The 411 Wrestling Top 5 7.02.12: Week 178 – Top 5 Raw Moments

Jake St-Pierre
HM: HHH and Katie Vick – Someone has to put it in this column, so I’m doing it. It was horrid but in that ‘Plan 9 From Outer Space’ sort of way
HM: Y2J Breaks The Jeri-Tron…On HBK’s Face – This little gem started the best WWE story in the last 10 years and was must see TV from this moment on.
HM: The Hart Foundation is Formed – It did start the best stable of all time, but the best part was the amazing Owen Hart crying his face off

5. The Nexus Kills People – My my did WWE ever fuck this puppy up…but don’t let that take away from this absolutely awesome moment. Basically, NXT’s first contestants, led by winner Wade Barrett decided they wanted to make an impact…and who better to do it to than John Cena? They tore up the ring, beat the crap out of everyone in sight and even made Heath Slater’s goofy ass seem marginally badass for 10 minutes. Although this attack is probably more famous for Daniel Bryan getting canned for strangling Justin Roberts with a tie, it’s a hell of a moment. Too bad WWE fucked this harder than Sasha Grey.

4. Stone Cold And His Hose – Get your minds out of the gutter: you know what I am talking about. Stone Cold, at his rebellious best, decided he wanted to douse the holier-than-thou Corporation with his trademark drink; beer. While the follow up didn’t exactly set the world on fire with its complexity, it basically described Steve Austin’s feud with WWF authority in a nutshell: fun. Plus, Shane, Vince, and the Rock slipping and falling around while being sprayed with tons of beer is one of the most iconic and replayed images in WWE history.

3. This Is Your Life – I pride myself on being an absolute monster of a Mick Foley fan. This man is one of the funniest, most genuine dudes in wrestling and it’s odd that he’s a crazy son of a bitch too. Perhaps one of his finer moments didn’t involve killing himself…in fact, it contained the highest rated Raw segment of all time when he showed Rocky his life. Through this 25 minute burst of hilarity, the well- intentioned Mankind wanted to celebrate his best friend The Rock and what a better way to bring in his old high school coach, his ex-girlfriend, and his old teacher? Or how about YURPLE THE FUCKING CLOWN? The most viewed segment in Raw history has to be worth all the viewers it brought in, and the first rendition of ‘This Is Your Life’ on WWE TV certainly is.

2. TYSON AND AUSTIN!~! – Although I was not even introduced to wrestling in early 1998, looking back in retrospect you cannot deny just how much of an impact a simple shoving match could make. It’s beating a dead horse when saying the hottest thing of the Attitude Era was McMahon/Austin but we never realized just how hot it was until Mike Tyson was invited to Raw and was involved in a confrontation with ‘Cold Stone’ Steve Austin. Mr. Austin decided it’d be nice if he messes up this huge occasion by shoving Tyson, prompting that call from JR; “TYSON AND AUSTIN, TYSON AND AUSTIN!!!” Vince McMahon just made it better with his whines of “You RUINED IT!” to his arch nemesis. Though it was before JSP’s time, no one can deny how great Tyson and Austin were.

1. CM Punk And His Pipebomb – While it led to a bunch of Triple H and Kevin Nash nonsense, there’s no doubting how hot this angle was for the weeks leading to Money in the Bank 2011. It all started with Punk costing John Cena a tables match and then for the next six minutes, proceeded to call Triple H a doofus, Big Johnny a douchebag, and he (rightfully) ripped WWE a new butthole by venting about his misuse and how he was going to pay the ‘E back: by taking the belt and defending in NJPW or my beloved ROH. As mentioned, WWE handled the follow up here like dog shit, but this impactful promo is still my favorite Raw moment of all time.

