WWE's Top Tweets, Instagram Photos and Viral Videos for Week of May 18

Worlds merging led to a wealth of notable WWE-related social media posts during the week beginning May 18.

Cameras captured a meeting between the world champ and an All-Star center fielder. NXT's top titleholder burst onto Monday's Raw, helping to create a mighty cute clip on Instagram. And a former TNA star showed up on WWE territory, setting the Internet ablaze.

As much as the week's shareable content pointed to WWE's future, though, it also tipped its hat to the past. Fans got a flashback to the days before the Shield imploded. A look at Kane's more vicious side made for wistful viewing.

We begin there. These days, Kane is director of operations and a suit-wearing thug for the Authority. The latest top-10 video from WWE reminded fans of his darker past.

The countdown acts as a Kane career retrospective of sorts:

There's no justifying the odd order, but that's not what folks will be discussing. The fact Kane's setting Jim Ross on fire and his famous bout of testicular electrocution aren't on the list makes it feel incomplete.

Still, it's fun to look back at the old Kane.

The same goes for seeing Seth Rollins step into the baseball world. Before Payback, he threw out the first pitch of a Baltimore Orioles game. The video detailing that appearance also features the Orioles' Adam Jones delivering a wrestling-style promo:

At one point, both of them carried WWE titles on their shoulders:

Only one of those was earned by Curb Stomping Roman Reigns into the mat.

Once Payback began, Reigns, Rollins and Dean Ambrose surprisingly joined forces once again. In the heat of the battle that was the Fatal 4-Way for the WWE title, Randy Orton looked up and saw three enemies colluding against him.

The Shield reformed for a split second. The Viper couldn't be happy about it, but it created one of the pay-per-view's best moments:

Payback also featured collisions between Neville and King Barrett, as well as Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus. The former fight ended in a count-out, but the action continued after the bell when Barrett attacked Neville.

The Man That Gravity Forgot, though, took the last swing.

He delivered the Red Arrow to the King of the Ring. A Vine from WWE slowed that moment down to help folks savor it:

The Showoff didn't fare much better than Barrett at Payback. He did, however, win the pre-event Twitter war and managed to pair up with a ravishing woman the next night.

Ziggler had some stinging words for Sheamus before the pay-per-view:

On Monday's Raw, Rusev and Lana split up after weeks of rising tension. Ziggler was the beneficiary, as Lana went running to him.

The new couple posed for a selfie in this Instagram photo:

Raw was also a huge night for Kevin Owens. He made his debut on the show by confronting John Cena and flattening the U.S. champ.

Back home, Owens' son watched as his dad and his favorite wrestler met in the ring. His reaction was one of the best things floating around the WWE side of the Internet:

While none of us saw our dads challenge John Cena, this still brings up memories of being a wrestling fan as a kid. It's a reminder of the pure joy the art form can create when one is not nitpicking everything that appears onscreen.

Many audience members likely had that feeling once more when Samoa Joe stormed into Full Sail University:

Tweets of shock and happiness did the rounds just after that moment. A WWE Hall of Famer was one of many with kind things to say. The Iron Sheik tweeted this about Joe's WWE debut:

Joe is certainly ready. Are WWE fans? After all the time he spent with TNA, it's surreal to see him glare at the NXT champ, a man who was once the centerpiece of Ring of Honor.

More big moments are coming from the big man. And fans will be there to buzz about them all over again.