. get you love drunk off my hump.."

"I mix your milk wit my cocoa puff.. milky, milky cocoa.. mix your milk wit my cocoa puff.. milky, milky, riiiiight.."

"They say I'm really sexy.. the boys, they wanna sex me.. they always standing next to me.. always dancing next to me.. tryna feel my hump, hump.. lookin at my lump, lump.."

Humps and lumps, eh? I don't know about any of you guys reading this right now, but does the thought of mashed potatoes, breast cancer and Quasimodo arouse you at all? Those thoughts do nothing for me. The song became some sort of weird anthem for women all over the world. Women who had no "humps" or "lumps" would sing the song as if it were about them. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing the song. It was on the radio all the time. The video was on television all the time. If a woman had her own car, she was playing the song as she drove around. I'm sure whatever Ricardo Rodriguez and Chris Bosh were doing in 2005 heavily involved repeated listening of the song.

I'm 100% against songs that start phony movements. Girls with no asses shouldn't promote this song. Ugly women shouldn't promote Keri Hilson's "Pretty Girl Rock". Broke people shouldn't promote any of the 18,000 hip-hop songs about having lots of money. I'm just saying.

-------------------------Day 3 - Favorite Tag Team Of All-Time

That's right, folks. This is such serious business that the "There's never a three" rule has been broken again.

Even though Edge & Christian were the winners of the Hustle Madness tournament this year, as a #2 seed, they aren't my pick here. Hell, none of the #1 seeds (The Steiner Brothers, The Road Warriors/Legion Of Doom, The Fabulous Freebirds & The Dudley Boyz) are my pick, either.

"Stunning" Steve Austin & "Flyin" Brian Pillman didn't even last a full calendar year as a team, but for the near 11 months they did spend as a team, they were successful in damn near everything they did. First and foremost, I'm a fan of tag teams that feature two different styles in the team members. Teams like The Rockers are fine and dandy, but at that point in their careers, they were pretty much the same type of worker. With Austin and Pillman, however, you have two different styles, with Pillman being the high-flying half and Austin being the part-technical and part-brawling half. There are people reading this right now that only remember Austin as "Stone Cold" and are shocked to see me mention him being any sort of technical wrestler, but it was true.

I think the WCW tag team scene in 1992 and 1993 was really underrated. Pillman was originally teamed with Barry Windham, and they made another really entertaining team. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat & Shane Douglas? Another entertaining team. The Rock N Roll Express were still around and kicking. 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Bagwell did just fine for themselves. Either of the Four Horsemen teams (Ric Flair & Arn Anderson or Arn Anderson & Paul Roma) were good. The Nasty Boys were able to put on the only real entertaining matches of their careers at that time. Harlem Heat was just beginning their rise to stardom. The Road Warriors were around. Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes. The Steiner Brothers. Vader & Sid Vicious. Sting & Davey Boy Smith. That's stacked. However, even through all of that, The Hollywood Blondes stood out. Their charisma, their chemistry (we would only find out down the line that they were best friends), the way they worked, the amount of fun they always looked like they were having.. they just grabbed your attention whenever they walked out from behind the curtain.

Brian Pillman's ankle injury forced the Blondes to relinquish the NWA and WCW Tag Team Titles, and that marked the end of an era. We'll probably never know the truth as to why the team was split up, but if you ask Steve Austin, he'll tell you that someone in WCW was jealous of their success and didn't want that success to continue, so that person made the call for the team breakup. Austin, of course, would eventually move on to become, arguably, the biggest name in the history of the business once he finally got away from WCW and the backstage politics in the company. Pillman, of course, would suffer setback after setback, with many of them having to do with his drug and alcohol problems. In my opinion, Pillman could definitely have gone on to achieve great success as a singles competitor if not for his injuries, bad luck, addiction problems and heart condition. Unfortunately, we'll never know.

Day 3 - A Song That Makes You Happy

In its prime, The Simpsons is, in my opinion, the funniest cartoon of all-time, and one of the funnier characters on the show is definitely the mentally deficient third grader, Ralph Wiggum. In 2005, comedy-rock band Bloodhound Gang released a song called "Ralph Wiggum", and it immediately became legendary.

Perhaps you're wondering what the big deal is. Songs have been named after fictional television characters before, you say. Yes, they have. However, this song's lyrics were 100% composed of quotes from The Simpsons. The verses were Ralph Wiggum quotes, while the chorus was said by Ralph's father, Police Chief Clarence "Clancy" Wiggum. The best part? There's no flow, rhyme or sense to the lyrics. They're just random quotes strung together. The group turned a song that breaks down to 100% lyrical nonsense, and they come across as geniuses for doing it.

From the initial seconds of the song, it just brings a smile to my face, and I find myself singing along whenever I hear it. What makes it extra fun is listening to the lyrics and trying to remember which episodes the quotes were from. Again, there's no emotional, wild story behind why this song is being listed. It's just being listed. I can't listen to this song and not at least crack a smile.

-------------------------Day 4 - All-Time Favorite Promo

Hey, look, it's something from the original ECW that has held up through the years. In my opinion, Mick Foley is probably the best "talker" that the wrestling business has ever seen. He was able to bring out so many different emotions from the people watching his promos. He could make you laugh, he could make you cry, he could make you angry, he could scare the living hell out of you.. you name it. What makes Foley's promos so effective is that he's able to use real emotions and real events to help him craft what he's going to talk about. He isn't just reading from a bullet-point note that someone else has recommended for him.

The "Cane Dewey" promo was one of those instances. Foley has said, on multiple occasions, that seeing the "Cane Dewey" sign in the crowd was one of the lowest moments of his entire life, let alone of his wrestling career. That shouldn't be a surprise. No matter what line of work you're in, if someone advocated physical harm on your three-year-old son, you'd be upset, too. He took that pain and that passion, and he used it to craft the promo you see in the video above. Using the ECW fans and their "too smart for their own good" stereotypes, he spun that into an anti-ECW type of promo, pointing out the differences between life in WCW and life in ECW. ECW's "poster boy" at the time was Tommy Dreamer, and Mick, as Cactus Jack, tried to sell Dreamer on just how cold and heartless the ECW fans were. The promo almost turned into a recruiting sell, by Cactus Jack to Tommy Dreamer on behalf of Eric Bischoff and WCW.

It was a beautiful thing. If there was one thing that ECW fans hated more than anything in the world, it was WCW and what WCW represented. Any type of pro-WCW and/or anti-hardcore promo would really stand out in ECW, and Foley was on an incredible promo run in those days, but "Cane Dewey" stands out more than anything else. You can hear the anger in his voice. You can just about feel the pain in his heart. It was six of the most legitimately emotional moments that we've seen in wrestling. The promo is actually something that makes me dislike today's wrestling scene. Nobody cuts promos like that anymore. As I mentioned earlier, there's too much reliance on scripted promos and writers having to make bullet-pointed notes for workers to use. That doesn't allow for any of them to tap into real emotions and real feelings, and what we get is a lot of forced, awkward, unauthentic promos that nobody believes. That's a real shame.

Day 4 - A Song That Makes You Sad

Let me just say, right now, that I might ramble a bit in this section, so consider yourselves warned.

May 3rd, 2001 goes down as the worst day of my life.

As I've mentioned in my columns before, I lived with my Grandparents since I was only a few months old. To be more specific, it was my Grandmother and her boyfriend, so I wasn't related to the man by blood. Anyway, because my Grandmother was such a strict, old-school disciplinarian, I always found myself being closer to the man I called "Papa". He was my Grandfather, my Father, my best friend and my brother, all rolled into one.

When my Grandmother passed away in 1997, it left my Grandfather and I by ourselves, literally and figuratively. The family began fighting with each other over inheritance, and my Grandfather and I were the target of a lot of their hostility. She requested that he be in charge of her estate after her passing, and the family couldn't handle it. Who was he to decide what would happen with their Mother/Sister's things? It continued to spiral out of control, and eventually, contact with my family was shut off, and that continues on to this day.

Fast forward to that day.. May 3rd, 2001.

After a day out with my friends, I came home to find my Grandfather dead on the floor of his bedroom. He was on a lot of medications for asthma, arthritis and other ailments, and his heart simply couldn't take all the extra stress anymore. Words cannot express the guilt that someone feels in a situation like that. For the rest of my life, I have to live with wondering whether or not I could have saved his life had I simply stayed home that day.

This song was something that I stumbled across almost by fate. I had purchased the City High CD earlier in the year, off of the success of their hit single, "What Would You Do?", but as was the case with a lot of albums I bought back then, I never really got around to listening to it. I had albums sitting in my CD booklets for months.. sometimes even years.. without so much as even putting them into a CD player. A few days after the death of my Grandfather, I was going through my CDs, looking for some new material to listen to as I cleaned the house. I saw the City High album, and I played it. One of the last songs on the album was "So Many Things". I listened to the song, and as I began hearing the lyrics, I broke down, and I cried. I cried hard. I cried for a really long time. I cried a lot on the night of his passing, but I was holding a lot of my emotions in over the next few days. Hearing this song for the first time opened the flood gates, so to speak.

Here we are, ten years later, and I still can't stand to listen this song more than once or twice a year. However, and anyone who has suffered a real loss in their lives will understand what I mean, there's just times that you need to cry. It might come across as "soft" to some people, but that's of no concern to me.

I apologize for the non-wrestling section of today's entry being much longer than the actual wrestling section was. I just started typing, and it pretty much went where it went, even though I really shortened the story.

