9 Most Fan-Pleasing Moments In Television

Monday Night RAW is the flagship television show in World Wrestling Entertainment’s continuing Stalinesque ruthless dominance of the western professional wrestling market, and a huge number of wrestling fans have been watching it, on and off, for over two decades. The ‘off’ part of that is down to the fact that, although wrestling fans want WWE to be great, far too much of the time it is godawful.

It’s like the Simpsons: it used to be great, it still shows flashes of greatness, and it could be great again. But WWE fans are nothing if not determined: they have a lot invested in RAW not being a three-hour bore. In 2013, when WWE fans decided that they wanted superbly talented mid-level wrestler Daniel Bryan to move up to the main event (the equivalent of a supporting character becoming one of the protagonists), they gave WWE very little choice in the matter, hijacking TV tapings with shouts and cheers for their hero, centred around his irritating catchphrase "Yes!"

WWE tried as hard as they could to offer fans other alternatives that they were more comfortable with. Bryan wasn’t their first – or even third – choice for a top-level guy (wrestling not being a meritocracy), so they paraded the few wrestlers they had in the top spot, cycling them around and hoping that the audience would connect with someone else.

It didn’t happen: if anything, the company’s attitude galvanised the fans still further, and through sheer pigheadedness they forced WWE to change the main storyline leading into Wrestlemania (the biggest event on the pro wrestling calendar, a show which can change a city’s financial fortunes simply by taking place there). Daniel Bryan was inserted into the main event match for the WWE world heavyweight championship, making it a three-way fight. Even better than that, to give the crowd the ultimate pro wrestling feelgood moment, Daniel Bryan, perennial underdog, was actually booked to win.