WWE Raw Gallery: 25 Years Of Iconic Monday Nights
Picture The Scene...
Much in the same way Kevin Dunn would infuriatingly frame The Shield when they first took to decking talent in 2012, the recent Monday Night Raw highlight packages ahead of January 22nd's celebration are a collection frantically-paced zooms too explosive to even focus on.
It's a trick to highlight just how much has gone on during a quarter of a century, but it's a slight shame there's never the time to stop and digest each and every incredible scene.
Fortunately for fans, the company has never been short of a ringside photographer ready to catch the best moments between the ropes and beyond. Rewatches on the WWE Network also reveal a cavalcade of hidden gems, obscured more by their inconsequential nature at the time rather than the historical significance they'd later go on to carry.
For all the bluster and bullsh*t of a company-mandated tribute, WWE can genuinely be proud of the memorable moments they've contributed to television's tapestry over 25 years of Monday evening mayhem. As they do in the memories of audiences world wide, snapshots such as these will linger for life.
25. 1993 - Upset Kid
Dateline: 17th May, 1993
Widely considered the first truly great angle of the Monday Night Raw era, 1-2-3 Kid's fluke victory over Razor Ramon is still a gripping watch 25 years later.
Surprising the over-confident Cuban with a flailing moonsault, Kid was a made man by virtue of the victory. So too was Ramon in defeat - Vince McMahon had spotted the cheers growing louder for Razor and constructed this tale as part of a slow-burn turn for 'The Bad Guy'. He'd lose money and pride to The Kid in the angle, but find redemption defeating a mocking Ted Dibiase in his babyface bow later that summer.
It's a shame such star-making mechanisms are clearly not in place today.