Rest In Power, Ardy Kvanvig
7/6/44 - 5/3/01-------------------------Day 5 - Favorite WWE Match

If you've been a reader of mine for a while, this should come as no surprise to you, as I've mentioned my fondness for this match on a few different occasions. Bret "The Hitman" Hart VS "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a Submission Match at WrestleMania 13. Wow. The reason the match is here in this spot isn't even all because of the in-ring work. In fact, it can be argued that the Hart VS Austin match from a few months prior to this, at the 1996 Survivor Series, was a better overall match. However, what the Survivor Series match didn't have was one of the greatest stories told in a single match that we've ever seen. It also gave us the culmination to one of the best double-turns ever executed, and it was all by accident. The WWF fans called for the turn that made Bret Hart a heel and Steve Austin a face. Bret stood for the "old school" and everything it represented, and Austin, for lack of a better term, was something of a new age outlaw. Times were changing in the world, and they were changing in wrestling, as well. Things were written around the fan reaction, and it all went down at WrestleMania.

Don't get it twisted.. the match itself was really good. Just an entertaining brawl from beginning to end, everything they did was believable during the match, as was the same for the entire feud. It came across as more than just a wrestling storyline. It seemed as though Hart and Austin actually hated each other's guts, and from the opening bell, they beat the hell out of each other here. It brought out a different side of Bret Hart than a lot of people were used to seeing, as he was a technical wizard, while Austin was the one known as a brawler with a smashmouth style. Hart matched Austin, punch for punch, here.

To add to the "fate" or "destiny" of this match, not only was the double-turn accidentally stumbled upon, but the most iconic images of this match.. Austin's bloody face as he screamed in pain while locked in the Sharpshooter.. happened by accident, as well. From every account, the spot that busted Austin open wasn't supposed to happen the way it did. He slipped a bit, and that caused him to crack his forehead on the guardrail, busting him wide open. Think about that level of luck for Vince McMahon. The entire thing turned into one of the best storylines in company history, branching out into the USA VS Canada deal that was also incredibly entertaining, and all of this helped turn Steve Austin into the megastar that he became, making Vince millions and millions and millions of dollars. Would Austin have become a star had he stayed heel? Would Austin have become a star had he not been busted open by the guardrail? The saying that the cream always rises to the top probably applies here, but damn, there's not a lot of sense in looking at the hypotheticals, is there?

Did I mention that this match also introduced "The World's Most Dangerous Man", Ken Shamrock, to the world of wrestling? Well, it did. That has to count for something, doesn't it? He did give us the Ankle Lock as a finishing move, after all. Hooray!

Day 5 - A Song That Reminds You Of Someone

"Kawaipunahele" by Keali'i Reichel

This song will always remind me of a really good friend of mine. She's someone that I've fallen out of touch with multiple times through the years, but when we do talk again, it's like we never stopped.

When I was in the 8th grade, I was on the Yearbook staff. Epitome of cool, I know. I'd spend all of my breaks and lunch periods in the Yearbook room, which also happened to be the same room as my homeroom and my Social Studies classes. Anyway, on top of that ridiculous workload, the teacher also taught hula, so a lot of the girls would spend their time in the class, going over routines, etc. Fellas, let me tell you this.. when done right, the hula is incredibly sexy beyond any words that I can form into a sentence for you to understand. Back on track, though.. this good friend of mine was one of the hula girls, and I'd always see her and her friends doing their thug thizzle while I helped to put the yearbook together. "Kawaipunahele" was one of the songs they performed to, and it just became part of my thinking. When I think of her, I think of hula, and when I think of hula, I think of this song.

Same old boy, same sweet girl.. ten years down the road.. we used to drive around the island, doing little sightseeing tours. Just because I live in paradise and get to see it every single day doesn't make it any less beautiful and worth checking out, you know? We used to throw the Keali'i Reichel album into the CD deck, roll the windows down and just drive. Great times.

You know what? I think I'll contact this friend right now.

-------------------------Day 6 - Favorite Finishing Maneuver

Sure, I'm a big fan of a lot of the current wrestling scene, with fantastic athletic moves and creative juices flowing left and right, but I'm still an old school wrestling guy at heart, and that's why I'm choosing the Powerbomb as my favorite finisher of all-time.

When I was growing up, one of my favorite wrestlers was "Psycho" Sid Vicious aka Sid aka Sycho Sid aka Sid Justice aka Lord Humongous. He was never the most spectacular in-ring worker, but I was a little kid, so what the fuck did I care about any of that? He was big, he had a crazy laugh, he yelled a lot and he had a blonde mullet/jheri curl combination.. it was difficult for him not to grab your attention. When he went into a match, he usually destroyed his opponent, and he damn near crippled them with his finisher.. a Powerbomb.

Through the years, we've seen dozens of Powerbomb variations, and damnit, I love them all. In the video I provided, you see the infamous Ganso Bomb delivered on the late Mitsuhara Misawa by one of his greatest rivals, Toshiaki Kawada. When he hits the move, look and listen for the crowd reaction. The normally quiet and respectful Japanese audience went crazy. The building was shaking for a moment. That's not even mentioning the poor announcer, who sounded like he just shit himself and was forced to watch his sister eat his doodoo-streaked underwear. Perhaps it's a bit cheap to group all of the Powerbomb variations together under one heading, but this is my column, and I'll do what I want to.. do what I want to.. do what I want to.

The Ganso Bomb is the most jaw-dropping version of the move, while Sid Vicious is my favorite deliverer of the move, but I'm also a fan of Vader's Powerbombs. The sheer power and force he put behind the move was incredible. He's injured people left and right with Powerbombs. Some intentionally, and some not. I still remember the sound that was made when Vader hit the move on Cactus Jack in WCW. When Jack's head and back hit the concrete floor, I thought he was dead. It sounded like a solid double from the bat of Albert Pujols. You can't really tell in this video, because of the quality, but trust me..

In today's wrestling scene, a Powerbomb can often be nothing more than a regular transitional move, used to set something else up. That's a real shame. It starts from the independent wrestling scene, where wrestlers often try to cram as many moves as they possibly can in a short amount of time, instead of trying to focus on making the moves they have actually mean something. It's to the point where we, as wrestling fans, have been spoiled. If Wrestler A hit Wrestler B with a Powerbomb and actually got the pin with it, it would catch people off guard. That isn't 100% accurate, of course, but we're reaching that point.

Sad times, folks. Sad times.

Day 6 - A Song That Reminds You Of Somewhere

Hawaii might be the only place I've ever been to that doesn't support local hip-hop talent on the radio. It's pretty ridiculous.

With that said, I was in Orlando, Florida for WrestleMania 24, and lived there for a few months afterwards before getting homesick, coming home and never going back, leaving an empty two-bedroom apartment just sitting there collecting dust for nearly a year. Well, while I was in Orlando, I couldn't get away from hearing Florida hip-hop artists on the radio. Their songs were played all the time. Perhaps the top artist at the time was Flo Rida (get it?!?!?), who was brand new to the scene. His song "Low" was one of 2008's biggest singles, but "In The Ayer" remains the song that reminds me of Orlando more than anything else. Hearing it on the radio. Hearing it blasting from people's car stereos. Seeing the video on television. Pantomiming the entire song while driving all over the streets of Orlando. Yeah, I said it. Typed it.. whatever. My levels of nerdery will surprise people sometimes.

It's nowhere near the greatest song ever made, but to this day, over three years later, when I happen to hear it, all I can think about is those few months I spent living in Orlando.

Good times, folks. Good times.

-------------------------Day 7 - Worst Finishing Maneuver

Sorry, nony.

I've seen a lot of people picking Hulk Hogan's Leg Drop as their choice for this entry, but I'm not buying into that. If you look at it from the standpoint of kayfabe, it's a muscular 300-pound man jumping in the air and crashing his entire leg across his opponent's throat and chest area. Let someone do that to you right now, and I bet you'd be down for at least three seconds.

In my columns, I've also stated that I'm not a fan of Big Show's Knockout Punch finisher, either. Again, in kayfabe, it's great, because it's a 400+ pound monster punching you in the face. However, if you try to think logically, if your finisher is a single punch to the face, why wouldn't you just land it five seconds into the match and get things over with? Why would you wrestle a ten-minute match, and then go for an attempt at it? If he's that big and that strong, he should be able to win all of his matches in mere seconds, right?

Instead, I went with Scotty 2 Hotty's Worm.. pause.. for the sheer ridiculousness of the entire thing. If you look at it from the world of kayfabe, it requires an opponent that is flat on his back, completely still, for upwards of an entire minute, just so Scotty can do his dance and actually hit the move. If you've incapacitated your opponent for 30-60 seconds already.. FUCKING PIN HIM! You look like an idiot going through all of the extra rigmarole when you could have already won the match. It's slightly different, of course, but it's like certain indy workers who have several legit finishers in their arsenal, but use most of them as regular moves. They go up top and hit a 450 Splash. Then they pick their opponent up and nail them with a Lariat. Then they pick their opponent up again and hit them with a Running Tigerbomb. Then they hit a Phoenix Splash and get the win. They could have pinned their opponent after the original 450. Everything else was just for show, and simply a waste of time.

If you look at the move itself.. it's a chop to the chest. Even after all the dancing and the over-the-top theatrics.. it's a chop to the chest. Just about every wrestler alive today hits opponents with chops to the chest at some point during a match, and you know what? They hit the chops much harder. Look at Ric Flair's chops. Look at when Shawn Michaels used to hit chops. Look on the indy scene, with guys like Roderick Strong and Davey Richards who chop their opponents with such force that it makes their chests bleed. Never once have you seen Scotty 2 Hotty chop someone even remotely close to that hard. It just doesn't make sense, on any level.

At least it got the crowd excited, though. In that era, there weren't too many things that elicited a bigger face pop than Scotty making that face, coming to the realization that his opponent was in position. Too Cool were really over. It's crazy to go back and watch videos from then, to see just how over they really were.