Bob Colling
HM: The Millennium Man Arrives: – Chris Jericho arriving to the WWF in August 1999 was a big moment as he would be a staple of the company for over ten years. The reaction he got and the promo with the Rock never gets old, even to this day.
HM: Rikishi Did It?!: – It was the major angle for most of 2000 and the blowoff was Rikishi being the driver. It’s a top moment for me just because of how poorly it was executed.
HM: Pillman Has a Gun! – At a time when the WWF wasn’t all that risky, they shoot an angle with Austin breaking into Pillman’s house and the Loose Cannon protects himself with a gun. Considering I was about seven at the time, it was compelling television.

5. HHH Ruins Stephanie’s Wedding: – Poor Test being screwed over in one of the funnier segments in WWE history. It marked a new era for the WWF known as the McMahon-Helmsley era.

4. Enjoy Retirement, Flair: – No, not the farewell he got from Shawn Michaels. Instead, his farewell on the January 25th, 1993 edition of RAW. Flair and Mr. Perfect put on the first great match in WWE RAW history and for that fact it will continue to have a lasting impression on me.

3. 1-2-3 Kid Shocks The Bad Guy – There have been a history of upsets, like Santino Marella beating Umaga in 2007, but nothing compares to the first one. Ramon was being groomed as a top guy and then to the shock to everyone, he lost to a little skinny kid named “The Kid.” One of the best upsets in wrestling history, I think.

2. This Is Your Life, Rock. – Easily a top five segment in wrestling history. Everyone needs to watch the segment.

1. ” That’ll put a lot of butts in the seats.” – It’s one of the most remembered quotes in wrestling history. Mankind winning the WWF World Championship on January 4th, 1999 after years of being told he wouldn’t ever be a champion. He did just that and in the process, with their own help, dethroned WCW for good in the ratings.

MICHAEL WEYER
HM: DX Impersonates the Nation – Elevating both teams majorly, DX did a fantastic impression of the Nation with HHH as “the Crock” and Jason Sensation doing a dead-on Owen Hart impression that had the crowd in stitches. Hysterical in every way and helped sell both teams as real stars while paving the way for many impressions to come.
HM: The First Show – Maybe it wasn’t the best card but the first live RAW set a new standard for wrestling TV, the idea of “anything can happen” that pushed WCW to elevate their game and gave us the most famous wrestling show ever.
HM: Bret Loses It – The real beginning of Bret’s heel turn as, after losing a cage match against the Undertaker for the WWF title, he shoves an interviewing Vince McMahon down and howls “this is bullshit!” on live TV before ranting on everyone against him. Brilliant in how it set up the push for the year that would elevate WWF majorly.

5. The Countdown Ends – For weeks, viewers had seen a mysterious clock counting down to the Millennium, which was weird as it was still summer of 1999. It built up to the August 8th RAW as, in the middle of a Rock promo, the countdown came up, the music played, the lights went down and the Titan Tron lit up with the single word “JERICHO.” To a huge pop, Chris Jericho arrived to cut a great promo on how he was needed to “save” WWF. While the Rock put him in his place, the very arrival and the fact he was put up against Rock instantly made Jericho the star WCW had ignored and added another hot face to an already hot time for the company.

4. Mrs. Foley’s Little Boy Does It – This is the night the tide of the Monday Night War turned to WWF and it never stopped. With heat over Starrcade ’98 and Goldberg losing the belt, WCW thought they could easily give away how Mick “Mankind” Foley was going to beat the Rock for the WWF title at a pre-taped RAW with the snide “that’ll put butts in the seats” line. Instead, WCW made a half million viewers switch to RAW and while “Nitro” was home to the Fingerpoke of Doom, RAW fans got to see a great match with the BIGGEST pop in RAW history as Austin came out to help Foley win the title. Seeing this veteran finally holding the big belt was a fantastic moment that also served to change wrestling forever.

3. The New DX – With Shawn Michaels gone due to his back injury, DX looked dead. But instead, the night after Wrestlemania XIV, HHH did a great promo on how Shawn “dropped the ball” and he was handling things from now on. He then talked of how he was going to look to his friends, his blood and “the Clique.” Enter Sean Waltman, freshly fired from WCW (Still adore J.R.’s “well look who’s back!” line) who did a biting promo on how much that company sucked and Hall and Nash would have been there with him given the chance. It was stunning seeing the lines being shattered like this, letting fans in on the show and how Vince Russo really was talented in the early days. By the end of the night, the New Age Outlaws had been added and the new DX was ready to give wrestling a major kick in the ass just as it was needed.

