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

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.

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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.

Hustle
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Source: lordsofpain.net