411’s WWE This is Awesome Report: “Most Awesome RAW Moments”

-Season 2 Episode 2
-Run Time: 57:21

-Someone mentioned on Twitter that I never did a review/recap of this episode. I’m not sure how it slipped through the cracks. This obviously aired at some point in February to tie in with RAW XXX. Let’s get to it!

-Greg Miller welcomes us to the studio and tells us he attended The Royal Rumble last month. They cut to video of JBL putting a pie in Miller’s face. Miller vows their issues are over by a long shot.

-Talking heads freak out over RAW being 30 years old. Yeah, tell me about it! Thirty years ago we had Prime Time Wrestling on Monday Night with taped matches and analysts talking in studio. RAW was a breath of fresh air as it was live every week and featured more than SQUASH matches. We get highlights of some of the best moments that likely won’t make up the main feature. PIPE BOMB is included here which is surprising. GOLDUST AS DARTH VADER! MILK-O-MANIA! THE MUPPETS! BOB PARKER AND JERICHO! “IT’S ME AUSTIN.” ZIGGLER CASHES IN! SHAWN AND BRET HUG! ROCK CONCERT IN SACRAMENTO (“I’ll be sure to come back when the Lakers beat the Kings in May”). YES MOVEMENT TAKES OVER RAW! FLAIR RETIRES! WARRIOR’S FINAL PROMO! BROCK’S RETURN! BECKY LYNCH’S BROKEN NOSE!

-Peacock commercials!

RAW: Jan 11, 1993

-Vince announces the new show on Prime Time and we get some teases as they get close to Jan. 11th. The talking heads discuss the excitement about a new show being live in New York. Ah the old school RAW theme. So awesome! THE SIREN! The Manhattan Center was perfect as it was a more intimate setting with a more vocal crowd. Bobby Heenan doing whatever he could to get into the show was a running gag. Brain dressed as a rabbi and then as a woman. Shelton jokes about RAW being preempted by The Westminster Dog Show. FANTASTIC!

RAW: May 17, 1993

-The talking heads discuss the idea of a SQUASH Match and how jobbers were used. That leads to this show where Razor Ramon faces “The Kid.” Waltman notes that the previous two weeks he got destroyed by Doink and Mr. Hughes. “I didn’t even get a punch in.” Razor beats the pimples off Kid’s face but gets caught with a moonsault press off the top for the upset pin. I remember watching this live and losing my mind. Heenan’s reaction was perfect! This was a great moment that added to the idea that anything can happen on RAW. Camp tells us that Heenan gave Vince the idea to call Waltman “The 1-2-3 Kid,” and we actually get the audio where Heenan came up with it and suggested it to Vince. Savage and Vince both think it’s great and there you go. That’s a fantastic little piece of business there.

-Peacock commercials!

RAW: April 17, 2000

-Oh wow, they are featuring Chris Jericho. Cool! This is the famous RAW where Chris Jericho insulted Stephanie McMahon enough that HHH accepted a match with Jericho and put the WWF Title on the line. Jericho hires The APA and Simmons tells us that since it was a Title Match their fee went up. Nice! They have a wonderful match in front a hot crowd. Jericho gets the shocking win thanks to a fast count and the place explodes! Gargano: “People were losing their freaking minds.” Sadly, the fans get screwed over as HHH bullies Hebnar into reversing his decision. Jericho gives the WWF Title up but everyone says it proved that Jericho was a Main Event player. That’s it, Chris Jericho back to WWE confirmed. Again, that’s how this works, right?

RAW: December 6, 2004

-Trish Stratus and Lita become the first women to Main Event an episode of RAW and it was more than deserved. We just covered all of this on Rivals this past week and you can find my review here. Gewirtz says in the moment they didn’t think about how it made history and instead it was two over characters closing the show in a Title Match. Lita nearly breaks her neck on a dive to the floor and nearly twenty years later it still looks nasty. Lita hits a perfect moonsault for the pin and the Title. Hearing the current women talk about the match is pretty sweet as you can see how much it meant to them. Cool stuff!

-Peacock commercials!

RAW: March 22, 1999

-We see the rise of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and his feud with Mr. McMahon and whoever is on McMahon’s side. Karrion Kross brings up Austin braining Vince with a bedpan in the hospital. Great sound on that. Austin also brings a Zamboni to the ring, pours concrete in Vince’s corvette and uses a monster truck to crush The Rock’s Lincoln. All of that is an appetizer for the main course: THE BEER TRUCK! It’s the go home show to WrestleMania and Austin drives a beer truck (nearly knocking down The Tron) to the ring, cuts a great promo on The Rock, and then sprays beer all over Vince, Rock, and Shane. Vince, of course, sells it like a champ as he slips all over the ring and starts paddling like he is swimming. Wonderful stuff!

