We probably should have thought of something sooner, but as some of you saw, the WWE recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of Monday Night Raw. While the show was fairly lackluster, it was held at two different arenas including the Manhatten Centre which included our favourite supplement ICOPRO!

So here's a very basic question, what are some of your favourite Monday Night Raw memories. Moments that were near and dear for you?

Rob Van Dam vs. Eddie Guerrero - Ladder Match 2002
I was shocked when Eddie Guerrero (of all people) came back and beat RVD for the Intercontinental Championship. The last time I saw Eddie was on an episode of Superstars where he was trying to court Lita, I thought his career had completely hit the skids. Meanwhile there was no wrestler on the roster as entertaining as Rob Van Dam. When they weren't putting him in nothing opening matches against guys like Regal, Rob could tear it up and perform the improbable like having entertaining matches with The Undertaker. This was one of the few instances where they made a RVD match feel like a big deal and surprise surprise it resulted in one of the all-time great ladder matches. Both guys wrestled at a good clip and took some hellacious bumps in a match that really made the IC belt feel like something special. I couldn't have been any happier to see RVD take the big one and I thought the match would put him in good stead for an Undisputed Championship run. I only had to wait 4 years for him to finally win the belt.

Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H - Raw December 03
So from 2002-04, the WWE was obsessed with making Triple H and Shawn Michaels the Ric Flair-Ricky Steamboat of it's generation. Each match was given an absurd amount of time and all sorts of stipulations to stand out but most of the matches became too self-indulgent and boring. Nobody cared about seeing Shawn Michaels overcome HHH because it already happened and the WWE did an excellent job of demonstrating that it didn't matter. The only exception was this match and it was largely due to the simplicity of it all. They didn't have to put together an elaborate storyline, they just had to put the match out there for free, tease a title change and pull at the fan's heartstrings right at the end. Both guys did a phenomenal job and it's one of the few moments from that year that still hold up. It's just a shame that the segment was so good they decided to keep dragging that feud out even longer.

Matt Hardy returns to Raw
If only this had have happened during the age of social media. So in early 2005 Matt Hardy was fired and reports emerged that Lita was cheating on him with Edge. This caused an uproar across message boards basically everywhere and fans couldn't believe the injustice bestowed upon Matt. The WWE sensed this groundswell and had Vince reinstate Matt Hardy, creating some of the more engaging television that we had ever seen. While the feud only served to benefit Edge and allow him to finally graduate into main event status, the initial reveal was great and was one of the few angles fans were emotionally invested in.

Mick Foley is fired on Christmas
It's Xmas 2000 and everything is working out for the babyfaces. The unlikely pair of The Rock and The Undertaker won the WWF Tag Team Championship and it appeared that there was drama in the McMahon camp. Everything was seemingly working out for the better, only for it to be one big hoax and the McMahons once again pulled a fast one on Foley, firing him for the second time during the holiday season. I was a mark at the time and couldn't believe they had written Foley off of television once again. What had he done? Been too entertaining? Fuck this so I did what any 10 year old would do, play WWF No Mercy and make all the McMahon characters fat and kick their arse for 30 minutes. A part of me is still mad we didn't get the Mick Foley vs Vince McMahon match at Wrestlemania. The Shane vs. Vince match was always going to be better, but I felt that strongly about the angle I was furious.

Good call on HBK/HHH and Matt's return. Don't remember Foley being fired though.

I decided to narrow it down to ten. Roughly in order....


Foley wins the title (1/4/99)- Obviously #1. The most deserving world champ in history finally gets his due in front of one of an all time great crowd.

HHH returns (1/7/02)- My friends and I had been waiting months for this. Hell, HHH's "return" (that never happened) was the main reason we ordered Armageddon in December 2001 since I was convinced he was coming back there. His face run may have flopped but for one night he was as over as any wrestler had ever been.

Quebecers win the tag titles (9/13/93)- OK, so this is a delayed mark out moment since I didn't learn about it until Superstars five days later. But it still counts! The whole "Province of Quebec Rules" stuff was brilliant. Then there was the unexpected nature of it all. Quebecers were already my boys for epic squashes & theme + the great Jacques Rougeau. But they hadn't defeated anybody of note yet. Then all of a sudden they're beating the mighty Steiners to become tag team champions? OK! I'll take it!

Ric Flair returns (11/19/01)- Flair was the one WCW guy I had wanted in WWF since at least 1998. I was actually at work when this happened. My friend called me at my restaurant job and said I HAD to turn on Raw. I did. Marked out. And it lead to watching Raw as best we could every Monday at work for the next two years.


