WWE Raw Gallery: 25 Years Of Iconic Monday Nights

1. 2017 - Festival Of Friendship

The Rock CM Punk
WWE.com

Dateline: 13th February, 2017

The Festival Of Friendship was as tense, heartbreaking and violent a segment the company could have hoped for considering the months of comedic shortcuts employed by Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho to keep their mutually beneficial 'honour among thieves' union alive.

Recent interview revelations also require further cap-doffing towards man of the moment Chris Jericho for his courage in pushing through the segment the way it happened. As he and then-WWE writer Chris 'Jimmy Jacobs' Scoville tell it, Vince McMahon's absence from Raw left a somewhat unenthused Triple H in charge of the segment's direction.

Feeling as though the prior joie de vivre would undermine Owens' assualt, he pressed for a scaled back version of events. Only by going above his head to the Chairman did the trusted 'Y2J' get the nod to do it his way. Yet again, his instincts were absolutely sublime.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. 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