wrestling angles/storylines that grabbed you.

[Tiarnán]

Extension of burke's thread. Which angles/story archs can you recall that had you intensely invested emotionally?

The invasion was definitely the main one. I get why people were let down but I didnt really have an in depth knowledge of the other companies so wasn't bothered by the lack of big stars. This was just under a year into my wrestling fandom and i was so tied to it. I had three favourites in the alliance by the end but was still majorly supporting team wwf. It was the moles, the defections, the turns ... it was all so exciting.

Undertaker's burial and return - I'd seen clips of the old taker on my brother's tapes but had never experienced it first hand but the gothy supernatural ministry of darkness and evil thing seemed so cool to me and I'd wait to see what taker was going to pull from beyond the grave to spook out Kane every week. The return was a let down cause I wanted late 90 undertaker but I still got excited to see him every week up until around the jbl feud. His entrance live is just something else.

Not really a storyline but I was properly heartbroken when Molly turned on hurricane at wm18. I've probably said before but I had a nightmare that night that hurricane recruited Trish as his sidekick instead and she wore a bra and that Canadian flag cape from her mania match as her outfit. It was horrible. Likewise not a storyline but I got really into what looked to be Christian's ascent to the top in early to mid 2005 when he got to challenge Cena and then got drafted. Was devastated when he quit later on that year.

ECW returns 05/06 - like I said I'd gotten into the whole ECW counterculture thing that year with the rise and fall DVD and all that. I hated the crusaders and loved the whole anti establishment thing they were doing. Then in 2006 it was just as good with the possibility of RVD taking out evil cena (yeah i was one of those fans).

The rise of Randy - everything from the Foley feud to the title win was brilliant to me. He was booked perfectly and somehow managed to go from the most arrogant, horrible guy on the roster to the proud and heroic champion in a night af summerslam. Then obviously they ruined the evolution feud and gave the best to hhh a month later who was completely boring but it was good while it lasted.

Psycho Mickie - Loved this. The last great saga not involving Melina that really drew me in. Criticise her all you like but nobody has come close to mickie at playing that character. I was in love with her at one stage.

London and Kendrick vs. MNM - I was an MNM fan through and through but I was ecstatic at the title change. I loved London and felt so proud of him and Brian. Then the breakout happened on the same night and I got really sad but Melina was brilliant during it.

Melina's face turn - maybe her high point in the division. Again one managed to go from maybe the most convincing heel diva on the roster in years to this insane anti hero in a few weeks. The crowd got so into her and I quit was insane. The injury was unfortunate and her crazed angry vengeful character was watered down when she returned but oh well, Melina was quality anyway.

Honourable mention to Cody and the mask. I wasn't enough of a wrestling fan to get really wrapped up in it but he was amazing at it and I thought the whole thing was really clever in that it took the played out narcissist gimmick to another level. Cody was so obsessed with his appearance and in love with his looks that when he broke his nose he saw something completely horrible and regarded himself as deformed whereas the rest of us just saw something normal.

[Burke]

The first one was the McMahon-Helmsley era. When I started watching in early 2000 I had only seem some videos from around mid-late 1998 so I had no idea who Stephanie was and I only knew Triple H as the leader of the babyface DX. They quickly became favourites though. From 2000 alone I loved the HHH/Cactus Jack rivalry, the HHH/Rock rivalry, Stephanie's interactions with Chris Jericho and the Jericho/HHH match it led to at Fully Loaded, and the love triangle with Kurt Angle, Steph and HHH.

Trish's feud with Stephanie in early 2001 when Trish was "dating" Vince and Stephanie was pissed about it. I liked them both but I was supporting Trish in the feud. When she turned babyface and slapped Vince at WM I marked out, for lack of a better term.

Rock vs Austin at WM X7. I already mentioned how everyone I knew was talking about this for weeks beforehand. About 90% of the people I knew were pulling for Austin but I was one of the few who liked Rock better. I obviously didn't back the winner there.

I'll say the Invasion too. I wasn't even a big fan of the likes of Booker T or DDP but seeing them debut in WWE seemed exciting at the time. The episode of RAW where ECW joined the Invasion and Stephanie was revealed as their owner I remember being one of my favourite ever episodes. RVD became one of my favourites the second he debuted. And I remember really looking forward to Rock's return and hoping he would side with Team WWF and not The Alliance, lol.