Day 7 - A Song That Reminds You Of A Certain Event

While I'm a fan of G.C. Cameron's original version of the song, I'm talking about Boyz 2 Men's version of "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday".

It's a little weird, really, because the original version of the song (from the movie, Cooley High) was about the emotions that a student feels when high school is over and you have to move on, either to college, to a job, the military, etc. However, in this generation, the song is definitely more linked to funerals and death, and is one of the most requested "funeral songs" of the last 20 years. Most people assume Boyz 2 Men were the original performers of the song, so all they know is the "lost loved ones" theme. It's with that line of thinking that I take you back to my senior year of high school.

I don't know how it works in other high schools across the globe, but at my school, we got to choose our graduation song. There was a week where the entire senior class got to submit their choices, and the senior class president (along with the rest of the student council) chose the top five vote-getters, which we then had a week to vote on. The winner was to be our graduation song. I couldn't even tell you what song I nominated, or what the other four final choices were, but "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday" won in a landslide. The Boyz 2 Men version was it, because, like I said, most people don't even know they weren't the original artists. So, of course, the biggest thought that went through their minds was trying to figure out just why the hell our graduation song was a song written about dead friends and family members. Only a few of us really knew what was happening, but there was still a weird vibe whenever we had to get together to practice singing the song for graduation.

To this day, nearly 11 years later (FML), whenever I hear the Boyz 2 Men version of the song, I think back to graduating high school, and just what an important event it was in my life.

Stay in school, kids.

-------------------------Day 8 - Worst Botch Of All-Time

Alright, that's actually not my entry for today's topic. That might be the funniest botch of all-time, though. I can't believe he actually said that, live on pay-per-view, and was still able to bounce back and become a huge star in the business. Props to Booker T for that. Now, if we could only find a way for him to have his voice box ripped out so he can never do commentary again. We'll have to work on that, I guess.

Worst botch.. well, that depends on what you mean by "worst", I guess. Is it the botch that was the furthest away from being completed as planned? Is it the botch that probably resulted in the person getting hurt the most? I decided to go with a botched move that looks about as ridiculous as anything you've ever seen, and didn't even come close to what was supposed to be taking place. Take a look..

Ho.

Ly.

Shit.

It's pretty clear what Kelly Kelly was trying to do there. However, I'm closer to hitting that move right now, sitting on my bed, typing this column, than she was in that video. The Great Khali might as well try to do a Moonsault in his next match. It would have the same effectiveness as Kelly Kelly's attempt at a handspring back elbow.

What the video really shows is just how far she's come as an in-ring performer. She's still not exactly Louise Thesz in the ring, but when you compare it to the time frame when that video clip took place, she's improved tremendously. She's really come a long way.

Hey, at least she's hot, right? Those pigtails were a good look for her, too. Oh, and there's also Layla's sexy self, getting the shit scared out of her when she damn near turned around and got nailed with an inadvertant Pele Kick.

I'm always looking for the positives, folks. Always looking for the positives.

I know a lot of people are going with Brock Lesnar's Shooting Star Press attempt at WrestleMania 19, and I can understand why, but I think there's a difference between "Worst Botch" and "Botch That The Most People Saw Live". Lesnar came pretty close to hitting the SSP in his botch. He just had the unfortunate luck of having 54,097 fans in attendance at Safeco Field that night, plus another 550,000 homes that purchased the event on pay-per-view. I guess, since I like looking for positives, I could point out that WrestleMania 19 featured, by a large margin, one of the worst buy numbers of any WrestleMania the "modern" era, and the lowest one since WrestleMania 13, which was the lowest number in WrestleMania history, so at least he didn't do the botch at WrestleMania 23, where nearly 1.3 million homes bought the event.

Hooray, positivity!

Day 8 - A Song You Know All The Words To

I think this topic is dumb, especially when you consider the fact that there are probably thousands of songs I know all the words to. That makes things pretty difficult to choose, so I went with the last song I heard that I knew all the words to. "Smooth Criminal" ended approximately 15 minutes ago, so there's your choice for the day.

The song is nearly 24 years old, but it remains one of the greatest songs of all-time, excelling in various types of badassery, in audio and video form. Two words that those of you who have seen the video will understand.. The Lean. 'Nuff said.

Come on, folks.. if you don't like "Smooth Criminal", then I have nothing for you, and I'd like to respectfully ask for my BFF bracelet back.

-------------------------Day 9 - Funniest Wrestling Moment

I cheated a bit, as you can tell, by putting several videos here. However, they all represent the same thing. When Steve Austin turned heel at WrestleMania 17, it shook the wrestling world up, and the general direction of his character was something that a lot of people weren't expecting. He became a comedic heel, with a psychotic edge. It was different. It was great comedic execution. It just brought moment after moment after moment that made me laugh when I first saw them, and they continue to make me laugh today.

In WCW, not only was Austin never really given a proper chance to shine as a singles competitor, but he damn sure wasn't given a chance to show off his comedic timing. It wasn't until he got to ECW, with his anti-WCW and anti-elderly promos, that people began to take notice of how naturally funny the guy was. Then, of course, that's put on the back burner again with the "Ringmaster" gimmick, as well as with the early days of the "Stone Cold" character. As time went on, he began to show some humor, specifically in the 1997 Royal Rumble match. At multiple times during the match, Austin found himself being all alone in the ring after others had been eliminated, and he'd always do some sort of humorously cocky thing.. push-ups, checking his watch, sitting on the top turnbuckle, etc.. until Bret Hart's music hit. He was feuding with Bret at the time, and the look of complete and utter fear on Austin's face as Bret made his way to the ring was great.

When he turned face and began feuding with Vince McMahon, though, people really began taking notice. It wasn't over-the-top humor, or anything else along those lines, but we all watched and laughed at the different ways Austin made Mr McMahon's life a living heel week in and week out. That heel turn of his, though.. my goodness.. so much hilarity, in a character that, technically, we were supposed to be hating. He turned heel and "sold his soul to the devil" in doing so. The nerve of that bastard! It was just funny how he found a balance between tough badass and chickenshit pansy, and it was a role he did to perfection. We've come to find out since then that a lot of the segments in that time were generally ad-libbed, which further goes to show you Steve Austin's sense of humor and just how talented he is in that regard.

Why couldn't we have gotten a Steve Austin return, instead of one by The Rock? Damnit.

Day 9 - A Song That You Can Dance To

Fat Joe still can't rap, but you know what? I'm not a big dancer, so in the rare occasion I find myself at the club, you're not going to catch me doing a whole lot of dancing. It doesn't matter what song comes on, or how much I like it.. I'm not dancing. I don't want to spill my drink, after all. Sure, when I'm by myself, I dance my ass off. I dance all the time. Hip-hop music makes me dance. Pop music makes me dance. If you consider air guitar dancing, then rock music makes me dance, too. I'm a dancing (dancing, dancing, dancing) machine.

Realistically, the most I've ever danced in a public setting was to the following song..

"Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It", like "Lean Back", both feature the word "Lean" in the title, but more importantly to this entry, both don't require much dancing ability to do. Anyone can Lean Back, and anyone can Lean Wit It and/or Rock Wit It. Let this be a bit of a warning to most of you.. if you ever happen to meet me, don't take me to a club, or all I'm going to do is post up in the back with my Ciroc.

-------------------------Day 10 - Favorite TNA Match

That is the TNA I miss, ladies and gentlemen.

TNA held its Unbreakable pay-per-view on September 11th, 2005. The card was interesting enough..

- Raven defended the NWA World Title against Rhino in a Raven's Rules Match

- The Naturals (Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens) defended the NWA Tag Team Titles against America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm), Team Canada (Eric Young & A-1) and the team of Alex Shelley & Johnny Candido in a Four Way Elimination Match

- Sabu faced Abyss in a No Disqualification Match

- Chris Sabin VS Petey Williams

- Roderick Strong VS Austin Aries

- 3 Live Kru (Ron Killings, BG James & Konnan) VS The Diamonds In The Rough (Simon Diamond, Elix Skipper & David Young)

- Kip James & Monty Brown VS Lance Hoyt & Apolo

- Jeff Hardy VS Bobby Roode

Something for everyone, right? However, the main event of the show was Christopher Daniels defending the X-Division Title against AJ Styles and Samoa Joe in a Three Way Dance. Yes, that's right.. the main event of a pay-per-view was a match for the X-Division Title. Can you imagine a WWE pay-per-view being main evented by an Intercontinental or United States Title match?

However, there was a bit of a twist at Unbreakable. Daniels, Styles and Joe were, arguably, the three most over guys on the entire roster, and the X-Division Title was made out to be a really big deal, like any secondary title is supposed to be. It was a case of TNA listening to its fans, giving them the match they wanted to see and treating it as if it were a huge deal.

Samoa Joe was on fire at the time. He was three months deep into what would become an 18-month undefeated streak. He was the "next big thing" in the world of wrestling, and someone that just about everyone was predicting huge things for. When I say "huge things", I'm not just talking about the NWA World Title (this was before TNA created their own World Title, and were still using the NWA brand). I'm talking about people predicting that he'd eventually jump to WWE and achieve big success there, too. Throw in Christopher Daniels, who was the X-Division Champion, and AJ Styles, who was already the company's "Golden Boy", and you have a huge match.

