The Best & Worst of Raw

[jimufctna24]

Best

 

The Rock Concerts in 2003

 

 

Edge's Three Week Title Reign

 

 

Austin vs Bret in 1997

 

 

Evolution - Batista/HHH feud

 

 

Worst

 

Cena vs Orton dragging on in 2009

 

 

Mae Young giving birth

 

 

HHH vs Orton being recycled more times than it should

 

[Snitsky's back acne]

Evolution - Batista/HHH feud

 

 

Evolution looked the fucking business didn't they.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

THE BEST

Hogan and Hogan interview:

This pissed all over the Cena and Rock stuff. I don't think it came close. When Hogan came back, nobody could have predicted how well the fans would take to him again. This was still during the Attitude era fad, where people assumed Hogan was old hat and the fans had moved on from thinking the Rock n Wrestling Connection was the best thing since a sliced loaf. Especially in Chicago, which is a smart town, who you'd have expected would give Hogan a hard time. But no. The crowd were going ballistic for the Hulkster. It might not seem like much now, but Hogan had left the WWF when I was 8. I was in my late teens when he returned, so the slight of him back was so surreal. Especially standing face to face with the Rock, who was huge at the time.

 

This interview has been ripped off so many times since. Especially the part when they turn their heads to each side of the arena and the chants from "Rocky" change to "Hogan" and back again in the space of a few seconds. To end the angle the nWo came out and gave a vintage beat down. It was a perfect set up to the feud. I'm sure if WWF knew what they had on their hands that day, they would never have shot the unnecessary truck into the ambulance angle earlier in the day. After the Rock and Hogan stuff it wasn't needed.

 

Formation of The Hart Foundation:

After years of feuding, it was strange to see them all on the same page, but at the same time very believable. Bret Hart was in career form in 1997 anyway, so to hook him up with Davey Boy and Owen was a stroke of genius. The initial promo where Bret talks about setting the teacher straight and Owen crying and the problems starting with Davey being down to coming back to America from Wembley Stadium. Whoever came up with this idea needs a medal. Great stuff for months as well.

 

The New Age Outlaws Dumpster angle:

This angle was intense. Don't know if it comes off well today, but at the time it was insane. When the Outlaws (who were massive dicks at the time) showed remorse and the agents, follow wrestlers and Vince himself came out looking distraught, everyone in our house believed something had gone wrong. The whole episode was great in truth. Hardly any clean finishes on the show and every match set up for some kind of angle. But it didn't seem like over kill for this cast of characters. Well it wouldn't with DX, the Outlaws, Funk, Cactus, Owen and Austin. They were all awesome at the time.

 

Radicalz and DX vs. Too Cool and Cactus and The Rock:

I remember at the time, people were like "a Raw main event which will never be bettered" and stuff. Everything about it was red hot. The fans, the wrestlers, the returning Kane and Paul Bearer. It was excellent. Still one of the best endings to a Raw ever.

 

Boss Man returns to sort out some stupid puke:

Some bloke in a ski mask and a nightstick was standing next to Vince all night on this episode. In late 98, nobody from the early 90s was returning so you didn't have your suspicious head on. You just thought "some bloke stealing the Boss Man's gimmick. Well done, cocksucker". Sure, you'd hear rumours. Like Bad News Brown and Austin were going to main event Fully Loaded, but nothing really ever happened on that front. So when the big man removed his mask, it was a massive shock. I remember saying "fucking hell, its the Boss Man!" Austin was a favourite of mine at the time, but I might have been the number one cheerleader in the assault of the Texas Rattlesnake. "Make him serve hard times, Ray" I yelled. "He's been cracking jokes about your Mama, like Heenan used to". Boss Man rarely disappointed as well. Hardcore and tag team champion by the time 1998 turned. One of the main reasons I was on team WWF during the Monday Night Wars.

 

THE WORST:

There's so fucking many, its hard to pinpoint. But this Raw I'll never forget. It was the night after SummerSlam 98. Just check the listings:

The Disciples of Apocalypse vs Ken Shamrock & Steve Blackman ended in a No Contest, Val Venis vs Vader ended in a No Contest, The Rock & Mark Henry def The New Age Outlaws (Roaddog & Billy Gunn - Tag Champions) by DQ, Southern Justice (Mark Cantabury & Dennis Knight) def The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher), D'Lo Brown def X-Pac by Count Out to retain the European title, Edge def Marc Mero by DQ, LOD 2000 (Hawk & Animal & Droz) def The Oddities, Too Much (Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor) def Los Boriquas, Jeff Jarrett def Too Cold Scorpio by DQ.