RAW: Feb. 13, 2017

-FESTIVAL OF FRIENDSHIP! Yep, Jericho is one million percent coming back to WWE. No doubt! Carved in stone! Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens are BFFs and Jericho wants to prove how much KO means to him. Bayley calls Jericho the man. I forgot how great the painting is and then we have a magician named Friendship, who sucks so much he makes the list. We get a brief rundown of The List and everyone gets to hit the catchphrase. Then things get serious as KO has a gift for Jericho and it’s a brand new list, but Jericho’s name is on it and we see it’s actually The List of KO. Owens then beats the crap out of Jericho to end the friendship and the crowd is stunned. Rhea: “Man, Kevin Owens really is a dick, isn’t he?”

RAW: April 23, 2007

-John Cena and Shawn Michaels have a WrestleMania rematch on a taped RAW from England. They tear the house down with a match that nearly went an hour. Ciampa calls the match insanely good while Butch puts over the energy that comes from a British crowd. They had a great match at Mania and this one topped it. Shawn gets the win with Sweet Chin Music and Roberts says the match was arguably better than their WrestleMania Match. I just said that! Camp calls it one of the best matches in RAW history. Hard to argue!

-Peacock commercials!

RAW: March 26, 2001

-Any wrestling fan should instantly recognize that date. It was the night of the final WCW Nitro as Vince McMahon had bought his competition. Kross tells us he picked up his phone, called his friends, and thought he was dreaming. Vince gets to show how big his dick is by simulcasting his speech on RAW and Nitro at the same time. Sting and Flair close Nitro with Schiavone on commentary before the Vince party. They then blend story with real life as Shane McMahon is in Panama City at Nitro and informs Vince that he owns Nitro. They made millions off this with Invasion, yet somehow botched it and cost themselves millions more. Although I guess WCW’s video library ended up being the best investment. Just a crazy, surreal night and I am glad I recorded the final Nitro. Though it’s on Peacock anytime I want to watch it now, but still.

RAW: Nov. 12, 2018

-Becky Lynch invades RAW as they are building to Survivor Series. This was during the Brand vs. Brand era of the show and it leads to a brawl between both rosters. In the chaos Nia just decks Becky and breaks her nose legit. Becky is pouring blood and just goes on auto-pilot as she beats on Ronda with a steel chair. Becky notes that punch changed her career forever. I don’t know what it was, but Lynch posing in the crowd with that sleeveless tight shirt made her not only look like a bad ass, but a total smoke show (respectfully). The talking heads note that is the moment that created The Man!

RAW: Feb. 21, 2005

-EVOLUTION! The idea was Flair was the past, HHH the present, and Orton/Batista the future. Randy Orton was seen as the next Main Event star, but the fans had other ideas as they organically got behind Batista. They played this perfectly with a slow burn as Batista wins The Royal Rumble. HHH then plays mind games to get Batista to pick JBL for Mania. Batista isn’t an idiot though and over hears HHH’s master plan. The genius is that everyone watching knew, but HHH and Flair didn’t. Batista gives HHH the thumbs up, but turns it into a thumbs down and powerbombs him through a table as the crowd loses it. Just a great call back to the thumbs down Orton received when he was turfed from the group. A star is born and years later he becomes an Aveneger in the biggest movie of all time! Who knew?

-Peacock commercials!

RAW: June 2, 2014

-SETH ROLLINS TURNS ON THE SHIELD! The Shield was awesome and changed wrestling history as all three men ended up as Main Event stars and are holding things down at the top of the card in two wrestling companies even today. The Shield had just turned face and had a great feud with the reunited Evolution. Randy Orton and HHH are out to seemingly battle once again, but HHH tells us there is a Plan B. Then Seth Rollins blasts Roman Reigns with a chair (much like he took nearly 9 years later from Sami Zayn) and takes out Dean Ambrose to end The Shield. Rollins notes that put a lot of pressure on himself as it was his way of saying it was his time. Ciampa notes the crowd was shocked because they weren’t sick of The Shield and wanted to see them continue. Seth felt they went as far as they could as a group and it was time to be on his own. Magnificent stuff!

RAW: Jan. 4, 1999

-Oh boy! Another infamous date that is a sore spot for a lot of WCW fans. We start with Tony Schiavone telling everyone watching Nitro “if you are even thinking about changing to channel to our competition, fans, do not. Unlike us their show has been taped. Later tonight, Mick Foley will win their World Title. Yeah, that will put some butts in the seats.” All the talking heads laugh and say thank you as they quickly changed the channel to RAW. Everyone loves Mick and wanted to see his years of killing his body be rewarded. They also note that while it was a taped RAW, it didn’t feel like it. It was chaos as DX and The Corporation get involved and then The Glass Shatters and Austin gets one of the loudest pops you will ever hear. He smacks Rock in the head with a chair and Mankind is the new WWF Champion. Ciampa notes it was the tilt in the Monday Night War and it was never close again. Mick: “People like me don’t reach the summit, until we do.”

-Miller notes that estimates had 600,000 people switching over from Nitro to RAW. He then gives a special shout-out to Jerry Lawler as this was after the news of his health issues had broke.

-This was rather enjoyable and I have no complaints. There are THIRTY YEARS of moments to look back on and naturally hundreds of moments were left out, but what we got was solid and they were all memorable. This show is all about nostalgia and I love it because of that. Thanks for reading!