2. “Bret Screwed Bret” – Following the Montreal Screwjob, with fans outraged and the workers threatening a walkout, Vince McMahon pulled off a genius move by giving an interview with Jim Ross where he put the blame for it all squarely on Bret’s shoulders. It signaled the kick-off to a new era in WWF as Vince figured if everyone hated him anyway, he’d use it. This is where “Mr. McMahon” was born and it’s been a hell of a ride ever since.

1. Austin Stuns McMahon – The moment that signaled the beginning of the Attitude Era. For weeks, Stone Cold Steve Austin had been kept from competing by a neck injury but kept busy by handing out Stunners to not only wrestlers but also guys like Sgt. Slaughter and Jim Ross. It built up to Vince McMahon, still just the on-air broadcaster, coming to the ring to talk to Austin and tell him he couldn’t keep doing this. After some mouthing off, Austin finally told Vince to kiss his ass and hit him with the first of many, many, MANY stunners to come. The moment where Austin truly became the Stone Cold rebel we know and McMahon finally acknowledged himself as the boss to set up the hottest feud wrestling had known.

Gavin Napier
HM: Booker T vs Buff Bagwell – WCW had officially been assimilated. And boy did it stink
HM: The Milkman Cometh – Superior to the beer truck in every way.
HM: That did put butts in the seat after all – Ms. Foley’s baby boy won the WWE title and Raw never looked back

5. Anything CAN Happen – It was 5 months after RAW debuted, and we had been told that anything could happen ad nausea. Mostly it involve fat chicks with ring signs. Then on May 17, 1993, something happened. The Kid scored a miraculous upset of Scott Hall. At the time, most of us had no idea about the friendship the two shared. We just knew we had witnessed a colossal upset that ensured that nothing could e taken for granted on Monday Nights anymore.

4. Raw is Owen – The May 24, 1999 episode of Raw remains the hugest rated episode ever. I’m sure that WWE wishes it weren’t. I’m sure all involved would give anything for that to have been just another show that pulled a 4.1 and gone about their business. That show was a tribute to the life and career of Owen Hart, and is one of the hardest things I’ve ever sat through. The whole thing was just wrong (the circumstance, not the tribute). Owen was one of the good guys. His tragic death led to heartfelt interviews with many roster members (Paul Bearer and Jeff Jarrett’s stick out to me after all this time) and ten matches that had nothing to do with storylines. It was a somber, but classy moment from a show that made a name by pushing the limits of taste quite often.

3. Magic in Greenville – On May 19, 2003, WWE did a marvelous job of building a match in 90 minutes. HHH chose Flair because Austin was making him wrestle a former world champion. HHH wanted Flair to lay down. Flair, after a pep talk from Shawn Michaels, declined to do so. For the first time in years, Flair looked like Ric Flair, and had all of Greenville and a large part of the viewing audience believing a miracle was about to happen. I still wish it would have. That match, as much as the retirement match with Shawn Michaels, was a testament to just how good Flair could be. He was born to be a professional wrestler. Despite his character flaws away from the ring, moments like this prove that he’s still the best ever inside of it.

2. The Countdown Ends – August 9, 1999, a date which will live in infamy. While The Rock was ranting about The Big Show, a countdown appeared on the Titantron. People were fairly certain that Jericho was behind it, but there was still a twinge of uncertainty. The clock hit zero, the lights went out, and the soon to be iconic “Break the walls DOOOOOWWWWWNNNN” erupted as “JERICHO” scrolled across the screen. The crowd went nuts, The Rock played his part perfectly, and the Y2J problem had officially arrived. For thousands of Jerichoholics, it was a cathartic moment, and it delivered in a way that most big moments don’t. Welcome to Raw is Jericho. Things would never…EEEEEEVER….be the same again.

