10 Iconic Wrestling Storylines Summed Up In A Single Frame

10. Austin Vs. McMahon

WWE isn't fun anymore.

It's not a lot of things anymore, but there's such a portentous and "gritty" vibe about everything. It's all steeped in personal failures and the all-forgiving brand that rehabs a Randy Orton or redeems a Drew McIntyre. Everything takes itself so seriously, and is so punishingly dull - remember when Edge was a laugh? - and yet it also extracts eyeballs and has ninjas running about an empty gym.

The tragic postscript of Austin Vs. McMahon is that McMahon won: he effectively subdued the talent that followed Austin, and slathered WWE in a slick corporate ethos that punishes defiance and expression.

But it was, when in full effect, one of the greatest storylines in professional wrestling history. Austin was an hilarious badass megastar, McMahon the exquisite, hammy ar*ehole corporate overlord. That irresistible dynamic, powered by as much charisma as talent, was explored in a tremendously entertaining and wildly unpredictable shared universe under a superb, reliable and logical formula. McMahon was an ar*ehole. Austin outsmarted him. Rinse, repeat, ratings. The tonal balance was magnificent. The comedy never once compromised the drama; it only accentuated it.

This image, from the beer bath, is the greatest summation of it; Austin, every week, provided an eruption of catharsis.