12 WWE Raw 25 Impulse Reactions
The Platitude Era
Triple H must have been absolutely p*ssing himself when he finally made it backstage through the fifty or so people he ended up sharing the Manhattan Center ring with as Monday Night Raw went off the air.
He spent the bulk of his promo alongside Shawn Michaels referencing the 25 years the flagship show had been a part of the wrestling landscape, but it was 20 years ago that he had to fight through rioting crowds thanks to the reckless actions of his DX comrade. The pair had barely made it to the ring for their December 1997 house show clash when 'HBK' was hit with a flying object, causing the WWE Champion to curtly inform the Little Rock, Arkansas crowd that they'd just 'lost their main event'.
The D-Generation-X music at the tail-end of hour three effectively confirmed that the intimate New York crowd weren't even getting one this time. Yet, despite leaked footage of the restless faithfuls chanting 'bullsh*t' and 'refund', WWE's loyalest punters were literally back singing along to Hunter's tune as he set the stage for The Revival to get mercilessly buried.
WWE have never been in such a cosy position. 'The Game' himself was infamously told by Vince McMahon to eat 'platefuls of sh*t' as punishment for The Kliq's 1996 'Curtain Call'. What on earth did his 'Universe' do to deserve this?
12. WHAT?!
Stone Cold Steve Austin was smartly deployed to deliver a Stunner to Vince and Shane McMahon as Raw 25 kicked off, but bizarrely left without saying even his most monosyllabic catchphrase for a rabid Brooklyn faithful.
Almost as if 'The Rattlesnake's appearance was cut for time, the segment missed wide open goals in not letting the Attitude Era hell-raiser even briefly reflect on some of the most important moments in the history of the show. He did at least physically recreate them, delivering crowd-pleasing shots to the McMahon males.
In-character or otherwise, Stone Cold mirrored the crowd's frustration in a revealing WWE.com interview with the faceless backstage interviewer Mike Rome. Labouring on the fact he 'drew money' alongside all his other glittering accolades, Austin appeared to briefly turn extremely serious in his dissent for the staffer with seemingly nowhere else to exorcise his annoyance. He pulled it back from the brink and managed to keep his language ad-friendly, but the implication that he too felt his appearance (and time) was wasted by the whole ordeal was broadly apparent.
20 years ago, Austin used this similar voice to exclaim backstage displeasure at losing the Intercontinental Title so close to a 1998 Royal Rumble victory. Times have changed...