1. Austin Stuns McMahon – Austin’s popularity had been steadily growing since winning King of the Ring. His term as Intercontinental champion and feuds with Bret Hart and The Rock had successfully readied him for a main event run. In 1997, after a devastating neck injury, Austin came to the ring to attack Owen Hart. Police were involved, and so was Mr. McMahon. Vince explained to Austin why he couldn’t compete, citing the injury and circumstances beyond anyone’s control. Austin played along, and much to everyone’s disappointment, it looked like things would end without incident. Then, suddenly, KICK WHAM STUNNER. This was the first Raw from Madison Square Garden, and while the Attitude Era probably originated with the Austin 3:16 promo, this put it into high gear. It was an instant transition to the main event for Austin, and became the genesis for the “Mr. McMahon” character. 15 years later, this remains the defining moment on Raw for me.

Jack Bramma
HM: The Rock and Hollywood Hogan eye to eye – February 18, 2002 – A true meeting of the immortals that produced one of the electric face to face moments that WWE has since tried to replicate with Austin-Rock (WM XIX) and Rock-Cena (WM XXVII, XXVIII).
HM: Randy Orton kisses then turns on Stacy Kiebler – March 21, 2005 – After Orton’s lukewarm face turn in the fall of 2004, he had a brief on-screen relationship with Stacy Kiebler into 2005. Orton wanted the Undertaker at Wrestlemania but in order to prove he had a reinvigorated heel streak, he RKOed Stacy right after their first kiss.
HM: CM Punk’s shoot promo, June 27, 2011 – One of the best promos in recent years that managed to pole vault WWE back into the mainstream, even if only briefly.
HM: Nexus Arrives – June 7, 2010 – Another hellacious start to a hot summer angle that WWE has produced in the last few years.

5. Two Man Power Trip vs Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho – May 21, 2001/Triple H returns at MSG – January 7, 2002 – These two moments have a nice symmetry to them: Triple H’s untimely exit ending one of the best runs of the modern era and Triple H’s return to one of the biggest pops of the modern era. The tag match is one of my personal favorite tag matches ever and an absolute classic. In the downtime during H’s recovery, the Fed put together a tremendous motivational Desire video to U2’s “Beautiful Day” promoting his return. The video was so spectacular that it managed to organically turn one of the most hated heels into a face just through seeing his real-life determination to get back in the ring. When he returned back at MSG, the roof blew off the place in a moment that was electric and has since been copied several times but always failing to live up to that pop.

4. Bret Screwed Bret – November 17, 1997 – First things first. The Vince McMahon evil authority figure had been around long before this interview, but had only been seen in brief glimpses. However, the sitdown interview conducted by JR after the Montreal Screwjob was no warning shot, no shot across the bow; it was the shot heard round the world. It was Vince McMahon deciding to take real life drama and turn it into kayfabe trauma. He wouldn’t just be a heel — he would be THE heel. He would embrace all the clichés of the evil boss and every rumor ever whispered in the dirt sheets about him and put it front and center as the antagonist, the foil to Austin’s anti-hero, that would vault him into the Attitude Era and turning the corner in the Monday Night Wars.

3. ECW Invasion – July 9, 2001/Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff, and Vince McMahon in the same ring – May 23, 2005 – The brief ECW reunion in the summer of 2001 was truly epic. It was lightning in a bottle. It was a surreal moment in a wrestling world that would have many more to come (even if this particular moment was short-lived due to the booking of the Alliance). But perhaps, even more surreal than the ECW invasion was the visual of seeing Vince, Bischoff, and Heyman in the same ring at the same time. The three men mostly responsible for the creative firepower of the Monday Night Wars on all three fronts were finally face to face (to face). The motivation for the moment came from a brief talking head edit on the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD where all three disagreed about whether WCW and WWF were raiding ECW for talent (verdict: Bischoff says no, Vince says yes, Heyman says hell yes). Therefore, it was a dream-like, hypothetical continuation of that argument when Bischoff decided he wanted to hold a funeral for ECW and Vince invited Heyman to the ring to defend the honor of extreme. Before Punk’s shoot, there was Joey Styles’s shoot to set up the second One Night Stand and before that was Heyman’s shoot on Eric Bischoff to set up the first One Night Stand.

