FanX17: That time when I asked Khary Payton for Walking Dead spoilers

One of my favorite interviews from FanX17 was with actor Khary Payton, who is best known for his current role as King Ezekiel on AMC's hit show "The Walking Dead" and for his voice work as Cyborg in the "Teen Titans" animated series.

It was a good-natured and light-hearted chat that Khary and I had for my alotted three minutes, and I knew, if nothing else, that I'd at least have to try to get some "Walking Dead" dirt out of him. I watched about two and a half seasons of the zombie drama but, with the show now in its seventh *rubs eyes* seventh season, I was hoping he'd help catch me up quickly. Here's how that panned out:

Signs of the Times: All right, Khary, tell me this – Ok, I’ve watched a little bit of “The Walking Dead,” but I’m a little bit behind… so I need you to tell me a little bit about your character [King Ezekiel] and convince me to catch up.

Khary Payton: “Convince you to catch up? I’m not gonna convince you to catch up! You catch up if you want to! I’m fine. I’m just fine, man, you know? If you… if you don’t want to watch the show, that’s fine, but there are tigers…”

SotT: All right…

KP: “There are dreadlocks, you know? And there are walking Walkers, and all kinds of human intrigue. You should know this by now!”

SotT: I know, I know…

KP: “You should know this by now!”

SotT: I need more time to watch shows!

KP: “I totally get it. I totally get it.”

SotT: So… do you ever kill anybody on the show?

KP: “[Scoffs] You know, you’re just going to have to tune in. You’re not getting that! You’re not getting the Cliff Notes from me, dude. [Laughs] I’ve been keeping secrets way too long. I can keep them from you! I can keep them from you. But you know what? Fifteen million people can’t be wrong.”

SotT: I got caught up with some other stuff. I need to catch up.

KP: “Exactly! Exactly! These things happen!”

SotT: When did you get into acting? Was that something you always wanted to do?

KP: “Yeah. Since I was a kid, I was dabbling in it. I don’t know. … I got kinda serious about it in high school and decided that I would try to pursue it. I was from a small town in Georgia and everybody said, ‘Ah, Khary, you’re gonna do really great,’ but I didn’t want to be one of those people who goes on ‘American Idol’ and nobody told them they couldn’t sing, you know? So I auditioned for a bunch of theater schools, and I was like, ‘If I can get into these schools, then that means, ok, that I’m not [deceiving] myself and I should try this as a profession. And I got into all of them, took the one that gave me the biggest scholarship and I’ve been studying and following my passion ever since, which is to get to tell a great story."

SotT: All right. Have you ever been to Utah before?

KP: “Yeah, I came here about nine years ago. I shot a really funny, really crass movie called The Legend of Awesomest Maximus. It’s hilarious, but it’s not something you would watch with your mom. It’s like a National Lampoon’s kind of thing – like a spoof of 300 – but yeah, yeah. I was here for a while. I’ve come to find that Salt Lake City [has gotten] new restaurants and new places to go, so explore a little more.”

SotT: Yeah, we’ve got some March Madness going on this weekend. It’s a great weekend to be here. It’s great weather – it’s not snowing.

KP: “Oh yeah! You know what? Great weather tends to follow me around. I was just in London and it was pretty good, too.”

SotT: You have to keep coming back, then.

KP: “That’s what I’m saying. Yeah, exactly. Well, if I want snow, then you’re gonna be in trouble because I want to go up to Park City and get my snow on.”

#FanX17: Amy Gumenick talks about growing up an actress and inspiring youth in the arts

During the Salt Lake Comic Con FanX17 press conference, I got a few minutes to talk to actress Amy Gumenick, who is best known for her roles as Carrie Cutter and Cupid on the superhero drama "Arrow" and Young Mary Winchester on the wildly popular show "Supernatural." During the convention, she appeared alongside Danielle Panabaker of "The Flash" for a special "Arrowverse"-themed panel. Throughout my brief interview, Gumenick shed some light on her decision to start acting and also told me about some other facets of her life. Take a look:

Signs of the Times: Can you just tell me a little bit about your career? Maybe some of your favorite roles and things like that?

Amy Gumenick: “Sure! Favorite roles is such a hard question for me. I feel like…”

SotT: I know, right? It’s like the most horrible question, but I always have to ask it.

AG: “I can pick, like, pieces of every role that would be my favorite. I’m very grateful to have been working consistently for, gosh, going on eight years, which seems impossible. Obviously, the main reason I’m here is because I’m doing ‘Arrow’ and ‘Supernatural.’ I would say that they’re among the favorites. For an interesting reason, I had no idea… ‘Supernatural was one of the first roles I booked; it was right after I graduated college, and I had no idea the incredible fan base I was gaining and joining and, truly, the family that comes along with these shows. That’s something that I cannot possibly put into words – how grateful I am, and they have followed me from project to project and supported me, no matter what, and jumped on board at charity events that I’ve done or planned. It’s really been incredible.”

