Have you ever witnessed a televised event so shocking, you've felt physically compelled to grab your laptop and voice your opinions online? Most modern wrestling fans will be familiar with such a feeling. In the era of all-encompassing social media interaction, no WWE event goes unscrutinised. Every PPV, and every edition of Raw and SmackDown floods the internet with tweets, posts, vines and .gifs. Even the most innocuous undercard matches have the potential to trend globally. It therefore makes sense that genuinely shocking moments threaten to send online wrestling fans into absolute meltdown. Even certain events before the true 'internet age' sent online activity into a frenzy, courtesy of a rabid following of messageboard and chatroom fans. If you were on the internet during any of the following moments, you'll know that actually attempting to keep up with a discussion is futile. Opinions spew from every wrestling site and social media outlet like a burst fire hose; Most of the time it's better to simply join the flood of reactionary outpourings. Even after the moment itself, discussions of such events last for days, weeks, and even months. Each of these examples threatened to break the internet for one reason or another, and there are sure to be many more as its influence continues to grow.
10. Cena Returning At Royal Rumble 2008
In the internet age, shock returns rarely carry the same sense of organic surprise. More than ever, fans have access to insider info - and while there's a lot of false WWE chatter out there, it's rare for a major comeback to go unspoiled. The recent Hell in a Cell PPV saw a rare example of a return coming off as a real surprise, as Alberto Del Rio came out to a reaction of genuine shock . The biggest example of this in recent memory has to be John Cena's return at the 2008 Royal Rumble. Having torn his pectoral muscle in October 2007, Cena was thought to be out for at least six months - maybe more. Being the ungodly superman he is, he was cleared to compete in three, returned as 30th entrant of the Rumble, and subsequently won the match. The return sent the internet into meltdown for two key reasons. WWE had done a fantastic job of keeping Cena's return under wraps, evident by the huge pop he gets upon making his entrance. Additionally, his triumph deprived Triple H of a Rumble victory - an outcome many thought to be inevitable. Although both men would actually go on to face Randy Orton at WrestleMania, it doesn't take away from the fact that this was one of the most shocking returns in WWE history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Zr-teseZU