 

No Austin, Undertaker and Kane beating people up all night and some of the worst matches ever. Definitely the worst episode of Raw ever. Pisses all over anything to day as far as being terrible. Nothing worse than something that is abysmal and boring.

[LaGoosh]

Please don't just posts photo's or lists. They're hardly the most interesting things to read. Atleast write a couple of lines about why you liked them.

 

I'll get my fave's up tomorrow evening.

[NEWM]

THE WORST:

There's so fucking many, its hard to pinpoint. But this Raw I'll never forget. It was the night after SummerSlam 98. Just check the listings:

The Disciples of Apocalypse vs Ken Shamrock & Steve Blackman ended in a No Contest, Val Venis vs Vader ended in a No Contest, The Rock & Mark Henry def The New Age Outlaws (Roaddog & Billy Gunn - Tag Champions) by DQ, Southern Justice (Mark Cantabury & Dennis Knight) def The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher), D'Lo Brown def X-Pac by Count Out to retain the European title, Edge def Marc Mero by DQ, LOD 2000 (Hawk & Animal & Droz) def The Oddities, Too Much (Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor) def Los Boriquas, Jeff Jarrett def Too Cold Scorpio by DQ.

 

No Austin, Undertaker and Kane beating people up all night and some of the worst matches ever. Definitely the worst episode of Raw ever. Pisses all over anything to day as far as being terrible. Nothing worse than something that is abysmal and boring.

 

That's an absolutely fantastic shout Ian, I vividly remember being so confused at what an awful show it was. The lack of Austin was so...weird, and Jeff Jarrett and his new (home made) "Don't Piss Me Off" look in the main event-but-not-really-main-event against Scorpio was just bewildering. IIRC, the show opened with a DX post-Summerslam celebration promo, but then HHH hardly wrestled again for months and had to give the belt to Shamrock after the tournament in October anyway. Was this even live on the Monday? The more I type the more it reads like one of those Friday/Saturday night specials because of that dog show or something.

[Forrest]

The New Age Outlaws Dumpster angle:

This angle was intense. Don't know if it comes off well today, but at the time it was insane. When the Outlaws (who were massive dicks at the time) showed remorse and the agents, follow wrestlers and Vince himself came out looking distraught, everyone in our house believed something had gone wrong. The whole episode was great in truth. Hardly any clean finishes on the show and every match set up for some kind of angle. But it didn't seem like over kill for this cast of characters. Well it wouldn't with DX, the Outlaws, Funk, Cactus, Owen and Austin. They were all awesome at the time.

 

This was going to be one of my picks. Still one of my favourite DX moments. The Dumpster match at Wrestlemania XIV was great as well.

 

THE WORST:

There's so fucking many, its hard to pinpoint. But this Raw I'll never forget. It was the night after SummerSlam 98. Just check the listings:

The Disciples of Apocalypse vs Ken Shamrock & Steve Blackman ended in a No Contest, Val Venis vs Vader ended in a No Contest, The Rock & Mark Henry def The New Age Outlaws (Roaddog & Billy Gunn - Tag Champions) by DQ, Southern Justice (Mark Cantabury & Dennis Knight) def The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher), D'Lo Brown def X-Pac by Count Out to retain the European title, Edge def Marc Mero by DQ, LOD 2000 (Hawk & Animal & Droz) def The Oddities, Too Much (Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor) def Los Boriquas, Jeff Jarrett def Too Cold Scorpio by DQ.

 

No Austin, Undertaker and Kane beating people up all night and some of the worst matches ever. Definitely the worst episode of Raw ever. Pisses all over anything to day as far as being terrible. Nothing worse than something that is abysmal and boring.

 

Jesus christ, that is horrific. 3 DQs, 2 No Contests (in a row!) and a countout, along with Southern Justice and the Oddities.

[AshC]

I remember this one being pretty grim, especially for its day.

 

11/15/99; Pittsburgh, PA; Civic Arena

 

Mankind defeated Val Venis via submission with the Mandible Claw at 4:51.

 

Kurt Angle pinned the Godfather with the Olympic Slam at 2:58 after the Godfather became distracted by a fan at ringside that had a sign reading 'World Wide Filth'.

 

Gangrel (w/ Luna) pinned Chris Jericho with a northern lights suplex at 1:27 after Jericho became distracted by Chyna and Miss Kitty at ringside.

 

WWF World Champion the Big Show defeated WWF European Champion Davey Boy Smith (w/ the Mean Street Posse) via disqualification at the 33-second mark after the Posse interfered.