SotT: Was acting something you always wanted to do since you were young, or was this something that you got into at school?

AG: “Yes! Yeah, you know, I can’t remember a time that I haven’t known that this was what I wanted to do and, perhaps, was meant to be doing, or whatever you believe in. My first kind of tangible memory was when I was 5 and I saw a production of ‘Chicago,’ the musical, and memorized the entire show and informed my parents that I would be Roxie Heart someday, which, as a five-year-old, is probably frightening. Ten years later, when I was 16, I auditioned for a random production of ‘Chicago’ and was cast as Roxie, and so that was sort of my first… the first time I really remember setting an acting goal and accomplishing it. I grew up doing community theater and competitive dance, but my parents were pretty adamant about me having a normal childhood and going to school and all of that. The deal that they made with me as a child was that, if I went to school and completed college and still wanted to act, that they would support me 100 percent – and they absolutely have. So, here I am!”

SotT: Great! Awesome. Do you do a lot of conventions?

AG: “Um, I do some. Not a ton, but a few a year.”

SotT: Ok! Well, we’re glad to have you here. One last question: other than acting, what do you think is your greatest accomplishment?

AG: “Oh man. I work with kids. I teach dance and theater. I feel like I am constantly inspired by them, and to be part of the process of teaching kids… I think their potential and sort of watching them discover who they are and the things that they love and how they can make a difference with their art is really incredible. I think that’s an accomplishment.”

Wrestlemania 33 recap and review

Well, I watched Wrestlemania 33 last night. This should not really be surprising to any of you who keep up with my life, as I've come out of the "pro wrestling closet," so to speak, a bit in the last couple years. I wrote a blog about wrestling in 2015, met Hulk Hogan and John Cena at Salt Lake Comic Con events and attended a live event in Salt Lake City in February. With my main man Goldberg returning to the squared circle a few months back, I've been keeping an eye on the WWE a bit more closely, as of late. With that said, I figured I might as well write up a recap of last night's action with a few thoughts and highlights. Here you are:

Wrestlemania 33 pre-show:

Neville defeats Austin Aries to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

This was a decent match to kick off the show. I don't really follow "205 Live," so I wasn't very invested in the match and am not very familiar with Aries' career, but they had some good, high-flying action before Neville thumbed Aries in the eye and picked up the win.

Grade: B+

Best spot: Aries and Neville pulling off a series of acrobatic dives from the top turnbuckle

Mojo Rawley wins the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

I truly thought this match would come down to the "Monster Among Men" Braun Strowman and the Big Show, who has repeatedly said that Sunday's pay-per-view would be the final Wrestlemania of his career. Big Show was originally rumored to have a match against Shaquille O'Neal, but that didn't pan out, which made me feel bad for Show, who has gotten into, arguably, the best shape of his career in these last six months. Relegating the giant to the kick-off show felt like a slap in the face - and that was before he got eliminated just a couple minutes into the match. Too bad. Strowman was also eliminated shortly thereafter, leaving a bunch of "mid-carders" to fight for the honor of taking home the trophy. In the end, it was Mojo Rawley, of all people, who picked up the win. I'm not on the "hype" train for Rawley, one half of the "Hype Bros" tag team, so I was disappointed by this match. I thought, if not Show or Strowman, that Sami Zayn, Luke Harper or Dolph Ziggler would have been a better winner, but hey - what do I know? Nothing, obviously.

Grade: C

Best spot: NFL star Rob Gronkowski enters the ring to assist Rawley

Dean Ambrose defeats Baron Corbin to retain the Intercontinental Championship

Didn't love this match. Ambrose is crazy, but he hasn't done much or had any momentum at all, really, during the most recent stretch of his championship reign. I don't care for Corbin, who has a couple cool signature and finishing moves, but has the charisma of a pile of rocks. There wasn't anything interesting about this match, other than Corbin screaming in agony at the top of his lungs a couple times, which was unintentionally hilarious.

Grade: D

Best spot: Corbin yells "Say goodbye to Dean Ambrose!" moments before losing the match

Main Card:

AJ Styles defeats Shane McMahon

AJ Styles is the most cheered-for villain in the WWE and it's not even close. People love this guy and, no matter how hard he tries to come off like a jerk that doesn't care about his fans, the audience just goes nuts for him. Shane McMahon, the aging son of WWE big wig Vince McMahon, is currently working as the commissioner of "SmackDown! Live" and has a reputation for pulling off insane stunts (most recently jumping from an enormous steel cage at Wrestlemania 32 last year), so I knew this match would be good. Shane pulled off a few show-stopping moves, including two failed attempts that would have brought the house down - jumping from the ring onto a commentator's table at ringside and trying a monster backflip off the top rope toward the end of the match. AJ was solid, as always, and pulled out the win after nailing McMahon with the Phenomenal Forearm.

