Original subtitles

- Welcome everyone to Monday Night Raw.

- Monday Night Raw, the longest-running episodic show

in primetime history.

The global success of WWE today would not be possible if not for

the unforgettable moments of its flagship, Raw.

- The beer.

Stone Cold with the beer bath.

[yelling]

- The very DNA that runs through WWE.

The unique mashup of sports and entertainment is because of

contributions by the WWE Superstars and their tag team

partner, the amazing fans that watch each and every week.

- My God, these fans are on their feet.

- Today, we count down the very best from the first chapter in

Raw's illustrious history.

The 1990s.

- Tyson and Austin.

All hell has broken loose.

- Look at this.

- This is WWE's Greatest Moments.

- Acknowledge me.

- My God.

- Stone Cold with the beer bath.

- This is surreal.

- Look at this.

- He slammed him.

- Welcome, everyone, to WWE's Greatest Moments,

the celebration of those core memories

from Sports Entertainment's vast incredible history.

I'm Michael Cole.

It's now time to begin our countdown of the greatest WWE

moments from Monday Night Raw in the 1990s.

Kicking us off with number 10, the night that it all started,

the very first edition of Monday Night Raw at New York City.

[Raw's music]

- Welcome, everyone, to Monday Night Raw.

We are live from the New York City.

I'm Vince McMahon.

- Monday Night Raw

is the premier wrestling show in America.

- Uncut.

- Uncooked.

- Uncensored.

- There you go.

- You see the first Monday Night Raw, it was revolutionary in the

sense that this is prime time.

This is Monday night competing against some of the biggest TV

shows that exist.

- The hottest live action around,

it's WWE Monday Night Raw.

- That night was the establishment of a lot of these

superstars as larger than life.

- The Undertaker walking tall right there.

- Not only can you go and see them, but you can watch them

every Monday on television in one of the best wrestling venues

that they had.

- Hey, wait a minute.

- What?

- Bobby Heenan, what are you doing?

- I'm going in there.

- No, no, no.

- Oh, yes, I am.

- You were replaced.

- Replaced?

- I do definitely remember Bobby Heenan being locked out.

- I'm going in there right now.

- Wait a minute.

Bobby Heenan.

- I have to.

He's got the tickets for me for tonight for the Raw.

- Bobby Heenan.

- Just trying to weasel his way, pun intended,

any way he could into Raw.

- That was the beginning of something that just grew into

what it is today which is amazing.

- Thank you for joining us tonight, ladies and gentlemen.

We'll see you next week.

- In January of 1998, "Iron" Mike Tyson "The Baddest Man on

the Planet" had just been shunned by the boxing world for

taking a bite out of world champion boxer Evander

Holyfield's ear who's now headed to WWE.

Only one problem,

WWE's own unpredictable agent of chaos was

none other than the Texas Rattlesnake.

He was about to crash "Iron" Mike's homecoming party.

- Ladies and gentlemen, "Iron" Mike Tyson.

- This is big, ladies and gentlemen.

- Mike Tyson brings a lot of eyeballs from boxing and

mainstream media and everywhere in the world.

- Mike Tyson in a WWE ring.

- He's wild, he's a maniac, he's crazy and he's got the most

lethal hands in the world.

- At WrestleMania, in this very ring, "Iron" Mike Tyson.

[Stone Cold's music]

- Mike Tyson is standing in Stone Cold's ring and business

is about to pick up.

- I remember watching it and I was like,

"Oh, somebody's going to get knocked out.

This is awesome."

- If you don't understand what I'm saying, I always got a

little bit of sign language, so here's to you.

- Tyson and Austin, all hell has broken loose.

- Look at this.

- It was just chaos.

- It is absolutely chaotic.

- We have had a good time.

We were fighting our [bleep] off and having a ball.

- The media attention surrounding was absurd.

- "Iron" Mike Tyson is back in the fight,

this time on a wrestling mat.