Honestly, a lot of other stuff from 2000/2001 I could mention. I was watching both RAW and SD every week at that point. I loved anything Edge & Christian did after they turned heel. The beginning of Trish and Lita's rivalry in 2000. Kurt Angle was great during the invasion in his segments with Austin and Vince. Etc.

Triple H's return from injury and babyface turn in 2002. I always associate that "Beautiful Day" song with him because of the video packages promoting his return.

Shawn Michaels' return and then his storylines with Triple H and Chris Jericho in 2002-03.

Sable's return and storylines with Torrie Wilson and Stephanie on SmackDown in 2003.

John Cena from around WrestleMania 19 onwards. Between whatever he was doing and the Sable stuff I started watching SD every week again in 2003 after I lost a little interest in 2002.

Goldberg coming to WWE. I loved his rivarly with Evolution from him getting screwed over at SummerSlam to him basically killing them all at Survivor Series.

The Chris Jericho/Christian/Trish Stratus storyline from 2003-2004. It's one of the only times when I've ever really cared about a midcard match at WrestleMania. And I loved Trish's heel turn. I didn't see it coming at all although in hindsight I'm not sure how I didn't.

Undertaker being buried alive and then returning as the Deadman. I never really liked him as the biker.

The HHH/Batista feud in early 2005. I didn't even like Batista but I loved that storyline.

Edge hooking up with Lita on-screen in 2005 and then his rivarly with John Cena in 2006.

Chris Jericho's heel turn and rivalry with Shawn Michaels in 2008.

Maryse's rise in late 2008.

In recent years, it's matches more than actual storylines which have grabbed my attention. I don't watch enough from week to week to properly follow storylines. Every now and then (usually at WM) there are still big matches that I get really hyped for though (Rock/Cena, Taker/HHH, Taker/HBK). I'm hoping John Cena vs. Undertaker will be that match next year.

[Brandon]

InVasion
The InVasion almost had a comic book feel to it because we were seeing crossover matches and angles that you would otherwise never see. I know a lot of people take issue with the roster that was brought over from WCW and ECW, but I was 12 and I didn't really care about people like Goldberg or Sting anyway and I was way more interested in the people we did get like Torrie, Stacy, RVD, Rhyno, etc. Obviously Shane and Stephanie turning on Vince to align with the evil Paul Heyman was great TV. Like T said I loved tuning in to find out what was gonna happen next with all the defections and turns. 2001 was probably the peak of my interest in wrestling.

Candice Michelle vs. The World
Listen. I know there were models-turned-wrestlers before Candice, but Candice's ascension came in a time after the women's division had been ravaged by the Diva Search (which Candice herself was a product of) and the departure of Trish Stratus and Lita. When Candice began feuding with Melina, it wasn't just two Divas who didn’t like one another (all though there was that). It was about two women on opposite ends of the spectrum of what it means to be a Diva, and Candice fought the uphill battle against not only Melina, but everyone who had an opinion on women's wrestling and saw her as everything that was wrong with the division. And she proved them all wrong by snatching the women's championship from that banshee, not only cementing her own hard work, but being the true trailblazer for future models-turned-Divas.

Kelly Earning her Stripes on ECW
In a time when Mickie James, Melina, Beth Phoenix and Jillian were serving us Silver Age T's (in that we got weeks of tag matches with decent enough wrestling and not much else), Kelly was serving us underdog realness. Kelly overcame a controlling boyfriend, a misogynistic pimp, and jealous friends, all while taking sick bumps at the hands of Sandman and Victoria, only to be brushed off as nothing but a stripper on the SyFy network by the typical beer guzzling fan. Of course all of Kelly's hard work eventually paid off with promotions to SmackDown! and Raw and ultimately a Divas title reign, but from 2006-2008, ECW was my top priority to see what the good sis Kelly would be faced with that particular week.

[Tiarnán]

I've never thought too much of Melina vs. Candice in those terms but you're right, it was really a pretty significant diva angle in the wake of the DS that saw them pit the underdog so many people wanted to see fail against the woman with an admittedly limited but present nevertheless wrestling background. I just feel like they could have played on that in a much more interesting way rather than having Melina lose to Candice every week right up until the rematch. It really came immediately after the steam Melina had built with the anti-Playboy campaign and there could have been some great mic work and stories told. Think of how well the segment before the bra and panties match played out. Then there was Mickie who easily could have been incorporated into it as someone from that traditional school but equally someone who couldn't abide Melina.