Grade: A

Best spot: McMahon hits the Coast to Coast, jumping across the ring to kick a garbage can into Styles' face

Kevin Owens defeats Chris Jericho to win the United States Championship

Chris Jericho and I go way back - back to his days in WCW in the late '90s. The man is a legend on the microphone and one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. His storyline with former "best friend" Kevin Owens has been one of the best things WWE has had going in the past year. I thought Jericho and Owens were tremendous during their run leading up to Wrestlemania 33, and The List of Jericho is one of the greatest things ever invented. But don't even get me started on the "Festival of Friendship"! More like the "Festival of Betrayal." I knew Owens would win this match because Jericho is in a rock band that already has touring plans this summer, so this was the time for Y2J to drop his title. Owens should go on to be a really good champion, so I'm interested to see what he does next... but let us #NeverForget the Gift of Jericho. Drink it in, maaaaaaan!

Grade: A

Best spot: Owens and Jericho string together a flurry of reversals, Owens reaches the ropes with one finger

Bayley defeats Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and Nia Jax to retain the RAW Women's Championship

Boooo. Bayley seems like a nice enough girl and I appreciate that she went from being a superfan of the WWE to being a bonafide superstar, but I just don't think she's a very good wrestler. Charlotte Flair is head-and-shoulders above the rest of the women's roster and, although I don't like her attitude, she has no business losing to Bayley at the biggest show of the year. This snaps Charlotte's undefeated streak at pay-per-views and prevents her from becoming a 5-time champ, and I'm ok with that because she went back-and-forth with that championship so much in the fall that I was getting sick of it, but losing to Bayley at Wrestlemania left a bad taste in my mouth.

Grade: C

Best spot: Bayley, Sasha and Charlotte dog-pile Nia Jax

The Hardy Boyz defeat Gallows/Anderson, Cesaro/Sheamus and Enzo Amore/Big Cass to win the RAW Tag Team Championship

In the most shocking event of the evening, Matt and Jeff Hardy returned to the WWE after an extended absence to win the RAW tag championship. I love ladder matches, and this one didn't disappoint. There were lots of great spots and a lot of moving parts, which made the bout fun to watch. I do legitimately feel bad for the other three teams, who have worked hard all year to make it to a championship match at Wrestlemania, only to lose to a team that hasn't even been part of the company for the better part of a decade, but that's the way the writers wanted it, I guess. The Hardys will be much better champions that Gallows and Anderson, who I think are two of the most boring guys on RAW, so that's good.

Grade: A-

Best spot: The Hardy Boyz return to WWE

Honorable mention: Jeff slightly botches a Swanton Bomb from the highest ladder, only hitting Cesaro, but narrowly missing Sheamus

John Cena and Nikki Bella defeat the Miz and Maryse

No bones about it, this was the worst match of the night. I like Cena, but my one issue with his is that he divorced his wife when he met Nikki Bella. That bugs. This match was nothing but a setup for Cena to propose to Nikki at the end of the match. I'd seen murmurings about it online, so I wasn't shocked by it. Their relationship, as pointed out constantly by the Miz in the last two months, is a bit hokey and seems a little fake, and watching Cena confess his alleged love in the middle of the ring while a large majority of the crowd booed and chanted "No! No! No!" was absolutely awkward and uncomfortable. Sucks to be the Miz, who I think has legitimate hatred for Cena. He had to go out there, slog his way through a joke of a match and lose so that Cena could have his "Wrestlemania Moment."

Grade: F

Best spot: Surprisingly, the crowd goes nuts for the Miz at several points during the match

Seth Rollins defeats Triple H

A year-long spat came to a close in this "unsanctioned match," which allowed Rollins who was, allegedly, not medically cleared to compete, to face off against his nemesis, Triple H. Because the WWE fictitiously couldn't be held responsible for the outcome of the match, all rules were thrown out the window, which allowed the boys to pull out a few weapons, including a table and Triple H's trademark sledgehammer. It was a brutal match, centering on Rollins' injured leg. Triple H methodically targeted the bad knee and Rollins sold it well, leading up to a convincing "underdog" win.

