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WWE Raw: Top five all-time greatest moments in Raw history

By Bryan Heaton

LAS VEGAS, NV - JANUARY 08: Actor and WWE personality "Stone Cold" Steve Austin appears at a news conference announcing the WWE Network at the 2014 International CES at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas on January 8, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The network will launch on February 24, 2014 as the first-ever 24/7 streaming network, offering both scheduled programs and video on demand. The USD 9.99 per month subscription will include access to all 12 live WWE pay-per-view events each year. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs through January 10 and is expected to feature 3,200 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to about 150,000 attendees. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - JANUARY 08: Actor and WWE personality "Stone Cold" Steve Austin appears at a news conference announcing the WWE Network at the 2014 International CES at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas on January 8, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The network will launch on February 24, 2014 as the first-ever 24/7 streaming network, offering both scheduled programs and video on demand. The USD 9.99 per month subscription will include access to all 12 live WWE pay-per-view events each year. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs through January 10 and is expected to feature 3,200 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to about 150,000 attendees. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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Shane McMahon Buys WCW

A running theme in the history of not only WWE Raw, but the entire WWE, is missed opportunity. The powers that be come up with a singular great moment that looks like it has long-term potential, only by the time the angle ends it’s been stomped into dust and no one cares.

With very few exceptions (The Shield debut, for one), a shocking moment is eventually diminished by what follows.

But it would be irresponsible to exclude these great moments simply because of hindsight. If you were watching Raw on March 26, 2001, what you saw was one of the most incredible things you had seen on a wrestling program. What followed over the next few months was underwhelming, sure, but in that moment, fans were full of hope.

As the program opened that night, Vince McMahon was shown backstage watching WCW Monday Nitro. (He had already appeared on Nitro, which began its run one hour earlier than Raw.) See, the World Wrestling Federation had purchased World Championship Wrestling a few days earlier, ending the fabled “Monday Night Wars.”

At this point, no one knew what this meant for professional wrestling. WCW was the only real competition to the then-WWF, as ECW was on life support and mere weeks away from going out of business. Over the course of the two programs, Vince basically crapped all over WCW and its talent — several of whom were now his talent, but whatever.

The final 15 or so minutes of Nitro were a simulcast with Raw — Vince at Raw in Cleveland, with the Nitro crowd in Panama City watching on the jumbotron. More WCW burial from Vince until — cue shock and intrigue — Shane McMahon comes out to the Nitro ring and announces HE bought WCW, and he was ready to compete with his pops for wrestling supremacy or something.

We know how this ended — WCW combined with ECW for the “Invasion,” but because the WWF didn’t take on every talent contract when they bought WCW, the Invasion was led by career midcarders that no one on earth cared about, and the potential biggest angle in wrestling history fizzled out.

But in the moment, Shane buying WCW represented endless possibilities. Sting vs. The Undertaker? Goldberg vs. Steve Austin? The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan? (Hey, one out of three ain’t bad.) It was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of event, and fans at that time were stoked for the future — pretty much everything you want as a wrestling promoter.

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