2. Shawn Michaels – “Who’s your daddy, Montreal?” – August 15, 2005 – It’s sad that this promo is not remembered as adequately as it should be. It should be studied frame-by-frame for inclusion in the National Films Registry at the Library of Congress. If there is another Voyager “Golden Record,” it should include this promo if for no other reason than Shawn Michael did with words what tons of bombs and drones have difficulty doing: he destroyed a city. He ripped the still-beating heart out of Montreal’s chest and devoured it like a heel demigod thirsting for everlasting life. Because this was pre-Bret’s 2010 run and pre-Bret’s DVD and pre-hug, the 8-year-old wounds of the Screwjob were still fresh for a wrestling community that never had proper closure and catharsis for one of its greatest perceived crimes. Only a year earlier at Backlash 2004, Vince was STILL rattling the city’s cage by having Shawn put Benoit in the Sharpshooter with the World Title on the line and Earl as the ref threatening to “ring the damn bell.” Therefore when HBK strutted out fresh off superkicking Hogan into next week to set up their Summerslam clash, the Montreal faithful were particularly rabid for justice. Through constant interruptions and protestations of sweltering heat, Michaels played the crowd like a tune, first teasing Bret’s return then Hogan’s return with neither in-house only to end on the note that he might screw Hogan at Summerslam just like he screwed Bret The Hitman Hart.

1. Mankind wins first world championship – December 29, 1998 – A ton has been said and will continue to be said about this moment for a long time to come. With DX and the Corporation ringside for the bout between Rock and Mankind, all hell was prepared to break loose at any moment. When Austin’s music hit, the building erupted and all hell did indeed break loose. One chair shot later and a draped arm and Mankind was the new World Wrestling Federation champion. The perfection of the moment is hard to encapsulate without understanding the character dynamic between Foley and Vince at the time: Mankind was no longer the demented freak living in boiler rooms, he was the loveable unauthentic loser who took pain and punishment for our enjoyment. He begged for Mr. McMahon’s acceptance but he was the farthest thing from what Vince wanted in a corporate champion which is why Vince’s bitter cries of “No! Not him! Anyone but him!” truly cap off the match’s enduring legacy.

James Wright
HM: Randy Orton Gets Screwed/Fights back – The whole of Orton’s first run as champion is probably a blip on people’s radar but to me it was pretty much the height of my enjoyment of the product. I had been watching for a few years and was a big fan of Orton at the time. I was pretty annoyed by how the angle ended but for a couple of Raws I was the most interested in the main event scene as I have ever been as a fan.
HM: Remembering Eddie Guerrero – This was a surreal Raw as most kayfabe was broken and storylines were dropped, all in the name of remembering a great man and great performer.
HM: Shelton Benjamin upsets the Game – At a time when the Game was on top of the WWE one young guy managed to get the better of him, if only for a little while.

5. Austin Beer Truck/Angle Milk Truck – Both really funny moments and both polarizing situations. To some one represents the Attitude Era at its finest while the other was a cheap copy that symbolized the tamed and lame let down that the Invasion angle had become. To others both are just fun moments where the top face in the company let the heel group they were against have it in the most extreme of ways. To me I’ve always thought that being drown in milk must be a hell of a lot worse than getting drown in beer, especially if anyone in the ring was lactose intolerant!

4. The Nexus Invasion – In the end this angle fizzled out to nothing but on that first night there was a feeling that something monumental had happened. If the WWE had followed this up and made each man a legitimate threat, or if they had waited a little bit and assembled a better group from the NXT rookies of the first two seasons, or if they hadn’t just systematically fed the group to Cena one by one until it looked like a joke, this really could have been a revolutionary time for the WWE. Instead it was just one moment on one night, but it was glorious.

3. Triple H Marries Stephanie – This was wrestling-soap opera at its finest. Stephanie McMahon was all set to marry Test when it was revealed that she was already married, to Triple H! This was also a great blurring of kayfabe with reality and it helped to show that sometimes the best storylines come out of real life, if a little bit exaggerated by the world of professional wrestling.

2. C.M. Punk’s Pipe Bomb – Sitting Indian style on the stage, breaking the fourth wall and delivering one of the best and most impactful improv promos of recent memory. This was everything that the Cena generation wasn’t, it exposed a bunch of hypocrisies that people on wrestling forums have been complaining about for years. When you complain about this stuff it might desensitize you a little bit, but to hear it on actual WWE programming was a breath of fresh air, and perhaps something we will never really hear again.

1. Shane Buys WCW – This was pretty much the first Nitro I watched in full, flicking over to Raw simultaneously as soon as I realized what was going on. I was still relatively new to wrestling and had only tuned in on occasion but it fascinated me how they could be crossing over two different shows at once. Of course at the time I didn’t understand that this was a one time only deal, but either way it had me hooked into this storyline, not realizing at the time that this was yet another instance of the owners of the WWE making things all about themselves rather than the wrestlers they employ. Still this will always be a monumental moment for me due to the significance and symbolism of Shane McMahon on Nitro, sticking it to WCW while simultaneously looking as if he was sticking it to the WWE.

Jack Stevenson
5. Cena and Michaels; Sixty Minute Men I wanted to include at least one moment from the modern era of Raw, and this was the obvious choice. For a brief period in the Spring of 2007, WWE put the focus firmly back on in ring competition, and no match better epitomized this sadly temporary shift in attitude than John Cena and Shawn Michaels going one on one in a staggering battle. Time after time, Raw went to commercials, only to return with the match still ongoing. It took 54 grueling minutes to decide the winner of a match high in quality and drama, one that’s well worth seeking out today. In many respects, it’s as shocking a bout as there’s been in Raw’s long and illustrious history; you don’t expect to see an entire hour of programming given over to one wrestling match any more. Perhaps understandably, this experiment hasn’t been repeated since, but the reason has nothing to do with the match itself, that’s for sure.

4. Mankind, McMahon, and Mr. Socko In 2012, if you want a little comedy with your wrestling on Raw, you have to keep your fingers crossed Santino Marella is on form. It wasn’t always this way. Back in the Autumn (or, as you ludicrous Americans call it, ‘the Fall,’) of 1998, Vince McMahon was in a bad state, to the point where he found himself consigned to a hospital bed, cowering in fear at the prospect that Steve Austin would find his way into the room and further hamper his condition with yet another beatdown. That fear was realized in gruesome fashion, but before that McMahon had another unwelcome visitor- Mankind. Despite the protestations of a grouchy McMahon, the man who only three months earlier had fallen off and through the Hell in a Cell structure showed a completely different side with some gloriously goofy attempts to cheer his boss up, culminating in the introduction of the fabled Mr. Socko. It was an outrageously funny segment that etched a huge grin into your face, while simultaneously strengthening Mick Foley’s legacy as a truly gifted, diverse performer.

3. War is Over! “Raw is boring! The WWE needs competition! I miss Monday Nitro!” All very valid things to exclaim after a dire episode of Raw, and as such the death of WCW Monday Nitro is here not for any positive long term consequences, but for the way it vindicated the most controversial period in the WWF’s history. I’m no huge fan of the Attitude Era, but the fact that the WWF’s switch to it ensured that they were the last company standing, despite having nothing directly to do with Nitro being taken off television, will have been a huge source of justifiable pride to McMahon, Russo, and particularly Kreski, who presided over one of most critically and commercially successful years in the WWF history. Nitro’s final night was remarkable as well, as, with fans of both companies glued to both Raw and Nitro, Vince McMahon appeared on both television programs to oversee the curtain call of the promotion that nearly put him out of business years prior. From it’s inception till the spring of 1998, WCW Nitro was the program to watch on Monday Nights; three years later, it was dead, and wrestling would never be the same again.

