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WWE Raw to Netflix: 20 unforgettable moments from 3 decades on USA Network

robert jackman
Contributing writer
·13-min read
Apr 2, 2022; Arlington, TX, USA; Stone Cold Steve Austin celebrates with beer after defeating Kevin Owens (not pictured) at WrestleMania at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Stone Cold Steve Austin had countless classic moments on "WWE Raw." (Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports)

It’s goodbye to the USA Network, as "WWE Raw" embarks on its much-anticipated move to Netflix on Jan. 6. Amid all the excitement, WWE fans can be forgiven for feeling a touch emotional, given that the USA Network has provided such a faithful home to the granddaddy of wrestling programming for the past 31 years (aside from a brief "Raw" departure to Spike/TNN between 2000 and 2005).

Over the decades, the USA Network has seen it all, from the dawn of the Attitude Era to the arrival of the likes of John Cena, Brock Lesnar and The Shield. Ahead of Monday's big Netflix debut, here are 20 of the most legendary "WWE Raw" on USA Network moments that we’ll never forget.

On a Monday night in April 1993, three months after WWF’s debut on USA Network, things looked to be business as usual on "Raw."

In one corner was Razor Ramon, the charismatic antihero at the heart of the promotion’s world title scene. In the other was The Kid — aka Sean Waltman — a promising newcomer who had recently graduated from indie star to glorified punching bag for bigger WWF talents.

When The Kid’s lightning quick offenses led to a stunning moonsault on Ramon, no one expected it was anything but a slight swerve on the usual path. Hence the explosive reaction when the referee counted the pinfall, marking an upset for the generations.

The shock result didn't just propel Waltman up the roster, it also officially left its mark on his wrestling character. The man who had entered the ring as The Kid became known as The 1-2-3 Kid, in order to commemorate this remarkable victory against the odds.

While the WWE marks the official start of the Attitude Era as November 1997, there’s a compelling case to be made that its real beginning arrived two months earlier — with a shocking moment on "Raw" that would soon become one of the staple motifs of the whole era.

The antagonism between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon was the secret sauce of WWE’s great revival. And nothing captured its magic more than the moment that wrestling’s biggest rebel delivered his first ever Stone Cold Stunner to the man once regarded as the untouchable authority of the company.

At that moment, a fire was lit under the pro-wrestling world — one that would go on to burn bright for years to come.

When executed well, a wrestler vacating their title can be as powerful as them winning it — even if such moments are usually tinged with bittersweetness rather than celebration.

Shawn Michaels leaving the WWF title in the ring on "Raw" in 1997 is one of those times. Like some of the other big moments of the era (not least the Montreal Screwjob), it was a segment that blurred the lines of fact and fiction, revealing as much about backstage politics and personalities as it did about the nascent world of pro wrestling.

For all the melancholy and the inevitable questions about what could have been, Michaels' fans can treasure the line that truly captured the poignancy of the occasion like few before or since have managed: "I've lost my smile." From that moment, we had a different reason to call him "The Heartbreak Kid."

That "Iron Mike" ever became part of the WWE universe is the sort of thing we take for granted looking back. But re-watching this famous segment from "Raw,” you can sense just what a coup it was for McMahon to bring the baddest boxer on Earth into the wrestling ring.

Like much of the storylines at the time, Tyson's appearance added more tinder to the fire of the McMahon-Austin rivalry — as the former would blame the latter for ruining the moment when “The Texas Rattlesnake” took the chance to trash talk the legendary heavyweight champion.

The anti-authority swagger of D-Generation X was perhaps the signature product of the Attitude Era — thanks in no small part to their provocative stunts outside of the ring (not all of which have aged brilliantly…).

Of all the stable’s shenanigans, one particular package captures the spirit of the era: When the five members of DX clambered into a makeshift tank to launch an armed invasion of WCW at the latter's corporate headquarters. It was perhaps the most literal embodiment of the Monday Night Wars — albeit with a healthy dose of campness.

1999: Mankind wins gold … at Nitro's expense

The twists and turns of the Monday Night Wars — when "WWF Raw" embarked on a bitter ratings battle with "WCW Nitro" — are etched in the minds of most wrestling anoraks. And few of them more so than this one.

Back in 1999, "Raw" was still a pre-taped show, whereas "Nitro" was broadcast live. In January, WCW commentator Tony Schiavone sensed an opportunity to get one over on the competition. In making a dismissive remark about "Raw" being pre-taped, Schiavone dropped a spoiler that the WWF were about to put the world title on Mankind — figuring it would kill off any curiosity amongst the TV audience.

Instead it had the opposite effect, prompting some 600,000 viewers to switch over immediately. In doing so, they witnessed perhaps the WWF’s most eccentric talent pick up the biggest prize in pro wrestling live on "Monday Night Raw."

In front of 43,000 roaring fans at Toronto's SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre), the long-running blood feud between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMagon reached perhaps its televisual peak — with a pitch-perfect segment designed to turn their upcoming cage match into the most anticipated showdown in years.

When Austin duped him into receiving a mauling from Mankind, McMahon embarked on his revenge. After forcing the great antihero to run the corporate gauntlet — battling the likes of Ken Shamrock and Test — McMahon clubbed his beer-swilling nemesis unconscious with The Big Boss Man’s nightstick. After forcing the referee to count to three, McMahon proceeded to cover the fallen Austin in his favorite refreshment — prematurely declaring victory over the 3:16 rebellion.

To call it melodramatic would be an understatement. After Stephanie McMahon was kidnapped by The Undertaker at the first outing of the Backlash PLE in April 1999, “The Lord of Darkness” dumbfounded the "Raw" audience by appearing with the boss’s daughter tied to his signature T-shaped cross.

In front of a stunned crowd, Taker’s loyal manager, Paul Bearer, began to initiate a demonic wedding ceremony to create an “unholy union” between the couple. Tasteful? No. Plausible? Not even by wrestling standards. But as wrestling images from the time go, it's up there with the most memorable.

When "Raw" began cutting to mysterious video snippets featuring a portentous countdown (during the height of the millennium bug panic), all the speculation pointed to one name.

The youthful Chris Jericho had been a huge draw in WCW and NJPW. His emergence in WWF seemed to only be a matter of time — quite literally, given the countdown clock. When the moment came, the former cruiserweight champion wasted no time delivering the goods, cutting a promo on The Rock and rebranding himself as “Y2J” — the man to take wrestling into the new millennium.

It was perhaps the most entertaining segment of the Attitude Era — and with hardly even a whiff of physical aggression. When Mankind called out his then arch-enemy The Rock for a delicious parody of "This Is Your Life," it was a safe bet that the "Raw" audience would be in for a comedy classic.

What was less obvious, though, would be that The Rock (rapidly gaining a reputation as one of the all-time masters on the microphone) would respond to each jibe and joke with a sizzling rebuttal, coining catchphrases that would become permanent additions to his long-term repertoire.

Sometimes wrestling subtlety flirts with soap opera; other times it launches head-first into a full-on passionate clinch, indulging plot lines that would make a "Dallas" screenwriter blush.

This moment from "Raw" in 1999 is an example of the latter, even if the slightly tawdry nature of the angle soils the romantic metaphor on this occasion.

Stephanie McMahon was all ready to wed her on-screen beloved, the now departed Test. Instead, Triple H stole the show with a baffling revelation: He got there first, having taken a barely-conscious Stephanie to a drive-thru chapel on a less-than-romantic saunter to Las Vegas.

It's no secret that WWE drafts have lost much of their magic these days. If you're in any doubt about that, just cast your eyes back to this one in 2005, when the surprise unveiling of John Cena as the latest "Raw" superstar had the live crowd almost convulsing with excitement.

The rebranded "Doctor of Thugonomics" had just bested JBL for his first WWE title run and was already pushing to new heights as the company's biggest babyface. His arrival on "Raw" was a tectonic shock to the Monday night landscape — and a sign that the WWE was moving quickly into another era of main eventers. To use a phrase those "Raw" crowds would soon get used to hearing, the champ was here on "Raw" — and boy could you tell.

Few images from wrestling history capture the bombastic and unserious side of the McMahon era than this — a cliffhanger scene which seemed more at home in a "24"-style terrorism thriller or a particularly melodramatic telenovela than the world of sports entertainment.

Has any episode of "Raw" ever had such a dramatic conclusion? The most powerful name in the WWE universe apparently assassinated in an exploding limousine? It’s a moment that will live on forever in the memories of wrestling fans, even if the angle itself would be cut short due to the tragic murder of Nancy and Daniel Benoit.