Shawn Michaels collapses (11/20/95)- The Raw one night after Survivor Series '95 was the most Attitude Era-y of Raw's early years. First we had Diesel surpass "Real World Champion" Ric Flair with the shootiest promo in company history to date. And then this. HBK, who had been battling injuries (or perhaps "injuries") for a while collapsed following an Owen enziguiri. They sold it as "real." It was one of the first times they really blurred the line between work & shoot. I didn't know what to believe in the days & weeks to follow. Was HBK really hurt or was this another storyline? And that's only part of the story anyway. Because Owen finally got one up on Shawn! Hahahaha! Take that, Yawn Michaels!

 
Vader squashes corrupt Commissioner Gorilla Monsoon (1/22/96)- Attitude Era enthusiasts will forever view Vince as pro wrestling's ultimate corrupt authority figure. This is simply unfair. Gorilla Monsoon was the first, and worst. So it warmed my heart to see Vader annihilate poor Bobby Heenan's longtime tormentor. You shouldn't have messed with Camp Cornette, Gino!

Undertaker returns (3/2/98)- Taker had been "dead" again since Kane helped HBK stuff him in a casket at Royal Rumble. This was the greatest of all Taker's resurrections. No more playing around. The Deadman was out for blood now. He also may have shot lightning. Or walked through fire. Maybe both? I don't remember all the details but I do remember it being awesome.

Cactus Jack debuts (9/22/97)- The supreme highlight of one of the all time great Raw's was Jack's debut at MSG in a street fight against HHH. HHH had already wrestled Mankind and the Dude. But now he was up against the toughest Foley persona of them all. He stood no chance. Jack defeated HHH with a piledriver through a table in one of the great matches/moments in Raw history.

Bret Hart rules (1997)- This is a cheat but without it this list balloons to like 20 because practically every time Bret appeared on Raw in 1997 was gold. Highlights include the most justified shoot interview ever, reuniting The Family in a touching moment, spitting the truth about those jerks Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin and the American fans, occasionally getting the better of Stone Cold, and just anytime he appeared when Raw was in Canada.

10 Man Tag (2/7/00)- Another classic Raw match featuring one of the hottest crowds in the show's history. This one gets bonus points for me actually being with the crowd for once as I wanted to see the babyfaces destroy those jerk Radicalz and that damn DX. Further bonus points are earned when Kane returns after a brief absence to an epic pop.

Can't believe I forgot DX Invades Nitro (4/27/98)- Definitely should have cracked my Top 10 list. Bump out the Raw 10 Man tag, I guess.
I found all incarnations of DX intolerable something like 95% of the time. Yet even a broken clock is right twice a day. And this was the best thing any version of DX ever did. It was such a cool, important-seeming thing at the time.  

ECW Invasion: Sabu dives off the Raw sign. Taz suplexes the shit out of people. Paul E. obnoxious on commentary. Raven. Dancin' Stevie.

RAW IS JERICHO: Jericho gets the greatest debut of all time (which makes people forget they immediately buried him for the five months).

The Return of the Kid: Syxx walking down the aisle the night after WM14.

Austin stuns McMahon for the first time.

Memorex Austin talks trash to Rock, while real Austin beeps him (316) and stuns him from behind.

A top ten that's roughly in order:

Bret's "pipebomb" reforming the Hart Foundation and going on a tirade about his recent treatment.
Austin and Tyson brawl which turned around the WWF's fortunes in the Monday Night Wars.
Austin tosses the IC title off a bridge
ECW invades Raw
Bret calling Shawn and Triple H homos
Cactus Jack debuts at MSG
Austin stuns McMahon at MSG
Austin assaults Vince in the hosptial
DX parodies The Nation
Radicalz debut

I don't know if their favorites, but 2 things I'll never forget:

Pillman pulling the gun on Austin

Lawler going down and Cole barely holding it together

Bret Hart losing his shit on the raw before wrestlemania 13. That whole build to his turn was done so well and really Bret was right, he was getting screwed over. I sympathized with Bret and I wasn't even a Canadian.

Daniel Bryan beats down Bray Wyatt in the steel cage. This is easily my favorite Raw moment of the PG era. It truly showed that the fans really loved DB and wanted him away from Bray and when the turn finally happened, that crowd was red fucking hot for it and I was marking out like crazy watching that moment.

This is your life...with Rock and Mankind, not Bayley and Bliss obviously. It was such a fun segment, I don't know if it holds up as well now but at that time I just remembered it being really cool.

Austin/Rock vs. NWO on the road to wrestlemania. Such a huge moment to have all those big names in the same ring.

Jericho's debut. Nobody had a cooler debut than Jericho before or sense then.

Goldberg debuts and spears The Rock. Which led to.... Goldberg Spears Christian(!)

Owen Hart tribute show.. Much has been said about the day he died, but the following night on Raw was mostly tasteful and respectful tribute to one of the greats.

Seth Rollins turns on Ambrose and Reigns. Come on, you know you never saw that one coming.

The match that Foley won the big one is a clear number one, but the promo in which he trapped Shane in that submission and forced Vinnie to make the match is almost as memorable, for me at least.

The formation of The Union.... Ok, maybe not that one..