25 Greatest WWE Raw Moments Ever

Happy Mondays

Hulk Hogan The Rock
WWE

Spoiler Alert: No beer bath. No DX army. No simulcast. No pipe bomb.

In case you missed the relentless advertising, Monday Night Raw is 25 years old. And a quarter of a century has thrown up more than enough moments to fill out a collection of favourites without those four.

Who needs 'em yet again anyway? Virtually every company-mandated poll ends with one of them winning by a landslide as it is. Though theres much to be said for Vince McMahon swimming in suds, Triple H working d*ck jokes into military parlance and another reminder that the contract does say 'McMahon', it's nice to pay tribute to some segments and spots that don't get anywhere near the love they already do. 'The Game' has already managed to push the prevailing narrative that his 1998 assault transformed the Monday Night Wars eventually won on that famous March 2001 night, and Stone Cold 'burning that son of a b*tch to the ground' has been well beaten into the exact same surface since 1999. CM Punk literally wore the shirt on the biggest night of his life.

Also absent within will be anything from the 25 Best Matches In Raw History. With over two decades of output ranging from the incomparable to the insane, why overlook a transcendent scene for another tired retread? The WWE Network archives all this stuff, so find your favourite here, then dive back in. There's a million DVDs gathering dust full of shots of trucks, tanks and Shane McMahon's turtleneck.

25. Bubba Ray Dudley Powerbombs Mae Young (13th March, 2000)

Hulk Hogan The Rock
WWE

The majority of truly great Raw moments are not just fantastic as standalone segments, but superlative checkpoints in wider creative arcs. Bubba Ray Dudley loved putting women through tables and abusing Mae Young, but there's little - if any - requirement to contextualise one of the most insane visuals the company ever created.

It was a moment that could only happen in professional wrestling. Ray soared through the air from the Raw stage, scissored by Mae's legs as she crumpled in a heap through multiple tables.

A septuagenarian suffering a fate a trained stunt performer would balk at, with a post-carnage close-up on the perpetrator's orgasmic reaction. The only thing as barmy was how the incredible scene expedited a babyface turn for '3D' maestros.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett