Wrasslin' Journal: Luke Harper vs. Dolph Ziggler, TLC 2014

Luke Harper and Dolph Ziggler helped elevate the WWE Intercontinental Championship in 2014 with a brutal fast-paced ladder match at December's TLC pay-per-view.

We all get into the art of professional wrestling for our own reasons, sure. For me, I discovered it in my youth…the mid 1990s…back when wrestlers had over the top gimmicks and came across more like heroes and villains than ordinary Joes. It was like the pages of a comic book coming to life for me - the characters, the athleticism, the storylines. It was high drama. Never mind that the first match I watched was a Saturday morning glorified house show match between the 1-2-3 Kid and fabled jobber Barry Horowitz. It mattered not. I was hooked.

I used to want to be a professional wrestler. In fact, the only reason I went to college was because I’d always heard from people in and around the industry that “it’s fine if you want to be a wrestler, but you better have a good Plan B.” But, things change, shit happens, and sometimes, you end up with five concussions, a bad back, and two bad knees by the time you hit 20. That’s another story for another day. My point is that I love professional wrestling. Sometimes, I still want to share that love with the internet in the form of a deep dive into a random topic that resembles something like my NFL Draft coverage of D-II wide receivers.

The purpose of my “wrasslin’ journal” here on SoBros Saturday is to relive some of the all-time classic angles, superstars, and matches. It may also serve as a reminder for some of you, who, like me, are more casual fans these days, to go back and catch up on some of the hidden gems you might’ve missed along the way. That’s where we landed for this column. We may be drawn to wrestling by a good long-term story between two bitter rivals. But, if you ask me, the spark between two good wrestlers with styles that mesh well to produce an unexpectedly good match out of nowhere can be just as magical. That’s part of the beauty of wrestling - there’s a little something for everyone in it.