It was the promo that rang out in history — despite the wishes of the WWE — when the self-proclaimed “Best in the World” sat cross-legged at the top of the "Raw" ramp to take aim at the corporate suits in Titan Towers and position himself as the daring disruptor whose talents had been wasted.

Almost 15 years later, the debates have become well-rehearsed: Was it a work or not? During his wilderness years, Punk insisted that he had indeed veered from the outline agreed with Vince McMahon, breaking some of the WWE’s golden rules at the time. Whatever the ultimate truth, its legendary status is well beyond question.

Ever since Brock Lesnar’s infamous brush with The Undertaker at UFC 121, the wrestling world had been gripped by one question: Would “The Beast Incarnate” ever return to the WWE? Two years later, we received the answer to that question in spectacular style, as the former WWE champion returned on the post-Mania "Raw" to deliver an F-5 to John Cena.

While Lesnar had retired from the Octagon one year earlier, the expectation had been that any WWE return would be limited to cameo matches at WrestleMania. Instead, the former “Next Big Thing” turned cage-fighting superstar embarked on a decade-long reign of destruction, making this moment a turning point for the WWE universe.

Back in June 2014, The Shield were riding higher than ever having just crushed Evolution at Payback, cementing their position as the dominant faction in WWE. Hints of tensions in the trio that we'd seen earlier in the year looked to have been put to bed.

But on an episode of "Raw" in Indianapolis, that all changed as Seth Rollins turned on his former brethren with a chair shot that shocked the world. This heel turn instantly became part of WWE folklore, culminating in a stellar moment at WrestleMania XL when Roman Reigns got revenge on his former teammate in a clear visual echo of events 10 years earlier.

It was the spot that hit so hard — quite literally — that you wondered why they hadn’t done it sooner.

At a combined weight of 768 pounds, The Big Show and Braun Strowman were the two man mountains of the "Raw" roster and had already put on one barnstormer earlier in the year. When they were booked for a rematch two months later, you wondered what the WWE had up their sleeve.

The result would be one of the most iconic images in "Raw" history as Strowman’s gargantuan superplex led to the ring literally imploding under the impact of the two giants, sending the referee flying over the top rope.

It was the moment that raised the stakes yet again for women’s wrestling. Just days before the "Raw" and "SmackDown" women’s divisions were set to collide at Survivor Series, Becky Lynch led her team in a surprise attack on their rivals, leading to her standing tall, albeit bloodied, over Ronda Rousey.

The invasion angle turbocharged “The Man” as a fan favorite, turning the women’s showdown into perhaps the most anticipated event on the upcoming Survivor Series card — even if Lynch sustained a legitimate injury that ultimately ruled her out of the match.

Ever since the advent of the eponymous ladder match, "Raw" has seen a handful of Money in the Bank cash-ins over the years. Yet none have felt more special than the elevation of Big E to WWE World Champion back in September 2021.

Few members of the locker room commanded such wholehearted support from the WWE universe than the former powerlifter turned New Day positivity preacher — hence the crowd's ear-splitting response. That WWE’s weekly shows had only reintroduced live audiences two months earlier (due to the pandemic) probably helped add a few dozen decibels.

“It was a spiritual experience,” said Big E, when he later recalled his cash-in victory. And it certainly felt that way.

As "Raw" entered 2023, The Bloodline story was at its peak (or at least its peak thus far). The secret sauce in the recipe was the inclusion of Sami Zayn, who had morphed from a hapless pretender to becoming a catalyst for the underlying tensions within WWE’s most dominant family.

The courtroom-style trial segment (where Paul Heyman and Jey Uso used video packages to put forward their cases that Zayn was a snake and a savior respectively) wasn’t just gripping in its own right. It was also the perfect tribute to the improved production values, smart dialogue and cinematic feel which made The Bloodline’s scenes so great in the first place.

  • 1996: Brian Pillman threatens Steve Austin with a gun, thwarting the latter’s home invasion

  • 1997: ECW stars invade Raw, delivering beatdowns to the WWF roster

  • 1997: Mr McMahon doubles down on the heel energy with his infamous “Bret Screwed Bret” promo

  • 2010: The Nexus invasion shocks the WWE universe

  • 2024: “Main Event” Jey Uso bags his first singles title on his seismic babyface run