I mentioned, in the Raw Running Diary that I just posted, about a "formula" that Triple Threat/Three Way Dance matches usually have. You have one guy sent to the outside or is incapacitated somewhere, and they stay down for way longer than normal. While they're down, the other two participants have what is basically a singles match. Then the downed participant gets up and sends one of the other two to the outside, or gets them incapacitated. That cycle repeats, and you basically have several singles matches, with the occasional double-team or triple-spot mixed in, during one match. This match was no different, but it was over 20 minutes of non-stop action, bringing a lot of spots that were unique to the mainstream wrestling audience. It made absolute stars out of all three men. Joe, even in a loss, looked like a monster. Daniels, in losing his title, still looked like he would do anything it took to retain the belt. Styles, in winning the belt, showed the heart of a champion and just kept fighting, finally winning on a roll-up of all things. Just a great match, with a white-hot crowd throughout. Seriously, that's as amped up, beginning to end, as I've ever seen a TNA crowd be for anything in the history of the company.

It's a shame that TNA royally fucked Joe's push up. Fans were slobbering all over themselves for him to become the World Champion, and TNA kept putting it off.. and putting it off.. and putting it off.. and when they finally did give him the World Title, a lot of those original fans had given up and had already moved on. Then he basically faded away into nothingness, and now, people question whether he'll even be employed with the company for much longer.

TNA also fucked Styles and Daniels over. Styles is made to look fantastic.. up until he has to face wrestlers that were "made" elsewhere (WWE, WCW, etc). Then he's the "chosen one" for jobber status because he can drag a good match out of some of these older, broken down workers, all while remaining over with the fans. Daniels was never as "big" as he was at Unbreakable and in the following months with the same storyline, feuding with Joe and AJ.

Damn shame, TNA. PUSH YOUR HOMEGROWN TALENT!

Day 10 - A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep

Boyz 2 Men make their second appearance in the 30 Day Challenge. Interesting.

This topic is going in two different directions for people. Some are choosing songs that they label as "boring".. as in "I listen to this song and it bores me right to sleep". Others, like me, are choosing songs that we can literally put on, switch to repeat, and listen to as we drift off into peaceful slumber. Just listen to the song. Listen to how smooth it is. Listen to how calming it is. Nobody did a capella music like Boyz 2 Men. Nobody.

Thing is.. it isn't very often that I require music to fall asleep. There are times when I'll be in bed listening to music as I wind down, and eventually I'll just turn it off, roll over and go to sleep. That's it, though. When I do need some help, though, more often than not, "Can You Stand The Rain" is the song I choose. Like I said, I can just throw on repeat, close my eyes and fade away. Only their version, though. I like New Edition's original, but once Boyz 2 Men dropped their rendition, they shut it down completely.

Yes, this was me going on about a "slow jam" for two more paragraphs. What has happened to me? Yikes.

-------------------------Day 11 - All-Time Favorite Heel

Thug Vince FTW.

Vince McMahon has been a fantastic heel, both in and out of the ring, during his time in charge of his company. It started with his bully-like tactics in changing the wrestling scene from territories to what we know today with huge nationally and internationally-known promotions. Throw in the multiple accusations of sexual harrassment and extramarital affairs that have been thrown his way over the years, as well as the countless accusations of steroid abuse and distribution that have plagued his company, and you have the makings of a hated man. That's not even looking at his on-screen character.

His inclusion here is merely based on anything he's done in a wrestling ring or on WWF/WWE programming. That's it. He's had several heel and face turns through the years, but he's always done his best work as a heel. From screwing Bret Hart at the 1997 Survivor Series to the entire storyline against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin to giving his wife a nervous breakdown leading into WrestleMania 17 to the "Kiss My Ass" Club to winning the ECW Title and trying to shit all over the ECW "legacy".. and everything else in between and after. Vince is so over-the-top with everything he does, and he just knows how to get crowds all over the globe to react to him. When he's a face, he knows how to get sympathy and get fans to support him. When he's a heel, though, he's just so dastardly that people hate him to no end. He seems to enjoy playing a heel more. Perhaps it has to do with that old saying about wrestlers where the "best" and "most successful" characters are nothing more than the person's real persona amped up a bit.

Going all the way back to Ric Flair being the first pro wrestler I ever saw, I've always been a fan of great heel characters. Flair, "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, Arn Anderson, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and on and on. They're just "cool" to me when their characters are done right. Vince McMahon's character was definitely done right, and it's why, to this day, I mark out whenever Vince shows up. Check my running diaries for proof of that.

Day 11 - A Song From Your Favorite Band

Some will see this as "cheating" a bit, because Bob Marley isn't a "band", but that's not on me. That's on them for not being truly educated on the music. "Is This Love" is the song I've chosen here today, and who is the artist?

Bob Marley & The Wailers.

I win.

This entry has extra meaning today, on the 30th anniversary of Bob Marley's passing. Nothing has been able to fill the void that his passing has created in the world of music. The music, the message, the inspiration.. he was a very special artist, and his music is timeless. I'll definitely be keeping his music in heavy rotation all day today, and if I may be so bold as to make a suggestion, you should do the same. All of you. We could all learn something from his words.

Rest In Power, Robert Nesta Marley.

-------------------------Day 12 - Worst Promo Of All-Time

I'm sure some people will go for something of a "joke" here. Perhaps they'll go with some incoherent Ultimate Warrior promo. Perhaps they'll go with Sid Vicious screwing up and saying that his brain is half the size of Kevin Nash's brain. Perhaps they'll go with Jake "The Snake" Roberts and his drunken ramblings at the Legends Of Wrestling pay-per-view. Perhaps they'll go with Sid Vicious asking for a re-take on his promo live on pay-per-view. Perhaps they'll go with the infamous "mustache" promo from Eli Cottonwood. There are a lot of choices you can go in, but instead, I'm going with what I think is literally the worst promo of all-time. Not the one that makes me laugh the most. Not the silliest one. The promo that is just awful in every possible way.

From the beginning, you just knew it would be a rough promo. His countrified "Yep" with an awkward pause before the word, as well as after it, was cringe-worthy. However, things really began to unravel at that point. He begins stumbling all over his words as if he were speaking in front of a live audience of millions. Telling his arch-enemy, Motley Cruz (which is a fantastic name, by the way), that he doesn't like it when things aren't going his way? Who the fuck does, asshat? That's one of the dumbest declarations I've ever heard.

He then goes on to say that Cruz "turned the tables in a wrong way". Did he go against Feng Shui? Was the table blocking a fire exit? I don't understand.

"I've stood around. I've listened to everything you had to say."

Wow. Way to tell him how mad you are, Barnaby. Passive Aggressive promos don't really work in that way, and I can only hope that's what he was going for there. If this were a hip-hop beef, he would have told his fellow rapper that he went to iTunes and bought all of his albums. Yutz.

He closes the promo off with what I can only imagine is his attempt at a catchphrase..

"This time, I'm.. going.. full.. force!"

Well, why the hell didn't you go full force the last time?!? Maybe that's why Motley Cruz was able to get the best of you at IKEA when he turned that table around.

When botches of any type air on Impact or Smackdown, I criticize the companies for not being able to fix it before the show aired. It's not live. You have time to take care of any errors, big or small. This promo is another example of that. There's no reason for this Jeff Farmer character to stumble over his words that many times, or for him to figure out the direction he wanted to go in. He sounds like he's never cut a promo in his life. He doesn't even sound like he's cut a promo in the privacy of his own home, when nobody else is watching or listening. He's just awful, and somehow, someway, I hope Motley Cruz wiped the floor with him.

Day 12 - A Song From A Band You Hate

Who, exactly, does Good Charlotte appeal to with their music? They're not black enough to be loved by black people. They're trying too hard to be black to be loved by white people. Asian women and white men are usually quite fond of one another, but are there 12 million of them around the world who aren't working in sweatshops and can afford to purchase mediocre albums? I don't think so.

The Madden brothers are, perhaps, the luckiest pair of siblings in the history of ever. They've taken no discernible talent whatsoever and have parlayed that into millions of dollars, and while they aren't perfect tens, relationships with the likes of Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Hilary Duff and Sophie Monk. Somewhere, this man has a .pdf file of their deal with him on his MacBook..

Yes, folks, Joel and Benji Madden came to a deal with Norm MacDonald while Norm was doing an impersonation of Burt Reynolds dressed as the Devil, and no, I can't explain it. I think I've already said too much.

-------------------------Day 13 - Favorite Royal Rumble Elimination

Lost in the shuffle of one of the greatest (and my personal favorite) feuds in wrestling history (Steve Austin VS Bret Hart) dominating the 1997 Royal Rumble match was this gem. I remember watching it live, and it was probably the hardest I laughed during the entire 1997 calendar year, and here we are, over 14 years later, and it continues to crack me up whenever I see it.

Lawler being an unannounced entrant in the Rumble was funny enough. Lawler with the agile entrance, leaping over the top rope, was funny enough. Lawler getting punched by Bret Hart immediately after entering the ring was funny enough. Lawler being eliminated from the Royal Rumble by a punch was funny enough. Lawler's yell as he flipped up over the top rope during his elimination was funny enough. Lawler walking back to the announce table, putting his headset back on and finishing the sentence he started before he entered the Rumble was funny enough.

Mix them all together, though, and you have an absolute classic moment that will live on forever.

The best part of the entire thing, however, might have been Lawler's commentary for the rest of the match. On multiple occasions, Lawler made comments about strategy in matches like the Royal Rumble, and what we would do if he was an entrant in the Royal Rumble. When Vince McMahon and Jim Ross made mention that Lawler was already in the match, Lawler had no idea what they were talking about.

It was, overall, just a masterfully done segment. Kudos to Jerry Lawler for his participation, and kudos to whomever else was responsible for putting it together.

Day 13 - A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure

Sure, Robert Van Winkle wasn't the "gangsta" that people would have believed in the beginning, but every single person that is reading these words right now knows this song, and chances are, knows all the words. This is the type of song you hear in a public setting and say that it's garbage. This is also the type of song you hear in a private setting and rap along to it, even performing some of the dance moves from the video, but hopefully not that incredibly suspect Human Centipede-looking dance in the beginning. That's just awful.