2. Perfect vs. Flair In the beginning, Vince McMahon created Raw, and Raw was without competitive matches, or long, quality wrestling; instead, the likes of Damien Demento, El Matador, and Max Moon cast their mediocre shadows over creation. So Vince McMahon moved across the face of the Manhattan Centre, and said “let Mr. Perfect take on Ric Flair in a loser leaves town match on the 3rd episode of my new program.” And McMahon saw the bout, and saw that it was good. In fact, he saw that it was a spell binding encounter between two absolute greats (the quasi-Biblical tone has ended now, by the way) and from that point squash matches slowly became a thing of the past, as Raw became the host of a volume of classic matches. Bret Hart met the 1-2-3 Kid in a blazing encounter in 1994, The British Bulldog and Owen Hart put on a technical master class in 1997 over the European Championship, and, as already mentioned, John Cena and Shawn Michaels waged a grueling, near hour long war in London, England. And it all started with Perfect-Flair.

1. Austin vs. McMahon We all know that, throughout 1996 and 1997, Monday Nitro ran roughshod over Raw, both critically and commercially. By 1998, the tide was starting to turn, and coming off the back of his world title victory at Wrestlemania 14, Steve Austin was the hottest property in professional wrestling. The writing was on the wall. On April 13th, with the promise of the Texas Rattlesnake squaring off with his natural nemesis, the megalomaniac Mr. McMahon, more people tuned in to watch Raw than Nitro for the first time in 82 weeks. Even though the match was never delivered, viewers were captivated by the WWF’s brash, confident, relentlessly quick television, and Nitro was left stumbling in their rivals’ wake, edging towards it’s miserable conclusion in 2001. The 13th April 1998 episode of Raw changed history in a crucial and almost instantaneous way, and the main reason for that was undoubtedly Austin-McMahon.

Robert S. Leighty Jr
HM: Vince’s Limo Explodes – Quite possibly the most unexpected ending to RAW ever.
HM: McMahon/Bischoff Hug – I am convinced Hell froze over on this day!
HM: Live Sex Celebration – This drew one of the best ratings for RAW in years, and showed fans wanted something other than John Cena. It also featured Lita at her hottest! Kudos to Edge for getting through that in front of all those people watching.

5. Bret/Shawn: Reconcile – Montreal will always remain a hot topic in wrestling circles until the sun explodes, but in Jan of 2010 we finally got some closure. Bret made his return to the WWE and RAW for the first time in 12 years and immediately called out Shawn Michaels. Each man got a chance to get everything off their chest and agreed to bury the past with a handshake. For a brief second it seemed like Shawn was in position to superkick the piss out of Bret, but instead he sent chills down the backs of a lot of fans by walking over and embracing Bret with a hug.

4. Pillman’s Got a Gun – This is the angle that nearly got the WWF kicked off the USA Network. You will never see anything like this again on WWF TV and that’s a shame because this was a great moment that just felt so real. Pillman was classic and provided one of my favorite quotes of all time: “When Austin 3:16 meets Pillman 9 millimeter glock, I am going to blast his sorry ass straight to hell.” I miss TV like this. The story in short: Austin broke Pillman’s ankle and then tried to attack him Live on RAW at Pillman’s house. Pillman defended himself with a gun, and that pissed USA off because it wasn’t cleared by them at first.

3. HHH/Steph Vegas Wedding – This one event changed the face of the company as it paired HHH and Steph on screen and that lead to a relationship off screen. The onscreen stuff turned HHH into the Main Event star most thought he could be, and the off screen relationship lead to a wedding that now has HHH as the heir apparent. Not bad for a storyline that had to be delayed due to Vince Russo leaving for WCW.

2. Tyson and Austin – Bret screwed Bret planted the seeds for the Mr. McMahon character, but the Austin/Tyson confrontation kick started the McMahon/Austin feud. The money Vince spent for Tyson was possibly greatest investment he ever made as it put the WWF back on the map and instantly made Austin an even bigger star. It also gave us out first glimpse of a pissed off Vince taking a shot at Austin for ruining things.

