Celebrating Raw 25 With 10 Moments in WWE Raw History

WWE is celebrating Raw’s 25th anniversary tonight in a stacked show.  A couple of Daily DDT’s writers share their favorite moments.

How crazy is it that Monday Night Raw has been on air for twenty five years!?  It really does seem like the time just passes by in an instant when I think of Raw and everything that has transpired over WWE’s flagship show.

And in that span of 25 years, the show has damn near seen it all.  There have been great moments, bad moments and some ugly moments in between.  These are moments that defined careers, legacies and the tenure of what Raw is today.  The Miz cashing in his Money in the Bank to win the WWE Championship would be one moment.  Those such as Mick Foley benefitted tremendously thanks to Raw.

Controversy peeped in time and time again from Attitude Era moments to present time.  There have been moments such as Jerry Lawler suffering a heart attack that fans were in fear of wondering if he would make it through the night.  Who could forget Edge’s and Daniel Bryan’s emotional retirement speeches?  There were tribute shows for talents like Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero.  There was a live sex celebration (that a lot of us would like to forget…), contests that were less than stellar for today’s WWE, a few “This is Your Life’s”.  Raw has been the cornerstone of all of things entertainment.

Debuts have been instant moment makers for the flagship show.  Many talents over the years have announced their arrival on Raw.  Chris Jericho had one of the most impressive Raw debuts in history.  In the last few years, the Raw after WrestleMania is one of the most anticipated Raws due to a possible debut from other stars, mainly from NXT.  Those such as Paige, The Revival, and Enzo and Cass made their main roster debuts the night after WrestleMania.

Whether it was a match, backstage segment, or in-ring segment one thing is for sure that it all went hand in hand to make Raw’s legacy stand strong.  While most of us long for the days where Raw was non-stop fun, there’s something to be said for a show to remain on the air this long.  As I worked on this piece, I am reminded that Raw still is the place to be.  Raw still has that “it” factor despite its former glory days.  Many of us have said that if there is a better creative team in place, Raw can achieve that consistent fun factor again.

Raw 25 is tonight, and it is sure a night that we won’t forget anytime soon.  There is a lot of promise to see even more great moments and perhaps once in a lifetime ones.  The show is stacked from top to bottom.  One has to wonder how everything will fit in on the show.

Photo courtesy of wwe.com

To get hyped up for the show, I decided to come up with a roundtable of sorts to talk about some of our favorite Raw moments.  This isn’t your “Top moments in history” or a countdown.  This is us recollecting our thoughts and memories of moments that stood out to us.  We aren’t just writers, we are fans first.

I was in high school during the Attitude Era, and those years are filled with memories of hanging out with my brother and cousin watching Raw by ourselves while our parents went to dinner.  Or in college during the Ruthless Aggression Era, my girlfriends and I would order pizza and buy junk food while watching Raw.  Raw is huge part of my life as I’m sure it is for others too.  Again, we all bitch and moan about what could be better, etc. but deep down we all want Raw to go on forever.  Then, now, and forever, right?

Let’s stroll down memory lane and relive some great Raw moments, shall we?