10 Early Internet Wrestling Outrages

By exquisite design, the rise of John Bradshaw Layfield only really happened because he scuffed his feet all over Eddie Guerrero's bloodstained face on the way to the top. It's difficult to convey the vast extent to which this pissed people off in 2004, because JBL eventually grew into a charismatic love-to-hate figure, and we know now that Eddie was grateful to have the unbearable pressure of his main event run relieved.

To illustrate how fresh and how deep and painful this wound was, using a modern analogy, imagine WWE actually booked the Velveteen Dream on the main roster brilliantly, culminating in a classic win over Brock Lesnar (who fits even more here), only for him to lose the Universal Title very quickly to an overnight non-sensation veteran. This veteran is a man who has cycled through so many gimmicks that he barely has an identity, and now, he has an inexplicable new identity. This man is a limited worker, too, drilling hot metal further into the wound.

This man is Rowan, only he is a stockbroker now.

Or, alternatively, this man is Jinder Mahal.

Over on WrestlingClassics.com, user Skorzeny attempted to create a thread in July of 2004 because he was desperate for somebody, anybody, to explain to him this crazed title switch. As if in actual grief, he was in the bargaining stage. Others were, too; his thread was closed, as two other posters cited two separate threads in which the same subject had arisen.

We all felt as if workrate itself had died on June 27, 2004. Hopefully, Skorzeny reached the acceptance stage with the rest of us.