My friends and I have always been different, though. This is the shit we love. Riding around, windows down, system blasting "Ice Ice Baby", with us rapping along loudly, drawing attention everywhere we go. That's just how we roll, son.

Now I need everyone to stop, collaborate and listen to the song. Go ahead. You know you want to.

-------------------------Day 14 - Hottest Female Wrestler

I would apologize for posting so many pictures, but something tells me most of you don't mind at all.

Just for shits and giggles, I decided to narrow this to legit wrestlers, and not just female wrestling personalities, or females that have been in a few matches here and there. If this were open to everyone, then Sunny would get the nod, with Stephanie McMahon coming in a close second.

If we're going to keep it narrowed down to full-time wrestlers, then yes, Layla El is my choice. My own personal preference happens to be brunette women that are on the shorter and thicker side. Layla just so happens to be a brunette woman that is short (at 5'2", she's one of the shortest non-midget women's wrestlers of all-time) and thick. She's able to find just the right mix of "cute", "beautiful" and "sexy", which can be pretty rare with female wrestlers, who sometimes struggle to reach two of those three levels.

Oh, and that accent of hers? Good Lord. She works that British accent.

I'm not here to discuss in-ring ability and all of that gobbledygoo, but it does seem like she's in line for some sort of a face push, which works for me, because that means she'll be on television more, but after being attacked by Kharma, with no word whether or not her knee injury is legit or part of a storyline, nobody really knows at this point.

Day 14 - A Song That No One Would Expect You To Love

"Boot Scootin Boogie" by Brooks & Dunn

I mentioned in my entry a few days ago about how I was raised by my adopted Grandfather, and part of that upbringing meant going to visit his family during my summer and winter vacations from school. We'd spend our time in exotic places like Moorhead, Minnesota and Hettinger, North Dakota. That means one thing.. white people, as far as the eye can see. These are the types of towns that have nothing but country music on the radio. In fact, for a while, Hettinger's cable package had Country Music Television, but no other music video stations.

That meant, for up to six weeks a year, for several years running, I listened to pretty much nothing but country music. That's how I became such a big fan of the country scene in the first half of the 1990s.

George Strait is one of my all-time favorite artists, country or not. Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw, Aaron Tippin, John Michael Montgomery, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Martina McBride, Collin Raye, Diamond Rio, Faith Hill, Dwight Yoakam, Vince Gill, Trisha Yearwood.. the list goes on and on. I remember spending many hours in the town's bowling alley (which I believe isn't there anymore), hanging out with friends in the back room, betting money on games of pool and putting quarter after quarter after quarter in the jukebox, listening to the tunes. Needless to say, I stuck out like a Viagra-induced erection.

The chorus to "Boot Scootin Boogie" is something that has stuck with me through all these years, and it's something that has remained in my music collection, as well, from owning the Brooks & Dunn CD at one point to having the song in my MP3 collection now.

My big ass feet are too wide for cowboy boots, though. Sorry.

------------------------Day 15 - All-Time Stupidest Match Stipulation

Take a journey with me, if you will.

The time? October 29th, 1999.

The place? Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

The event? An Anal Explosion Match.

Yes, you read that correctly. An Anal Explosion Match. Hayabusa and H were facing off. H was the original Hayabusa, and the man in the match using the name of Hayabusa was Mr. Gannosuke. The original Hayabusa (Eiji Ezaki) and Mr. Gannosuke were in the middle of a storyline that took several twists and turns that were rare to the world of wrestling. For example, after Gannosuke had stolen the name and gimmick of Hayabusa, he appeared in a legitimate porn movie with an actor (Chocoball Mukai) that was famous in Japan. Gannosuke's entire stable, Team No Respect, also made cameos in the movie. Gannosuke didn't perform in any sex scenes, but he did finger multiple women during filming. It was all done to embarrass Ezaki and the name "Hayabusa".

I'm not making this up, folks.

Eventually, it came to H challenging Hayabusa to the aforementioned Anal Explosion Match. The loser of the match would have to be handcuffed to the turnbuckle, stripped down to his bare ass, and have a firecracker set off on his ass.

Again, I'm not making this up, folks.

The match would eventually get thrown out after Hayabusa got H handcuffed and went ahead with the match stipulation, setting a firecracker off on H's bare ass, further embarrassing him. The entire thing was just ridiculous, and it shows you just how wild and crazy the Japanese can be when they really put their minds to it. Can you imagine anything even remotely resembling anything I've mentioned in this section taking place here in America? I sure can't.

Day 15 - A Song That Describes You

"Can't Knock The Hustle" by Jay-Z & Mary J. Blige

A lot of you already know the story of how I got my name, "Hustle", on the LoP forums. I had my name changed to Can't Knock The Hustle (yes, because of the song), and after a while, people began growing tired of typing the entire name out when addressing me, so I changed it to a shortened version, CKTH. The problem with that name is that it's awkward to type, and makes for a weird read in coversation. "Hey, CKTH, how are you?" just looks weird. To fix it, I finally changed it to Hustle, and the name has stuck ever since. The name has become synonymous with me to the point that even my own mother has called me "Hustle" on MySpace and Facebook through the years.

The term "hustle" is something that has been a life motto, of sorts, since I was in high school. Most of you already know my history, so I won't get into the stories again, but let's just say I lived that motto to the fullest for years. The following bars have basically stuck with me, to the point where people have tried to get me to tattoo them on my body somewhere..

"Y'all niggaz lunchin, punchin the clock.. my function is to make much and lay back, munchin.."

Every hustler on the planet lives by that, and it's everything they want out of life, now and forever. This song just represents me, all the way through.

-------------------------Day 16 - Best Ring Entrance

For this entry, I've seen some people pick which was the specific one-time entrance they felt was the best, and others picking which wrestler they felt had the best entrance in general. I've decided to go with who I felt owns the best entrance in general, and that, without a doubt, is The Undertaker.

Seeing his entrance on television is one thing, but if you've ever seen it in person, especially at a pay-per-view, you'd know just how great the entrance is. The first video I posted is from WrestleMania 24, and it was my first (and perhaps only) time seeing the entrance in person. It sounds somewhat cliché, but when the druids begin chanting, you immediately start to get goosebumps, and it only worsens when you hear the gong go off. As you can see in the video, the columns of fire used in that particular entrance were just ridiculous. I wasn't exactly right next to the stage or anything, but when those flames starting shooting towards the sky, it felt like I was inside an oven. Keep in mind that WrestleMania 24 was held in an outdoor venue, and then think about just how hot that is.

You can say whatever you want about his in-ring work, whether or not he's held on for too long, whether or not his backstage "power" allowed for Michelle McCool to run wild in the last couple years, whether or not he should keep his undefeated streak at WrestleMania, etc, but in my opinion, the one thing you can't argue is just how great his entrance is, especially when it's on pay-per-view, and especially especially when it's at WrestleMania. There's just something about that event every year that makes him step his game up, and the WWE does the same when it comes to putting his entrances together.

Goldberg? Pshh.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin? The glass shattering is cool, but it's no match.

KAAAAANNNNNEEEEE? It comes close, but it's merely imitation of Taker's, them being siblings and all.

Ric Flair? Lots of glitz, glamour and general class, but he doesn't control arena lighting and fire with his hands.

Simply put.. nobody's on Taker's level.

Day 16 - A Song That You Used To Love But Now Hate

"Just The Way You Are" by Bruno Mars

The problem with new artists is that people hear their songs on the radio and assume that's the only "sound" they have. When Bruno Mars first started getting airplay, his "sound" was that of bubblegum pop of a cheesier variety. In actuality, he's a soulful, R&B singer with a great old-school vibe, in the same aspect as someone like Cee-Lo Green, who brings an old school vibe to his music, as well. It's no coincidence that Bruno Mars is one of the writers and producers of Cee-Lo's smash hit "Fuck You".

Anyway, to make things worse, Bruno Mars is from Hawaii, which means his music gets played all the time out here. The hip-hop and R&B stations play his music. The Top 40 stations play his music. The Hawaiian and reggae stations play his music. Even the rock stations play his music, which is weird, since he doesn't do rock music and all.

Well, long before "Just The Way You Are" hit the airwaves nationally, I already had it downloaded and was a big fan of it. Simple, catchy, easy to sing along to.. it was one of my favorite Bruno Mars tracks, album and non-album, along with "Long Distance", "Liquor Store Blues" (featuring Damian Marley), "The Other Side" (which would later feature Cee-Lo and B.o.B. on the album version of the song), "Voices In My Head" and "Move On". Once the song started getting airplay here, any of my love for the song started flying out the window and crashing down to the pavement a few hundred feet below. I heard the song all the time. It was on the radio a few times an hour, on every station. You'd hear it in other cars. It was playing in stores when you went to shop. It was all over the place. Now, when I hear the opening few seconds, I roll my eyes and change the station, or find something else to occupy my time.

Thanks for nothing, shitty ass Hawaii radio.

-------------------------Day 17 - Favorite Entrance Music

Currently..

Of all-time..

If you read my columns, it will come as no surprise to you that Drew McIntyre's entrance theme is my current favorite in all of wrestling. It just draws you in from the opening seconds with its almost haunting sound, and when Nathan Hunt sings the line "you never hear the shot that takes you down", the song really kicks in. I must admit to playing air guitar damn near every single time I hear the song, during the "out of time.. so say goodbye" part. Just fantastic, and it just fits his character perfectly. Damn, I love that song.