- Some say that was the turning point moment

in the Monday Night Wars.

- My God, my God, Austin and Tyson.

- Since its inception, Monday Night Raw has been the premier

destination for the wildest and most shocking moments in all of

WWE, a trend no doubt set by what many to this day still

remember as one of the biggest upsets in WWE history.

That just happens to be our number eight selection

on the countdown, featuring "The Bad Guy" Razor Ramon,

who on this night in 1993 took on the scrappy

upstart simply named The Kid.

- I don't believe this is going to

be a wrestling match at all.

- I don't think anybody thought

that The Kid would beat Razor Ramon.

- Oh, my.

Razor is just about ready to tear him in half.

- Razor Ramon is not going to lose to this little, skinny kid.

- Watch this move.

Oh, my.

- I got destroyed.

I didn't even get a punch in.

- Oh, and again.

Oh, my goodness.

Razor missing.

Boy, he really came in with that elbow,

and I think Razor's dazed.

Wait a minute.

One, two, three.

[bell rings]

- What is this?

- He got him.

- Hit him with that moonsault and the people went crazy.

- That night in Manhattan Center people were literally like-

like, "That wasn't supposed to happen."

[crowd chants "1,2,3"]

- The 1-2-3 Kid is right.

- Very good too.

1-2-3 Kid.

- That's it.

- There was the most important moment for me.

It laid the groundwork for everything else.

- Now to our seventh entry of the greatest Raw

moments in the 90s.

One of the most watched segments in Monday Night Raw history,

The Rock, This Is Your Life.

- I've got something I think you're going to like.

This is big, Rock.

As a matter of fact, This Is Your Life.

- Mankind just wanted to be

accepted by the coolest guy on

the planet and the coolest guy on the planet happened

to be The Rock.

- The crowd picked up on it.

These are two guys going out there and having fun

and entertaining us.

- Does Mankind know how to throw a little partookie or what?

- Mick was still able to exercise

those entertaining muscles.

He proceeds to bring out my high school teacher.

- Proceed to check directly into the SmackDown Hotel.

- My football coach.

- The Rock would like to take that whistle you got, turn that

[whistle] sideways, and stick it straight up your candy ass.

- The reason why it garnered so much attention is because people

kept wondering what was going to be next.

- Here she is, The Rock's high school sweetheart.

- How are you doing, honey?

It's no secret The Rock, he loves pie, but The Rock just has

one thing to say to you, poontang your ass

on out of here.

- It's wild, it's chaotic, and you really don't know what's

going to happen.

- Say hello to Yurple.

[circus music]

- The goodwill that I was feeling was so legitimate.

- What is your name?

It doesn't matter what your name is.

- I think we had eight million or so people watching at the

time, which is just so absurd

because it was such a crazy segment.

There was no wrestling involved.

- Happy birthday to you.

- Yeah.

- One of Sports Entertainment's greatest rivalries was between

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin and his scheming boss, Mr. McMahon.

In April 1998, after months of mounting tension between

these two alpha males, the Texas rattlesnake finally

had an opportunity to get his hands or rather

a hand on the boss

in an officially sanctioned wrestling match.

- There can only be one opponent

for Steve Austin

and that is Mr. Vince McMahon.

- What?

- The rise of Stone Cold was undeniable, and it brought a lot

of people back to WWE, and it made WWE must see.

- The fact of the matter is I could probably beat your ass

with one hand tied behind my back.

- Oh, look at this.

Ever have to eat your words, huh?

Oh, here we go.

[Dude Love's music]

- Just as we were about to get the match that we all wanted,

Dude Love crashed the party and attacked the Texas Rattlesnake.

- Oh, no.

He got the claw on Austin.

Dude Love with the Mandible Claw.

- Giving the boss a reprieve on

a well-deserved Stone Cold ass whooping.

- Now on to our fifth selection of greatest Raw

moments of the '90s.

In the summer of 1999, a mysterious countdown clock to

the millennium would appear on Raw broadcasts.

