My Favorite RAW Moments

This Monday is the 1,000th episode of WWE Monday Night RAW. To celebrate this amazing achievement, I decided to post my favorite RAW moments. I picked ten moments and they will appear in the order of when they happened. I picked moments that I remember happening when it happened and not moments that I discovered on YouTube many years later. I started watching RAW in 1999 so there won't be anything before 1999 and there won't be anything between 2002 and 2007 because I rarely watched RAW during that time period. These moments are not the best RAW moments. They are my favorite RAW moments. If you notice several important RAW moments missing from this article, it is because I didn't see it when it happened (Stone Cold giving McMahon the stunner for the first time) or because I appreciate it now more than I did when it happened (Chris Jericho's debut in 1999 and his heel turn in 2008) or because I didn't like it as much as everyone else did (Bret Hart's return to the WWE in 2010).

Big Show pulls down the titantron (April 5, 1999)

I think this is my earliest memory of RAW. It's an underrated RAW moment in my opinion.



Undertaker and Stephanie McMahon’s unholy wedding (April 26, 1999)

This was another early RAW memory. For a long time, I thought this was my first wrestling memory, but this happened almost a month after Big Show pulled down the titantron. Undertaker was so scary during the Attitude Era...even more scary than he is now. I think I might have watched this after I recorded it onto a VHS tape, but I definitely saw this not too long after it happened. It's cool that one of my first RAW memories was one of RAW's greatest moments.



Triple H marries Stephanie McMahon (November 29, 1999)

I enjoyed the Stephanie-Test storyline. I was shocked when Triple H announced at Test and Stephanie’s wedding ceremony that he had married Stephanie. I was young when this happened and I was dumb enough to think the wedding would happen without any interruptions.



Chris Jericho “wins” the WWE Championship (April 17, 2000)

This was one of the biggest upsets I have ever seen on RAW. I wasn’t expecting Jericho to defeat Triple H for the WWE Championship. Jericho was stripped of the title later that night, but this was one of my favorite Jericho matches.



CM Punk cashes in his Money in the Bank briefcase (June 30, 2008)

This was the first time I had ever seen the Money in the Bank briefcase cashed in. I enjoyed seeing Punk win the World Heavyweight Championship because he is a Chicago guy. I had no idea back then that he would become one of the top superstars in the WWE and my favorite wrestler four years later.



Randy Orton punts Mr. McMahon (January 19, 2009)

Out of the last four RAW shows in Chicago, this is the only one I didn’t attend. This happened before I started attending WWE shows and I wish I was at this RAW. It was definitely a “Holy Shit” moment when Orton punted Mr. McMahon’s head. Orton’s reaction was great and it made it seem real.



Randy Orton vs. Triple H Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship (June 22, 2009)

This was the Trump RAW. Donald Trump booked a Pay-Per-View quality match and put it on free TV. This was one of the best RAW matches I have ever seen. It was better than the match Orton and Triple H had at WrestleMania 25. This was a commercial free RAW so the match was uninterrupted.



The Nexus Invasion (June 7, 2010)

This was a moment that I knew was going to be remembered for a long time. One of the most famous parts from this moment is when Daniel Bryan choked Justin Roberts with Justin's tie. The ending of this RAW left me shocked. Something just as shocking that happened on RAW that night was that the fans picked CM Punk over Rey Mysterio to face John Cena. This was a Viewer's Choice RAW and I thought the fans at home would have voted for Rey.



The Rock Returns to the WWE (February 14, 2011)

This happened when I was working at a job that started late at night on weekdays. That meant I missed the live ending of RAW from October 2010 to May 2011. That includes the night when The Rock returned. I really wanted to see who was the host of WrestleMania because I knew it was expected to be The Rock, but I had to go to work. I was listening to a Chicago sports radio station on my way to work. One of the broadcasters at that station was a wrestling fan so RAW was on one of the TV screens. One guy's show just ended and the wrestling fan's show was about to start so they were in a transition period. Then one of them said, "Breaking news out of Anaheim. The Rock has just returned to the WWE." They then played about five minutes of The Rock's live promo. So I didn't get to see The Rock return live as it happened on TV, but I was still able to witness it via the radio. I was so excited that The Rock returned to the WWE and I couldn't wait to get home and watch it on my DVR.



CM Punk’s "shoot" promo (June 27, 2011)

I knew right away that this would be one of the best promos of the year. I was wrong. It was not one of the best...it was the best promo of 2011. Maybe the best promo during the PG Era. I was surprised to hear CM Punk mention Ring of Honor, Colt Cabana, Brock Lesnar, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Hulk Hogan, and Paul Heyman during his promo. He even mentioned John Laurinaitis before Johnny became an on-screen talent. A lot of the stuff he said seemed to be real and that's why many people refer to this as a "shoot" promo. I love that CM Punk was wearing a Stone Cold shirt and love how RAW ended without their copyright logo appearing. That was probably the last time I was shocked at the end of a RAW. That promo came out of nowhere and I wasn't expecting it.



I hope the next 1,000 episodes of RAW can bring more memorable moments.