As far as "Real American" is concerned.. if you're anywhere near my age, and have been watching wrestling for anywhere near as long as I have, you grew up listening to "Real American". The opening guitar riffs just bring an immediate wave of nostalgia that hits you. I know I wrote, not that long ago, that Hulk Hogan's popularity has really taken a hit in the last year or two, with the things he's done in TNA, and with everything that has taken place in his personal life, but I also stand by things I've said through the years.. if "Real American" were to hit, out of nowhere, on Raw next week, the crowd would go apeshit. If Hulk Hogan actually came out on stage, the roof would blow off of the joint. That's just the power that the song, as well as Hulkamania, carries. I couldn't even tell you how many days, weeks, months, etc of my childhood were spent watching Hulk Hogan wrestle, and therefore, listening to this song.

I'll bet you all thought there would be a hip-hop song of some sort listed here, didn't you? Oh, that Hustle.. always full of surprises.

Day 17 - A Song That You Hear Often On The Radio

"The One" by Rebel Souljahz

When I listen to the radio here, I usually try to listen to the Hawaiian and reggae station, specifically KCCN FM100. They play a bigger variety of music than the hip-hop and R&B stations do, and they don't wait until local artists are famous worldwide to support them. "The One" is a couple years old, but is one of the biggest songs this state has seen in a long time, so it still gets plenty of radio play. Rebel Souljahz basically can do no wrong here. They've had single after single after single, and every last one of them was a huge hit. They're one of the only groups that take the Hawaiian and reggae sound and throw in R&B harmonizing, as well.

I like throwing in the occasional Hawaiian song in here, just because all of you (well, pretty much all of you) won't have a chance to hear the music otherwise.

You're welcome.

-------------------------Day 18 - Best Memory Of ECW

I've said it before, but a lot of what happened in the original ECW just doesn't stand the test of time. It was good at the time, but through the years, the in-ring action was exposed as being awful. The characters, on the other hand, remain strong. New Jack was one of those characters. There wasn't anything necessarily new or fresh about his gimmick. It's what he did with that gimmick that was new and fresh.

When the initial gunshot in the beginning of "Natural Born Killaz" would hit, New Jack would come out with his trash can and/or shopping cart full of weapons and various items. He'd get to the ring and just mollywhop some people, beating the hell out of them with things like stop signs, guitars, pool sticks, Nintendos, vacuum cleaners, staple guns, keyboards, and on and on. I know what some of you are thinking..

"What's so special about someone coming out and attacking people with weapons? Isn't that pretty common, especially for the ECW product?"

Good question. Attacking people with weapons is one thing. Attacking people with weapons while your entrance music plays the entire time is another thing altogether. Sometimes the attack would go on for so long that the song would have to be repeated and started over. Off the top of my head, the only people I've ever seen in wrestling that had their entrance music play all the way through and need to be started over again are.. Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels and New Jack. Quite the grouping, no?

Also, if there's ever a wrestler who had the perfect entrance music, it's New Jack. "Natural Born Killaz" just fits him and his character perfectly. A song about feeling murderous, killing people and just physically destroying lives.. for a man who used to be a bounter hunter and has four justifiable homicides under his belt, and who likes to assault his opponents with whatever weapons he can get his hands on. New Jack is crazy. Check out what he did to Vic Grimes in XPW one night..

In response to that, New Jack said it was something along the lines of payback after this incident..

In that second video, Grimes basically crash landed onto New Jack's skull. It's something of a miracle that New Jack didn't die on the spot and only suffered a cracked skull and vision damage. Jack took responsibility for the injury, but he heard Vic bragging to the "boys" afterwards that he (Grimes) did it and put him (Jack) on the shelf. What you see in the first video is what New Jack considers revenge. Grimes damn near killed Jack, so Jack damn near killed Grimes. Circle of life.

Day 18 - A Song That You Wish You Heard On The Radio

In order..

"Nowhere To Run" by Rittz
"White Jesus" by Rittz
"High Five" by Rittz
"Fulla Shit" by Rittz, Yelawolf & Big K.R.I.T.
"Sleep At Night" by Rittz & Yelawolf
"My Box Chevy, Part 3" by Yelawolf & Rittz

Yeah, I chose more than one song. Big whoop. Wanna fight about it?

The first five songs are from the "White Jesus" mixtape from Rittz, which is my early choice for 2011's Album Of The Year in hip-hop. The final song is from Yelawolf's "Trunk Muzik: 0-60" album that dropped last year, and is the song that introduced Rittz to myself and most of the world. Of course I wish these songs were played on the radio. It would garner more buzz for Rittz and Yelawolf (although Yelawolf is now signed to Shady Records, so he could be on the verge of blowing up soon), and would get them the fame and publicity they deserve. They're both talented as all hell.

-------------------------Day 19 - Most Deserving To Be Entered Into The WWE Hall Of Fame Who Has Yet To Be Inducted

"Macho Man" Randy Savage

Let's take a look at some of his accomplishments, first and foremost..

- 4 WCW Title reigns
- 2 WWF Title reigns
- 1 WWF Intercontinental Title reign
- 1987 King Of The Ring winner
- 1995 World War 3 winner

The first two things listed should be enough, really. Six overall World Title reigns. If you've won that many World Titles in your career, you belong in the Hall Of Fame, but Randy Savage's contribution to the world of wrestling goes beyond title belts. He was one of the biggest names in the world of wrestling from the mid-1980s until the late-1990s. He was one of the most naturally charismatic performers the business has ever seen, in any era. A lot of the wrestlers we watch right now would tell you that he is one of, if not the, biggest reasons that they got into wrestling to begin with, and they'd probably list either Savage's match with Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat at WrestleMania 3 or his match with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 5 (and the storyline that led up to it) as personal favorites.

On top of his in-ring career, though, he's a wicked awesome rapper..

..and also a fantastic actor..

..as well as a master impressionist, which you can see here, as he impersonates a black man half his age..

He's a jack-of-all-trades. It's just a shame that some sort of personal issue between him and Vince McMahon, which we'll all speculate about until we're blue in the face but will probably never know the truth about, is keeping him out of the Hall. Sad, really.

Day 19 - A Song From Your Favorite Album

"Khaki Suit" by Damian Marley, Bounty Killer & Eek-A-Mouse, from Marley's Welcome To Jamrock album

The album isn't quite six years old yet, but there's no telling just how many beginning-to-end listens I've given it. I went through three different physical CD copies of the album from listening to it so much, and my MP3 copy of the album gets a lot of play, as well.

I've listened to "Khaki Suit" hundreds.. perhaps thousands.. of times, and even with that said, I probably understand only 15-20 words that Jr. Gong says on the track. It's almost like the more I listen to it, the less I actually understand him, which is rare, and is also somewhat embarrassing for someone that has some Jamaican blood in him. Still a great song from a great album, though.

-------------------------Day 20 - Worst Gimmick

I'm sorry that I had to post that picture, but Bastion Booger belongs listed here. Booger was awful from the very beginning. His name is BASTION BOOGER, for fuck's sake! This is how Wikipedia describes him..

"..the gimmick of an unkempt, slovenly and gluttonous man who wrestled in dingy singlets tailored to give him the appearance of a hunchback.."

That's pretty accurate, and is 100% truth, not some random Wikipedia edit. He was only using the gimmick for five or six months before he was released, and never really did much other than job to people like Virgil, Kamala, Bam Bam Bigelow, Earthquake, Crush, Lex Luger, etc, but it was still completely pointless, and seems like nothing more than some juvenile thinking that is completely out of touch with what is legitimately viewed as funny, which means one thing and one thing only..

Vince McMahon was 100% behind the creation of the Bastion Booger gimmick. It's the only logical explanation for things. In another five years, Vince will finally bring himself into the 1990s, so he's juuuuust a little behind the curve at this point.

There have been plenty of bad gimmicks in the world of wrestling through the years, but things like a wrestling dentist (Isaac Yankem), an incredibly cheap cross-promotional ploy (The KISS Demon), a Spiderman rip-off (Arachnaman) and a mythological beast (Mantaur) don't compare to someone who had an entire gimmick based off of gross-out humor that nobody found funny at all. I was in the right age bracket for that type of humor (he made his WWF debut the day after my 11th birthday), and it still wasn't funny.

Day 20 - A Song That You Listen To When You're Angry

"(sic)" by Slipknot

"Fuck this shit, I'm sick of it.. you're going down.. this is a war.."

That right there ^ is enough for me to like blasting this song when I'm pissed off. I'm a pretty vindictive person, so when someone crosses me to a certain point, I don't just let it slide. I find a way to get revenge. The style of revenge depends on the person and what they did to piss me off in the first place, but that's just the type of person I am.

I'm a big fan of Slipknot, but this is the one song they've done that I'll only listen to when I'm angry. I can be in a fantastic mood and throw some Slipknot on with no problem. I've said it on multiple occasions, but "Psychosocial" is one of my favorite songs of the last few years. I save "(sic)" for those oh-so-special situations, though.

-------------------------Day 21 - Favorite Hardcore Match

Click here to go to Megaupload to download the match

Or just watch it here..

Colt Cabana VS Homicide in a Chicago Street Fight at Ring Of Honor's Better Than Our Best event on April 1st, 2006

At the beginning of that download, there's a nice little video package explaining the feud, but to break it down a little more.. Colt Cabana and Homicide had been feuding for months in a storyline that had escalating violence that was a little different than the "usual" violence we see in wrestling. Homicide was trying to live up to his name, going out of his way to try and inflict serious harm on Cabana.. pouring Drano gel down his throat, choking him out with a wire hanger, trying to cut his tongue out of his mouth with a pair of scissors, cutting Cabana's face open and then dumping a bottle of hydrogen peroxide on his open wounds, etc. Just brutal, violent stuff. This match was the culmination of the entire feud, and it featured all the brutality and violence that you'd expect from the final match in a "blood feud". Colt tried and tried to get out of the feud, but nothing went his way..

