10 Things You Learn From Rewatching LAST Time WWE Raw Lost In Ratings War

2. You Want To See More

Steve Austin Ken Shamrock Raw 1998.jpg
WWE.com

By the time that the October 26, 1998 Raw concludes with Steve Austin giving his famous middle-finger salute, the first thought is that you want to see more of this.

Obviously that applies to Austin, but the two-hour show as a whole leaves you eagerly chomping at the bit to see what is next for the stars and stories you've just watched. Suddenly, the DQ finishes, the run-ins and the extremely short matches are forgotten and you realise that, whilst there are irksome elements, the show is nothing if not entertaining and it powers forward at an unrelenting pace. It's one of those times where you wish the WWE Network had an autoplay feature where the next episode immediately starts up.

It's with no sense of hyperbole to say that a lot of us still find ourselves watching Raw only as part of some bizarre sense of Stockholm syndrome. We watch Raw because we watch Raw. It's what some of us have been doing on a weekly basis since Raw launched in January 1993, and it's purely by habit that we still tune in each week 27 years later. Not just Stockholm syndrome, mind, for there is still that slight blip of hope that resides deep inside wrestling fans that maybe, just maybe, this next Raw is the one that's a triumphant return to form.

Regardless of why we still watch, the end result is usually the same - a gloomy, disheartening three hours of tired tropes and underserved characters that has you contemplating whether next week will finally be the week you pull Raw from your viewing habits.

As for the anticipation to see more in 1998, the follow-up to this episode WWE pull in a 4.8 rating, surpassing WCW.s 4.1 number and marking the beginning of the end for Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.