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WWE Wrestlemania 35: The Miz's dad becomes a mulleted meme

Plus: Maybe don't ever pat Brock Lesnar on the shoulder.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
2 min read

Good dads support their children at all costs. And on Sunday night, at WWE Wrestlemania 35, one of the wrestler's dads turned his support into a meme.

George Mizanin, father of wrestler Mike "The Miz" Mizanin (yes, the former Real World Back to New York cast member) briefly got into it with his son's opponent, Shane McMahon. The resulting pictures of mulleted Miz Senior putting up his dukes like he was going to bare-knuckle box quickly went viral.

Comic book writer BJ Mendelson found inspiration in Mr. Miz, writing, "I know I said Jackie Chan was going to be the model for my new comic about a murderous suburban Dad, but Chan now has some competition."

And some fans just loved Dad's hair.

The Miz lost his match, but his dad's meme will never be defeated.

Miz's dad wasn't the only meme out of the night's bouts. A very brave fan patted gigantic wrestler Brock Lesnar on the shoulder as he walked by, and if looks could kill, that fan would be pushing up daisies right about now.

Things didn't get better for Lesnar, who lost his WWE Universal title to Seth Rollins Sunday night, raising fan hopes that he might get a shot at a UFC heavyweight title. His manager, Paul Heyman, added to the rumors by using the word "ultimate" (as in, the "U" in UFC) in his remarks.

Fans didn't expect Rollins-Lesnar to be the evening's first bout, that's for sure.

That wrestling ring isn't easy to enter, even for those who should be used to it. When wrestler Batista (yes, Dave Bautista who plays Drax the Destroyer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) tried to step over the ropes, he tripped, sparking a round of Twitter jokes. More than a few of them were MCU-inspired.

"Batista been fighting Thanos so long he forgot how to get into the ring," cracked Rob Hodge.

Batista's troubles didn't end with the trip. Later, Triple H ripped out his nose ring in a horrifying moment (turned meme) that could've been a Marvel movie torture scene.

The Miz's dad's mullet earned some attention, but AJ Styles' flowing locks had a beauty all their own.

"AJ Styles' hair was engineered and cultivated over a number of years to look perfect when being blown gently by the wind at an outdoor wrestling event," wrote one fan. "It cost billions in research but you can't deny the results have been phenomenal."