- He was choked out by the aforementioned coat hanger in a match months earlier

- A month later, Colt tried to come to the aid of Steve Corino, but was attacked by Homicide and had the Drano poured down his throat

- Two months later, Colt was destroyed and defeated by Homicide in a "Ghetto Fight"

- Two days before the Chicago Street Fight, Colt was destroyed and defeated by Homicide in a Falls Count Anywhere match

- The day before the Chicago Street Fight, Colt and Homicide brutalized each other with a ladder

Colt's desperation was completely evident at the very end of the match. He hit his finisher on Homicide, and when he went to hook the leg for the pin, he could clearly be heard calling out "Please! Please!" as if begging that this would really be the end of his nightmare. It was just a small thing, but it has always stood out to me.

After the match, we got a nice surprising move as Homicide apologized to Colt for everything he did during the feud. They shook hands and hugged in the center of the ring, and the crowd loved it. Go ahead and download the match, folks. You know you want to.

Day 21 - A Song That You Listen To When You're Happy

"Livin On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi

I'm not the biggest Bon Jovi fan of all-time, but this song.. this song is definitely one of my favorites, and probably in the Top 30-40. Somewhere in that range, anyway. It's always been something that was just really fun to sing along to, even when I was a little kid and didn't know most of the words. I'd kinda just hum along, but damnit, as soon as the chorus came on, I was singing my heart out, and you couldn't tell me I wasn't doing a fantastic job and that I didn't sound just like Jon Bon Jovi.

As the years went by, an entirely new level of fun was added in 2008, when the song was included on the Rock Band 2 soundtrack. As a drum man, I always chose this song to play when just practicing or having fun, so much so that even to this day, when I listen to the song, I play air drums along with it. I could be in the middle of a store. Doesn't matter. If this song comes on, I'm giving a performance, because.. deep down.. I'm still a dork. When I'm in a good mood, that dorky side tends to come out a lot more, as you may have noticed in my columns. When that dorky side comes out, "Livin On A Prayer" comes out with it.

I wonder how Tommy and Gina are doing these days?

-------------------------Day 22 - Most Underrated Wrestler Of All-Time

Scott Hall is one of the most accomplished workers of our generation. Let's take a look..

- 4 WWF Intercontinental Title reigns
- 7 WCW Tag Team Title reigns
- 2 WCW United States Title reigns
- 1 WCW Television Title reign
- 1 TNA Tag Team Title reign
- 1 AWA Tag Team Title reign

He's been a part of some of the most memorable matches and moments in the history of wrestling, from his Ladder Matches with Shawn Michaels to being the man that kick-started the entire nWo storyline. He's got the size (pause), at 6'6" tall and 270 pounds, to be successful in the world of wrestling. He's got the "look" (pause) to be successful in the world of wrestling. He's got incredible charisma. When you look beyond his accent (which, hilariously, is a fake accent that basically turned into the way he really speaks because he used it for so many years), he had really good promo ability. Yet, even with all those keys to success, not only was he never a World Champion (unless you want to count a month-long reign as the USWA Unified World Champion, a six-week reign as the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Champion in Puerto Rico, or a five-month reign as the WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion), but he never even really had a legit run in the main event scene. Sure, he had a couple title shots here and there, but nothing ever came from them.

Immediately, it makes you wonder just how far back his addiction problems go. Obviously, if a promotion gives someone a World Title reign, it means they're trusting that particular person. That person now represents the entire company, from top to bottom, in everything they do, in and out of the ring. If you risk that with Scott Hall, you face the possibility of your top guy getting a DUI, or ending up in jail (or, God forbid, somewhere even worse, like Detroit) for something stupid. Yeah, he had those two reigns in Puerto Rico, but that's a country where wrestling bookers can stab wrestlers to death in the shower and get away with it, so something like an alcohol problem is nothing to be concerned about, you know? Had Hall not had his addiction problems, though, it really makes you wonder if he would have been given main event runs. I think he would have. As Razor Ramon, he was always able to get strong crowd reactions, both as a heel and then as a face. He could have easily been given a main event run at some point in the mid-90s, especially considering how much power the Kliq supposedly had during the time. When Hall was in the nWo, that group was on fire. They were making so much money that I could have joined the group, won the WCW Title and been a believable name.

Such a shame, really.

Day 22 - A Song That You Listen To When You're Sad

"Open Arms" by Journey

Really, though, there's not a lot of difference between "A Song That Makes You Sad" and "A Song That You Listen To When You're Sad" for me, because when I'm not "sad" that often, and when I am, it's usually involving something I mentioned on Day 4 involving my Grandfather. When I'm sad for something else, there isn't any song in particular that I listen to. I'll just throw on some slower R&B songs, but that's it. They aren't always "sad" songs, for that matter. As long as they're soft and slow, I'll listen. I had to go really far back to find a time that I had a particular song I would listen to when I was sad, and "Open Arms" is it.

Without getting too much into detail and boring everyone, I'll just sum it up by saying that, when I'm in a relationship with a girl, we don't often have our own song like a lot of couples do. I'm not talking about the ones that get married, and it's the song they chose to dance to. I'm talking about when two people are just dating, and they can tell people that Random Song #5 by Random Artist #7 is "our song". This particular relationship was no different, but "Open Arms" would be as close as it would come, because it described a lot of what she and I went through. We were best friends for a couple years and got really close for a while, but she eventually moved away. We hardly talked for a few years, and all of a sudden, I got a phone call that she had moved back to Hawaii (albeit to another island). We made plans for her to come out and see me, and once it happened, we just hit it off and began dating. The next year was crazy. We had early plans to get engaged, and she was even pregnant with my child for a while (she eventually miscarried), but in the end, I messed things up and messed things up badly. After we broke up, I was heartbroken. I listened to "Open Arms" a lot in that time, basically torturing myself. I guess that will have to fit into this category.

The more I think about it, it's pretty crazy to think about how much my life would have changed had she not miscarried. My child (we didn't know the sex yet) would be in the vicinity of 8 years old right now. I probably wouldn't have ever started writing columns in the first place. Crazy.

-------------------------Day 23 - Worst Match Of All-Time

Sharmell VS Jenna Morasca from TNA's Victory Road pay-per-view on July 19th, 2009.

Folks, I know I posted a link to the match and all, but seriously, I care about all of my readers, and that means I'm going to recommend that you not watch the match. It's just awful.

When a wrestling company puts a non-wrestler into a match, you shouldn't expect a five-star classic, anyway, but this match couldn't hit the five-star mark if you gave it a five-star head start. Not only is it clear that Jenna Morasca has never wrestled before, but it also appears that she's never even watched a wrestling match before. She has zero idea of what she's doing in the ring, and that's a huge problem all by itself, but she isn't exactly in the ring here with a trusted ring general in Sharmell. Sharmell botched her fair share of moves, too, but holy hell, Morasca is completely useless. Some people move at half-speed in the ring, but even that would be overly generous for Jenna. If you've seen the match, or if you hate your life enough to watch it in the above video, check out the Irish Whips in the match. Sharmell sends Jenna towards the ropes, and to prevent looking like a fucking idiot by just standing there and waiting, she pretty much has to jog behind Jenna to the ropes to meet her "halfway" for whatever move is next. Oh, and when Jenna does hit the ropes, she does it so gently that it takes away what little speed and momentum she had built up, and her rebound off the ropes is even slower.

Making the entire thing worse is that both women were heels, so the crowd didn't care much to begin with. The match made that even worse. We're talking about the notorious TNA marks here. The same people that would probably cheer for the rape of their own mother, so long as it took place within a TNA ring. When those people aren't even cheering and making noise, you know there's a problem. It was made worse when someone thought it would be a good idea to spend almost an entire minute on a spot where Sharmell stands on Jenna's hair while she pulls her arms up as Jenna is on the mat. Pull, half-hearted scream attempt by Jenna, let go, half-hearted slaps at Sharmell's ankles by Jenna.. lather, rinse, repeat.

When Jenna is on offense, it's even worse. There's an Irish Whip spot where she just holds her hand out like she's trying to shake someone's hand, and Sharmell is the one to reach out and grab her hand. Sharmell is the one that starts running on her own. Jenna merely pats her on the back gently to "propel" her into the ropes. Oh, and Jenna is the owner of the single worst slaps known to the history of humankind. I'm not kidding at all. I'm not exaggerating a thing. Not only does she T-Rex her arms when she's throwing her slaps, but she isn't even coming remotely close to making any real contact, but Sharmell has to sell it, anyway, as if she's being beaten to death by a Terminator-like cyborg.

Someone in TNA thought it would be a great idea to bring Jenna into the company. Someone in TNA thought it would be a great idea to pay her ridiculous amounts of money to show up. Someone in TNA thought it would be a great idea to put her into a match. Someone in TNA thought it would be a great idea to put her into a match at an event that someone was supposed to spend money to watch. Think about that, ladies and gentlemen. There are a lot of people that spent $50 for the right to watch Sharmell VS Jenna Morasca. If you look at the rest of the card from that night, do you know what's missing? An X-Division Title match. Homicide had just won the title a few days earlier (kayfabe-wise, even though he actually won it a couple weeks prior). He didn't get to have his first defense of the title at Victory Road, but Jenna Fucking Morasca got to have a match. Incredible.

Day 23 - A Song That You Want To Play At Your Wedding

"You" by Jesse Powell

There's no sappy story here. This is just a song that I've loved ever since I first heard it in early 1999. The music, the lyrics, the way he sings those lyrics.. it just comes together nicely, if you ask me. Maybe there's someone very, very special out there that I'll share this song with at our wedding one day. We'll see.

