Eric Nelson (playing guitar and wearing earplugs like a good musician should)

Eric Nelson writes "Jumping to Conclusions" on Tuesdays and also reviews WWE Experience each Sunday for the "TV Reviews" section of PWTorch.com. He has been contributing letters to the Torch as far back as the summer of 1996 and has some guest editorials published in 2000, then joined the Lounge in May of 2004. Born in 1981, he grew up in Fort Dodge, Iowa and still resides there. He graduated in May of 2004 from Buena Vista University with a major in Mass Communication and a concentration in Psychology. He is currently a freelance web designer, which says translates into "unemployed." He previously worked at Sam Goody for nearly four years. "I sold Creed CDs to drunk, middle-aged guys with no sleeves. Then I did website design for a place in Fort Dodge, lying my way into getting the job; I didn't know a damn thing about web design, and just learned on the job. During college, I interned at a newspaper and found daily news reporting to be dreadful, so I'm really happy I got this Mass Comm degree!" He discovered pro wrestling thanks to grandma being the first member of his family to get cable. "I used to watch All-American Wrestling at her house on Sunday mornings," he says. "Eventually I found Superstars of Wrestling and Wrestling Challenge on syndicated TV at my own house." The earliest foggy memories he has of wrestling are of Hulk Hogan, Iron Sheik, and Junkyard Dog walking to the ring. He also remembers Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan goofing around on the Rock 'n' Wrestling cartoon and on All-American Wrestling on Sunday mornings. "I took a short hiatus from wrestling at the age of seven, while I discovered other interests, but I distinctly and vividly remember the last thing I watched being Randy Savage attack Ricky Steamboat with the timekeeper's bell," he says. "When I started watching wrestling again two years later, the first thing I saw was John Tenta come out of the crowd during Ultimate Warrior and Dino Bravo's push-up contest. Because they sandwiched my lapse in concentration, they stand out as favorite moments." His favorite matches are Randy Savage vs. Rick Steamboat from WrestleMania 3, Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio at Halloween Havoc 1997, Ric Flair winning the 1992 Royal Rumble, Flair vs. Savage at WM8, Flair vs. Vader at Starrcade 1993, and American Dragon vs. Low Ki in the Round Robin Challenge in Ring Of Honor. I know that's a lot, and there are a few more (Mabel vs. Yokozuna in October of 1995, for reasons you can probably imagine), but I'll cut myself off there. As far as his favorite in-person wrestling moment, he says: "This pick seems off-the-wall, as I've attended cards where world titles have changed hands, major comebacks have occurred, and American Dragon wrestled. But my favorite match I've seen in person was at Summerslam 1999 in Minneapolis, Minn., when Test beat Shane McMahon. It was a wild brawl and packed with emotion, which I was suckered by. The coolest thing to happen to me personally was telling off Bret Hart after in June of 1997, after a Raw in Des Moines, Ia., and he slammed his car door in my face. Great Interviews, Great Matches, or Great Angles? "I prefer great matches, basically because great interviews should lead to something worth my while, and the best angles are generally pulled off, or at least culminate, in the wrestling ring," he says. "The Ric Flair-Ricky Steamboat feud, the Bret Hart-Owen Hart feud, the Triple H-Shawn Michaels feud... they wouldn't be where they are in wrestling history without great matches." A great highspot fest or a traditional grueling match? "I will mark out for a highspot, but I will also complain if moves aren't sold for an appropriate amount of time; when selling is sacrificed for highspots, I am not a happy customer," he says. "Give me a 30-minute, well-wrestled, believable, grueling match any day over a 10-minute flip-fest."

OTHER RANDOM PERSONAL FACTS:

Current Hobbies: I play the guitar, sing, and write songs, although I'm currently sans band. Some of my friends and I get together weekly to play in our Tecmo Bowl league, so that's awesome.

Favorite All-Time Movies: Pulp Fiction, High Fidelity, and Black Belt Jones.

Favorite All-Time TV Shows: The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live (the cop-out answers)

Current Favorite TV Shows: Arrested Development and Family Guy

Favorite Musical Groups/CDs: Weezer, Reel Big Fish, Coheed & Cambria, Glassjaw, and dammit, Huey Lewis & The News

Best Concert Ever Attended: Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, and Tenacious D in Kansas City, the night after George Harrison died. I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried a couple times that night.

Favorite Vacation and Vacation Spot: I don't vacation a lot, but I've spent a couple spring breaks in Austin, Tex., and if I need a place to spend copious amounts of money on CDs, that's my city.

Worst Personal Vice: I bite my lip when I'm nervous, and I wash my hands like I'm the guy who named OCD.

Personal Pet Peeves: Barking dogs, inconsiderate drivers, and people who can't at least look both ways before crossing the aisle at the grocery store. Maybe it comes from having worked retail in a store with a high risk for theft, but my head is always on a swivel, so I'll move if you're coming my way. Try to be courteous and do the same!

Any actual pets?: No.

Neat or Messy House/Room? Clean and relatively organized. It gets dusty, and I don't like to dust, so when I tell people, "Sorry about the mess," that's usually what I mean, even though there's nothing in the middle of the floor, or clothes strewn about.

Favorite Foods (specific and ethnic general): Broccoli beef from Peking Restaurant in Fort Dodge, the #25 from Sub City (basically all meats, and provolone cheese, and it's HUGE) in Cedar Falls, Ia., and a Six Pack and a Pound from Taco John's.

Favorite Good Deed: I think organizing an Operation Christmas clothing/toy/money drive in high school was probably the most rewarding good deed I've done. The old cliche of "seeing the looks on their faces" really rings true when you walk in the doors of a Salvation Army with bags of clothes and money. Yes, bags of money; that goes over well, believe me.

Political Affiliation: Democrat

Most Passionate Political View: That everyone should be educated about a topic before they speak or act on it. I know that's not a specific issue or current event to debate, but it's the truth. Besides, it's your country; why wouldn't you be educated on what's going on around you?

Brand of Toothpaste: Aqua-Fresh

Your Dream Car: Something I can pay off quickly, since my student loans are outrageous.

$5 million lottery win would lead to...: I'd pay off my student loans, and I've promised my friends I'd pay off their student loans, too. I'd put enough in the bank to be safe, then I'd build a house like the one I grew up in, far enough away from neighbors that I wouldn't bother them with my new guitar gear, and wrestling ring set up in my huge backyard :)

Add any other witticisms?: You came to the wrong guy for wit. Ask Bruce Mitchell.