1. RAW/Nitro Simulcast – The day the war ended and actually you can say the day the last golden age in pro-wrestling ended. The Cleveland crowd for RAW was great as they played along with Vince’s WCW talent evaluation, and then without prompting started the mother of all Goldberg chants. If all that wasn’t surreal enough, Shane pops up in Panama City on Nitro to inform us he has bought WCW. Crazy stuff that deserved a better fate than the botched Invasion angle.

Mathew Sforcina
HM: Cena V HBK: London Calling – Cena and HBK wrestle for almost an hour in London. The fact the match was just so out of the blue and unexpected in it’s length… Heck of a moment.
HM: Sweetest Chin Music – The single best finish to a TV match in history (and not too many PPV finishers can top it), when Michaels removes Shelton Benjamin’s head in mid air. It instantly made the opening montage, that’s how awesome it was.
HM: Heyman, Bischoff, McMahon. Same ring, same time. – … I cannot believe that actually happened.

5. Hunter Hearst Helmsley/Shawn Michaels V The Undertaker/Mankind – When discussing ‘Top Raw Moments’, one is tempted to take the highlights, the moments that were awesome by themselves. But singular moments, as good as they are, are just that, singular. The truly important moments are those that shake the foundations of the company and many times the wrestling world, even if, at the time, they are unimportant. For instance, this random tag match. HBK was having issues with Taker, Hunter with Mankind. So, put them in a tag match! Simple booking, yes? And then Hunter and HBK work well together, leave their opponents in a puddle, and thus they join up as DX… And everything changes. Montreal, the rise of WWF, the death of WCW, all of it began with this simple tag match.

4. The Nexus Riot – Yeah, this one seems more like a ‘moment’, given that the angle fizzled and most involved are either gone or lower than they were at the time. It seemed to be a breath of fresh air, but then died. Not so. Because this moment changed the career path of Daniel Bryan, and also CM Punk, since he ended up picking up the pieces of what happened to the Nexus. And those two men, today? They’re reshaping the WWE in a way most would have thought insane a couple years ago. Maybe I’m being optimistic, but this moment in many ways is still impacting the WWE. Even if it isn’t the way we expected.

3. Austin Stuns McMahon – And So Begat Billions. Seriously, Austin V McMahon… Do I really need to describe this? You know if off by heart, Vince’s speech, Austin’s fake sincerity, Vince’s horrible sell job… I don’t need to describe it.

2. The Alliance Is Born – In one sole Raw, WWE proves several things. It has access to the deepest talent pool in wrestling history. It proves that it can see when there’s a problem. They understand how much people cared about ECW. Unfortunately, they also prove that they have no idea what the hell they are doing, they prove they are burning through months of storyline in mere minutes, they prove that they have no intention on letting anyone who isn’t WWF approved get anywhere, and worst of all… They proved that they didn’t care about the InVasion in terms of either making money or making history, as they only viewed it as a way to do some more fussin’ and feudin’ McMahons, with ECW Owner Stephanie McMahon.

(Those 3 words and 1 acronym indite WWF more than anything else you could ever say really.)

1. The First Step – There is one moment that is essential for all of these, and all the others listed here today. One Raw is more important, as without it, nothing exists. The first one. Sure, it sucks. Taker/Damien Demento as your lead off Main Event hardly inspires confidence, nor does HBK/Max Moon, but still, for all the faults, all the BS, all the crappy gimmicks, bad announcing and awkward venue, Raw’s 1000 episode journey began with a single step. And thus, it is important. Just not very good.

Larry’s Quick Picks
5. Bobby Heenan Tries to Get into Raw (1.11.93) & Bobby Heenan Gets Fired on Raw (12.06.93)
4. Chris Jericho Debuts (8.09.99)
3. Austin’s Beer Bath (1999)
2. Tyson vs. Austin (1.02.99)
1. The War with WCW is Over (3.26.01)