10 More WWE Easter Eggs, References And In-Jokes You Never Noticed

Thanks to the rotten shell-breaking exploits of Héctor Guerrero and his Thanksgiving gigue alongside a put-upon 'Mean' Gene Okerlund (did people honestly believe Ric Flair would break through the yolk?), WWE followers mostly want nothing to do with actual eggs in wrestling.

Easter eggs are a different matter. The generally inquisitive, trivia-hungry nature of squared-circle superfans means they absolutely cannot get enough of all the sneaky in-jokes and references secreted away within the company's several thousand hours of programming. As a consequence, their pickaxes are always finely honed, just waiting to harvest all those hidden gems from the mine of history.

The most attentive and ardent followers of our great sport may think they've already found all WWE's obscure ovoid offerings, but repeated viewing constantly unearths new info - and these are ones they might just have missed.

So grab your spoons as we once more hunt the spring droppings of the wrestling bunny (no, not that one). Our Pascha periscope has spotted an important offscreen figure repeatedly ribbed, some subtle teasing of a towering friend of Dorothy, and at least one cleverly concealed nod to a very special resurrection.

Before Shawn Michaels bumped into his soon-to-be big bodyguard in an Albany bar, Kevin Nash was stinking up WCW arenas as technicolor travesty Oz, a lanky lime-green disaster straight out of Dorothy's worst nightmares.

As soon as he moved north, Nash was given a welcome reminder that he literally wasn't in the likes of Kansas anymore, his considerable attributes put to much better use as the insouciant but indomitable Diesel. Just a year into his WWE career, Big Daddy Cool's long legs had strided all the way to the top of the card, becoming the company's top champion after besting Bob Backlund in 8 seconds at the tail end of 1994.

Diesel languidly agreed the invitation to Jerry 'The King' Lawler's court to commemorate his own coronation on the Boxing Day 1994 episode of Monday Night Raw. Inevitably, it was all a royal stitch up, as Lawler spent the better part of the segment ridiculing the new champ, with his ex-employer Shawn Michaels guffawing on commentary.

After flinging Lawler from the ring, Diesel plonked the deposed King's crown on his beaming bonce. "He looks like the cowardly lion," quipped Michaels. "When he faces the Heartbreak Kid, I'm gonna send him back to Oz."

There's absolutely no chance Shawn's cheeky reference was an accident. The red boots that failed to see him home against Big Kev come WrestleMania XI probably were, however.