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Raw is 25!


HarmonicGenerator

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I remember getting really into ā€œsave_us.222ā€ back in 2007. This was when viral marketing was a new, really cool thing (for me anyway) with the stuff hyping up Cloverfield, and the ARGs Lost would do between seasons. So these weird cryptic videos popping up each week were right up my street. In retrospect it was probably blindingly obvious it was going to be Jericho but he hadnā€™t been seen in over two years by that point and I remember downloading the full episode where it was all revealed to see the return.Ā 

Canā€™tĀ remember where it went from there but Iā€™m sure Jericho failed to beat Orton for the title and didnā€™t get his mojo back until the Michaels feud the following year. Still, those ā€˜save usā€™ videos were great.

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On 04/01/2018 at 1:15 PM, Gus Mears said:

In no way as iconic as many of those mentioned, but I've always been a fan of segments that ought to have died on their arse being given necromancy by great talent. The one that always comes to mind is Ric Flair saving musical chairs in 2004:

Ā 

Just watched this back with a massive smile on my face. The internal logic is absolutely brilliant. Love it.

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If I remember correctly, as good as the, "save_us.222" stuff was, they missed their window of opportunity to pull the trigger at its peak. Cena got injured around that time, leaving Randy Orton without an opponent for the upcoming PPV. Everyone had figured out it was Jericho and were chanting for him at the PPV, assuming it was the perfect place for him to come back. If I'm not mistaken, I think Vince even acknowledged the chants in his promo to open the PPV, saying something like "you're not going to get that." It was a shame because if he'd come in then it would've been awesome. As it was though, they stuck with their original plan, held off for a few more weeks and the return didn't have anywhere near the impact or excitement that it would've had.

Matt Hardy returning to attack Edge and shout down the microphone about ROH was mind-blowing at the time.

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4 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

I remember getting really into ā€œsave_us.222ā€ back in 2007. This was when viral marketing was a new, really cool thing (for me anyway) with the stuff hyping up Cloverfield, and the ARGs Lost would do between seasons. So these weird cryptic videos popping up each week were right up my street. In retrospect it was probably blindingly obvious it was going to be Jericho but he hadnā€™t been seen in over two years by that point and I remember downloading the full episode where it was all revealed to see the return.Ā 

Canā€™tĀ remember where it went from there but Iā€™m sure Jericho failed to beat Orton for the title and didnā€™t get his mojo back until the Michaels feud the following year. Still, those ā€˜save usā€™ videos were great.

The only thing that I thought let it down was having Jericho clothesline the runner and do his pose. If you cut to the back and just had the runner laid out then play the answer of the code video, the pop could well have been as big as when he debuted. Instead, the crowd had already been shown Jericho and then you had another minute or so until his music plays by which time the pop had already settled

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I remember JBL cutting an excellent promo announcing his in-ring return on Smackdown and being hyped for his return, but I thought it a bit of a damp squib. His promos used to be his strongest asset between 2004-2006 but after he returned his mic work was comparatively poor. I thought he did some good stuff with CM Punk but the feud with John Cena was diminishing in its returns and the feud with Shawn Michaels was beyond awful.

JBL's probably one of the top 20 mic workers of all time IMO.

Ā 

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2 hours ago, Supremo said:

Matt Hardy returning to attack Edge and shout down the microphone about ROH was mind-blowing at the time.

Imagine the talk ifĀ they had shown once, then no replays or anything else until the next week . Instead you got a segment minutes after that showed it was a work.Ā 

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A few that I'm not sure have been mentioned that are coming to my mind at the minute are:

Sid powerbombing Michaels multiple times.

Austin and Taker trying to help their opponents (Bret and Sid) win their match for the title, in order for their match at Mania 13 to be for the belt. Plus the promo afterwards by Bret.Ā 

DX vs The Nation in a Street Fight.

The Street Fight between Shawn Michaels and Edge. I want to say it was 2005?

Michaels vs HHH for the Big Gold Belt in San Antonio, that ended with Bischoff reversing the decision.Ā 

Daniel Bryan turning on Wyatt in the Cage.

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Off the top of my head, I think my top 25 would include:

Marty beats Shawn for the IC title in 93

Jim Ross fantastic heel turn promo (ignore that he then introduced Fake Razor)

Bret Hart quits - Jan 97

Bret Hart/Sid cage match

Bret Hart promo the night after WM13 (Best promo in Raw history)

Bret Hart puts the hart Foundation back together

Bret Hart/Austin street fight

X-Pac returns to the WWF

Austin winning the WWF title back from Kane

Bart Gunn sparks Steve Williams in the Brawl For All

Austin/Vince/Foley in the hospital room

Chris Jericho's debut

The 10 man tag in Dallas with the Radicalz and DX on one side and Rock n Sock and Too Cool on the other.

Triple H/Jericho "title change"

DDP reveal

ECW joins the Invasion (ruined an hour later)

That Lonely Road Of Faith video

Kevin Nash tearing his quad

Goldberg's debut

Cena/Michaels hour match (in London?)

Nexus Week One

Brock Lesnar's re-debut

Goldberg's return in 2016 and awesome promo (Second best promo in Raw history)

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My top 10 RAW moments in no particular order:

- Shelton/Shawn 2005

- TLC 4

- Chris Jericho Debut

- Bret Hart promo after WrestleMania 13

- CM Punk Pipe Bomb

- RAW is Owen & Eddie Guerrero Tribute Show

- John Cena/CM Punk 2013

- Triple H return at MSG 2002

- Mick Foley wins the WWF Championship in 1999

- Bret Hart/1-2-3 Kid

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On 06/01/2018 at 8:16 PM, Supremo said:

If I remember correctly, as good as the, "save_us.222" stuff was, they missed their window of opportunity to pull the trigger at its peak. Cena got injured around that time, leaving Randy Orton without an opponent for the upcoming PPV. Everyone had figured out it was Jericho and were chanting for him at the PPV, assuming it was the perfect place for him to come back. If I'm not mistaken, I think Vince even acknowledged the chants in his promo to open the PPV, saying something like "you're not going to get that." It was a shame because if he'd come in then it would've been awesome. As it was though, they stuck with their original plan, held off for a few more weeks and the return didn't have anywhere near the impact or excitement that it would've had.

Ā 

Now i might be wrong here but I'm pretty sure the original plan was for Jericho to return to 'save' WWE from what had been a pretty depressing year (it was the year of the Benoit tragedy) but the writing team couldn't work out how to market the concept and that's why the 'save us' thing was kinda half assed, because truth is they never completely worked out what they doing.

I'm sure I read this somewhere but I can't deny it is not something I have widely seen so pinch of salt maybe is needed.

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