 

WWF Tag Team Champion the Road Dogg pinned Al Snow at 4:14 with the pumphandle slam; after the bout, Mankind cheered Snow up following the loss.

 

Test pinned WWF Tag Team Champion Billy Gunn with a roll up at 4:30 after avoiding the Fameasser; after the bout, Gunn hit the Fameasser on Test.

 

Triple H defeated Kane via disqualification at 4:42 when Vince McMahon interfered; after the bout, Kane hit a chokeslam on Triple H.

 

WWF Hardcore Champion the Big Bossman pinned the Rock in a non-title hardcore match with the sidewalk slam at 4:41 after Albert distracted the Rock; following the bout, the Rock attacked both men as well as several officials; due to prematch stipulations, the Bossman became the #1 contender to the WWF World Title.

[LaGoosh]

I remember that show, I enjoyed it at the time. I was about 11 though and pretty much loved whatever shit WWF threw at me. The main event Rock/Bossman match was actually pretty fun.

[AshC]

I remember being depressed by it, not only did the Bulldog's title hopes go up in smoke in half a minute, the amazing Pinata on a Pole Match was on the other side!

[RJ Impact]

I'll only do best cause I cant think of anything I disliked that much just now.

 

Edge & Lita- from mid 2005 til end 2006 they were fantastic, they're whole look, characters etc were spot and was so fresh at the time, I loved The Cutting Edge aswell and ofcourse the 'live sex celebration'.

 

DX vs The Nation- loved this feud, a feud that stars seem to aline for with HHH and Rock on the cusp of main events, having 9? guys feuding meant they could mix up the feud without it getting stale, street fights, title switches this feud had it all.

 

The Ministry of Darkness - my 2nd favourite Undertaker (behind badass) they looked cool as hell with Acolytes looking Jacked, Brood looking cool as, mideon and vis made up the numbers, some great but looking back silly angles.

[garynysmon]

The more I read on this thread, it's dawned on me that pretty much every single clip the WWE show now seem to give out the impression that the show started in 1998.

 

- One of my favourites was when the 1-2-3 kid beat Razor Ramon (which was courtesy of WWF Mania for those on this side of the Atlantic). It was completely out of the blue, symbolysing what Raw should be really. He'd even got his arse handed on a plate by Doink the week before.

 

- Another was the fantastic match in 1994 between Bret and the 1-2-3 Kid. That's never brought up in greatest match type arguments, which is a shame really as it was a belter.

 

 

As for the worst?

 

Sorry to link, but this recaps is better than I could - http://pdrwrestling.net/2011/12/17/wwf-raw-is-war-04-14-97/

[AshC]

For a recent 'good' one... JBL's slave boy Shawn Michaels takes a Clothesline From Hell from his boss, despite knowing it'll cost him the match and a title shot. Can't find the clip, but it was the culmination of a four-way elimination schabang. Proper emotive stuff from Michaels, the master!

 

[wrestlingmad]

Shawn Michaels teases Bret Hart return in 2005

During the Hogan and Michaels feud before Summerslam 2005, RAW was live in Canada. Michaels had major heat with the crowd over the 1997 Survivor Series screw job. He played the perfect bastard heel and soaked up everything the audience gave him. After plenty of teases Bret Hart's music hits to a MASSIVE pop to which I'd consider up for the top pops (way!) of all time. It's great viewing.

 

[Amazing_Red_Fan]

One of my favourite memories is the Eddie Guerrero vs Rob Van Dam Intercontinental Title Ladder Match back in May 2002.

 

My 11 year old self was absolutely ecstatic to see my two favourite wrestlers getting twenty minutes in my favourite stipulation. The match itself is absolutely fantastic, filled with sick spots and both guys just going absolutely balls out in the main event in front of a hot Edmonton crowd. It was also Eddie's first really big match back since being re-hired and he looked absolutely world class again.

[Forrest]

For some reason that reminded me of another of my Raw favourites. The Rock vs. Shane McMahon in a Steel Cage match for the WWF Championship. It was the night after one of the hottest PPV main events in history (Backlash 2000) and it really proves why matches involving the McMahons are so great. Triple H pokes The Rock from outside with a broom pole, which sounds like shite but was actually great. Patterson as referee on the outside, Brisco as referee on the outside. I can't imagine what it'd be like watching it live (which I probably did when I was 10/11) because damnit, Shane looked like he had the deck stacked too much for Rock to overcome. The crowd are ballistic throughout too.