-------------------------Day 24 - Favorite WCW Match
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Eddie Guerrero by PWF

Rey Mysterio VS Eddie Guerrero, for the WCW Cruiseweight Title at 1997's Halloween Havoc pay-per-view.

At a time when the WCW midcarders were putting in the yeoman's work and getting slave's credit for it, this match has always stood out to me. It isn't the best WCW match of all-time (in my opinion, that would be Ric Flair VS Ricky Steamboat from WrestleWar 1989), but this one is definitely my favorite WCW match.

A lot of people still didn't know what to expect from either Mysterio or Guerrero, as far as matches that went beyond four or five minutes, but damn, they worked their asses off to squeeze 20+ minutes worth of action into less than 15 minutes of bell-to-bell time. I make mention of it in my columns all the time, but wrestlers really change their style up when they're working against Rey Mysterio, and this is a prime example of that. At 5'8" and 200 pounds, Guerrero isn't often the bigger man in a match, but against Mysterio, he definitely was, and it showed in his moveset, which featured a lot more power moves and bullying tactics that he wouldn't otherwise get to use. I mean, seriously, Eddie just brutalized Rey in this match. If you didn't know any better, you'd think he legitimately disliked Mysterio with the way he was treating him in this match.

In the following years, we all got to know both men and their matches very well, but on that October night in 1997, they sure as hell gave the world a fantastic introduction to what they were both capable of doing.

Day 24 - A Song That You Want To Play At Your Funeral

"Sleep Walk" by Santo & Johnny

Shout-out to the homie, Eric Esquivel, for the good call on this song.

As I mentioned before, I lived with my Grandparents growing up, so I came up hearing a lot of music that was way "before my time" (this song came out in 1959). My Grandfather had this song on vinyl, so I heard it even before it was used at the end of La Bamba, during Ritchie's funeral. However, it was the use in La Bamba that really sold me on the song. It's pretty funny, though, because if you talk to people about this song, the emotions they feel about it are very different. A lot (perhaps due to La Bamba) of them see it as a sad song, and it reminds them of funerals or their deceased loved ones. Others see it as a song that reminds them of happier times, and some even picked it as their wedding song or danced to it at prom, etc. Hell, on the YouTube video posted, go ahead and read the comments, and you'll see what I mean. One comment is about how the song was played at the poster's brother's funeral, and the next comment will be that the person had their first kiss to this song. While I did choose it for my funeral song, it's not like the song is incredibly depressing or anything. That's because I don't want my funeral to be an incredibly depressing event. I'd rather the people remember the good times that I brought in life than the sad times I'm bringing in death. I'm just saying.

The song is just fun to listen to, though. Not bad for a song without words.

-------------------------Day 25 - Best "OH MY GOD"/"HOLY SHIT" Moment

There are a lot of moments in the history of the business that brought a "HOLY SHIT" or an "OH MY GOD" out of fans when they saw it, but those two moments in the Hell In A Cell match between The Undertaker and Mankind at the 1998 King Of The Ring pay-per-view really stand out to me.

A lot of things have brought out those reactions from me, in various contexts..

- When Shawn Michaels kicked out of The Undertaker's first Tombstone attempt at WrestleMania 25

- John Cena's surprise return at the 2008 Royal Rumble

- Scott Hall showing up on Monday Nitro

- The passing of Eddie Guerrero

- Ultimate Warrior's surprise return at WrestleMania 8

- The passing of Chris Benoit, and the subsequent information about his passing that we found out

- Hulk Hogan joining the nWo

- The formation of the original Nexus

- Brian Pillman pulling a gun on Steve Austin during a Raw broadcast

- Brock Lesnar's Shooting Star Press at WrestleMania 19

Really, the list could go on and on for a while. However, the mix of Jim Ross' commentary with the sheer insanity of Mick Foley being THROWN FROM THE ROOF AND THROUGH THE ROOF OF A 20-FOOT CELL is what makes this my choice. I remember watching it live, and when Foley was thrown from the Cell, I nearly lost my mind. When Taker grabbed him, I didn't think there was any way he'd actually throw him off. I'll admit to being scared a bit when the camera panned to Foley's body and he wasn't moving. When he was being wheeled away on a stretcher, I, along with everyone else, thought the match was over. When Foley got off the stretcher, and made his way back to the Cell with a fucking smile on his face, I was looking to flip the coffee table over. It was just a crazy, jaw-dropping moment.

That's when he got back to the top of the Cell. People were questioning his sanity, but it was only the beginning. In a moment that we later found out wasn't supposed to happen, Foley was then chokeslammed right through the roof of the Cell and had a falling steel chair land on him, smacking him right in the face and sending a tooth up through his nose. He was knocked smooth the fuck out when he hit the mat, and basically jarred back to consciousness when the chair hit him. Think about how crazy that is. Now think about the fact that the match still wasn't over. Just mind-blowing shit, and it's the time of thing that had to knock several years from his Mick's life.

Day 25 - A Song That Makes You Laugh

"A Lap Dance Is So Much Better When The Stripper Is Crying" by The Bloodhound Gang

I think the entire song is funny, but when Jimmy Pop says the following lyrics, I lose it every single time I hear it..

"So, Bambi's goin on about how she can make all my fantasies come true.. so I says 'Even this one I have where Jesus Christ is jackhammering Mickey Mouse in the doo-doo hole with a lawn dart as Garth Brooks gives birth to something resembling a cheddar cheese log with almonds on Santa Claus' tummy-tum?'.."

The sheer ridiculousness of that entire thing just slays me. It takes a very special type of human being to create lyrics like that, and just for the entertainment value of the entire thing, I always like to think it described a real fantasy he had one day.

-------------------------Day 26 - Most Overrated Wrestler Of All-Time

If this were being filmed in front of a live studio audience, this is the part where the crowd would be shocked and say "ooooo" in unison and all ominous like. Owen Hart is the absolute perfect example of wrestlers becoming overrated in death. I know I've mentioned it in my columns before, but whenever a wrestler passes away, whether they're a former World Champion or a former curtain jerker, their "stock" rises in people's minds. You'll see people popping up, left and right, praising said wrestler. So-and-so is my favorite wrestler of all-time. I've been a fan of such-and-such from the beginning. You'll find people that you've known for years, who have never once mentioned the recently deceased wrestler, saying how great they are. It's sad, really, but I guess it extends to other forms of entertainment, as well. People like 2Pac and The Notorious BIG weren't really looked at as being the greatest rappers of all-time.. until they died. Kurt Cobain wasn't Kurt Cobain.. until he died. Heath Ledger wasn't praised universally for his acting ability.. until he died. It's just the nature of the beast, I guess.

Don't get me wrong, like most people do when this topic comes up.. Owen Hart was incredibly talented, and was very good at what he did. I'll never be one to sit here and say that he sucks. It's just the idiots out there who see everything in life as black and white, so you have to either love someone, or you have to hate them, and there's nothing in between. When I think of Owen Hart, I think of a career midcard talent, but there's nothing wrong with that. Those are often some of the most talented workers in the business. A lot of people like to speak negatively of Owen's brother, Bret "The Hitman" Hart. They say Bret was overrated and wasn't as good as some made him out to be. That may be true, but he's still a better worker than Owen was. They say Bret's mic skills and charisma weren't necessarily the greatest. Again, that may be true, but he's still a better "talker" than Owen was.

Should Owen Hart be a WWE Hall Of Famer? Of course. He's a four-time WWF Tag Team Champion, a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a one-time European Champion, a King Of The Ring winner, a one-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, a two-time Stampede North American Heavyweight Champion, a one-time Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Champion, a one-time Stampede International Tag Team Champion, among other things. He had a fantastic career, although it isn't what some would have hoped for, and, of course, it ended much sooner than we would have liked it to. However, all this talk about how he could've/would've/should've gone on to see multiple World Title reigns needs to stop. Owen was never going to be able to hang and bang, so to speak, with the top names in the company because of his lack of charisma. Bret could hide his lack of natural charisma and mic skills behind the "cool factor" of his character and the intensity that he brought to the table night in and night out. Owen wouldn't have been able to do the same thing, and that's why he was never elevated beyond where he was. Let's not forget, folks, that Owen died over five years after his feud with Bret (and his time in the main event spotlight) began, so let's not make it as though he was on his way to winning the WWF Title the day after his passing. He had achieved as much as he was going to achieve as a singles competitor, and that's why he spent the majority of time in his last few years as a tag team wrestler.

Sorry, folks.

By the way, some of you need to understand what "overrated" means. I've seen some people playing the 30 Day Challenge listing names like Hornswoggle, The Great Khali, Viscera/Big Daddy V/Mabel, Giant Gonzalez/El Gigante, etc for this entry. On what planet are those people overrated? How many times do you have discussions about how Giant Gonzalez was one of the greatest performers ever to grace a wrestling ring? When was the last petition that you saw that featured fans bitching and whining that Hornswoggle was underutilized? If nothing else, names like that are actually underrated. People act like Hornswoggle was no ability whatsoever and gets no reaction when he comes out, and yet, there goes his music, and there goes another nice crowd pop for the little guy. He might not be a five-star technical wrestler, but chances are, neither is your favorite wrestler. Get over yourselves.

Day 26 - A Song That You Can Play On An Instrument

"The Way You Make Me Feel" by Michael Jackson

There's a catch, though. I don't know how to play any instruments, so this song is listed because I can bang my hands on a table for the drums that are featured. No, that isn't exactly difficult, but that's what happens when you don't pay attention in music class in school, kids.

Don't judge me.

Hustle
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Source: lordsofpain.net