10 Reasons Why January 2018 Was The Best Month In Wrestling History

7. Echoes In The Darkness

Andrade Almas Ronda Rousey Chris Jericho
WWE.com

Raw 25 was subjectively quite the disaster-piece, but time will be far kinder to the show than those that had to endure the three-hour mess as it happened. Mainly because, as usual, WWE were magnificently on-point with their aesthetics.

Returning to Monday Night Raw's original home as part of a simulcast with the main broadcast, WWE woefully underserved the big-ticket punters in New York's beautiful Manhattan Center, forcing them to watch the bulk of the Brooklyn show in pitch black on a big screen with brief interjections from Matt Hardy, Bray Wyatt, some cruiserweights and D-Generation-X.

It was however, the company's most beautiful replication of a bygone era.

The old logos and rings were wheeled out from the 'Old School Raw' corner of the WWE warehouse with the bow-tied power blue referee shirts, but the company's greatest triumph had to be the hanging 'ICOPRO' banner slung over the side of one of the iconic balconies.

Kevin Dunn is rightfully abused for some of his more absurd decisions as WWE's visual gatekeeper, but he deserves plaudits for any of the decisions he signed off on to make the celebration so stunning - in spite of the inaction that made such pithy use of it.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 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 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, 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