Grade: A

Best spot: Triple H accidentally sends his wife, Stephanie McMahon, through a table

Randy Orton defeats Bray Wyatt to win the WWE Championship

Months ago, I had hoped that the former allies, Orton and Wyatt, would get a big push as tag team champions. They only ended up holding the titles for about three weeks, which, for me, was one of the biggest disappointments in the last year. Orton turned on Wyatt a couple weeks after winning the Royal Rumble and I thought WWE dropped the ball with this storyline. Having Randy win the Rumble, only to refuse to face his then-stable mate, then to have him change his mind a month later, I thought, was sloppy and lacked focus. That storyline also led to the rushed Styles-McMahon feud, which I also thought was handled poorly. The other problem I had with this storyline was how much of it took place outside the ring in pre-recorded segments, like Randy burning down the Wyatt compound and Bray haunting Orton with supernatural visions. I wanted Bray to win this match and go on to have an extended reign as champion, which would have been a fun "era" for SmackDown!, but it was not meant to be - Orton "buried" Wyatt in a lackluster match with an anticlimactic finish.

Grade: D-

Best spot: Wyatt haunts Orton by projecting worms and bugs onto the ring canvas - hadn't seen anything like that before

Brock Lesnar defeats Goldberg to win the WWE Universal Championship

I assumed Goldberg would lose this match, but after the other WWE title changing hands in the preceding match, I thought he might be able to hang onto the belt. Thankfully, this match was somewhat longer than Goldberg's last two PPV matches, which were each about a minute and a half each. Lesnar actually got in some offense, delivering 10 German suplexes to the champion, and Goldberg got in more than a few spears, so it ended up being a pretty brutal match. Goldberg landed a Jackhammer on Lesnar, and I thought the match was over, but the Beast Incarnate kicked out and turned the odds into his favor before hitting an F5 and scoring the three count.

Grade: A-

Best spot: Goldberg spears Lesnar through the barricade

Naomi defeats Alexa Bliss, Becky Lynch, Carmella, Natalya and Mickie James to win the SmackDown! Women's Championship

Didn't watch most of this match. Fast-forwarded through it because I thought it was obvious that Naomi would come back and reclaim the title she lost due to injury, in front of her hometown crowd. Lo, and behold, she did. Big whoop. I did play the match for a minute or two so that I could make fun of Becky Lynch screaming "STRAIGHT FIRE!!!", as she is so prone to do. Not sure which was more ridiculous: her stupid catch phrase or her moronic Pocahontas costume. What was up with that??

Grade: F

Best spot: When it ended

Roman Reigns defeats the Undertaker

I wasn't sure what would happen with this match. The Undertaker's historic Wrestlemania record was tarnished by losing to Brock Lesnar a couple years back and, since then, the Dead Man hardly makes any televised appearances and basically has only wrestled about once or twice a year. Taker has had an impressive 30-year career, but he's just not the same dominant force that he was back in the '90s and early 2000s. Taker's first Wrestlemania loss to Lesnar in 2015 was as shocking as it was embarrassing. The Dead Man looked just like that - dead. He could barely make his way around the ring (I think he had a legit concussion) and you could tell that he was past his prime. Thankfully, Taker looked much better last night than he did when he lost to Lesnar, but when he and Reigns botched a Tombstone Piledriver reversal not once, but twice in a row, you could tell that it was not going to end well for the Phenom. I was hoping that Reigns would embrace the hate that a majority of the WWE Universe has for him by cheating to win or otherwise disrespecting the Undertaker, but that didn't happen. Reigns showed some remorse as he bounced off the ropes three times and speared Undertaker before pinning him, but it looks like WWE will continue shoving him down viewers' throats as the "top guy" in the company for weeks to come. This was the perfect time to have Reigns turn heel, so I'm not sure why it didn't happen. After the match, Undertaker left his gloves, trenchcoat and hat in the middle of the ring as what appears to be a token of his retirement, which I think is a good thing for him, personally. I just wish he would have hung it up after going 20-0 at Wrestlemania. Twenty-three-and-two just doesn't have the same ring to it. Rest in peace, Undertaker.

Grade: C+

Best spot: Undertaker's presumed retirement

Overall grade: B

Wrestlemania is always a good show. They put on a heck of a spectacle. I was disappointed that most of my guys took the L this time around, but a lot of it was to be expected. I anticipated lots of titles changing hands but didn't love the way that those changes took place. It was the end of a tremendous career by Undertaker, but, as Bleacher Report so eloquently put it, the way that it ended - and who ended it - was a bitter pill to swallow.

Did any of you watch Wrestlemania? (Doubtful.) If so, what did you think? Let me know in the comments section below. And if not, well... You know what happens? You know what happens to people who don't interact with my blog posts?

YOU JUST MADE THE LIST!!