Whatever it was counting down to

well, felt like it was going to be something big.

In an age of wild free agency in Sports Entertainment,

rumors ran rampant around who would appear and when,

and anticipation would build to a fever pitch as the clock

zeroed in on the August 9th edition of Raw.

- It's counting down.

Tonight, we're finally going

to unravel the mystery.

We're going to find out the significance

of the new millennium clock.

- That's a moment I remember

very well because

I was really hyped for it.

It felt like a big deal.

- A lot of people really thought

that at the year 2000,

like, the world was going to

sort of like collapse on itself.

It was a thing called the Y2K problem.

- We're counting down.

Three.

- It's here.

- Two.

- We're counting it down.

- One.

- When the countdown finally happened and The Rock's in the

ring, you know whoever's coming out this is a huge moment.

["Y2J" Chris Jericho's music]

- When Jericho came out and he just had his back to the camera,

it was so exciting.

Like to me is one of the coolest debuts of all time.

- Welcome to Raw is Jericho.

- People go crazy.

I went crazy.

I remember watching at home.

It was a really cool moment, and it was exciting to have a

fresh face in WWE that hadn't been there before.

See Jericho interact with all these big stars.

It was a real exciting prospect.

- The fact he was going toe-to-toe and with The Rock

while The Rock was completely on fire at that point,

it was very cool to see him get an opportunity.

- What is your name?

- I told you what--

- It doesn't matter what your name is.

- For a new superstar like Chris Jericho to debut in the same

airspace as The Rock was absolutely huge, and it made you

realize from the off that Chris Jericho was a main event player.

- Without question, a star was born, and the WWE

would never be the same again.

Onwards with our fourth selection of greatest Raw

moments of the 90s.

The wedding that had all fathers of the bride cringing.

- Where to, Stephanie?

[laughs]

[screams]

- I was abducted, actually,

by the Undertaker.

- Stephanie McMahon

going to be sacrificed here.

- And almost forced to marry

the Undertaker in what was the first

of many, many WWE weddings for me.

- Dearly unbeloved.

- One thing that I did like about it is Undertaker obviously

is going to bring his own swag into the page.

He said, "You know what, baby girl?

Get up on my Undertaker sign.

I'm going to levitate you during this process."

- Will you, Stephanie Marie McMahon,

take the lord of darkness-

- No.

- -as your master and your spouse?

- No, no.

- Who has the courage to come out here and stop this?

- The good part about WWE weddings

is you know something's coming.

You don't know what.

- I now pronounce you as the unholy union of darkness.

You may now kiss your bride.

- Oh, for God's sake.

[Stone Cold's music]

- Here he comes.

Stone Cold.

Stone Cold.

- He didn't do it for the love of Vince McMahon.

He just did it because it was right.

- I was saved by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

Thank God.

- Then that stupid Undertaker symbol, he starts surfing on

there while drinking beer, which is pretty amazing.

- Being able to go out there and surf on that symbol was just a

way to ad lib and do something funny.

- The experience was absolutely one of the most fun moments

I've ever had.

- In 1995, the Monday Night Flagship faced opposition

from a rival professional wrestling company, WCW Nitro.

And for 83 consecutive weeks, Nitro dominated Raw

in the television ratings.

The battle for Sports Entertainment supremacy was

often intense, but until this next moment,

no one had ever crossed into enemy territory.

That is until D-Generation X decided to wage war

on World Championship Wrestling.

- D-Generation X

proudly fires the first shot at WCW.

Go.

- Very rarely did you ever see a physical crossover.

So, to see DX on a tank driving right to WCW by going,

"You want us to turn up?

We are here."

That is the craziest thing still to ever happen.

- Ladies and gentlemen, follow DX as we invade WCW.

- It was a blast.

I mean their own fans were with us in saying WCW sucked.

- Do you think WCW sucks?

[crowd yells "Yes"]

- We are D-Generation X, and we will take no prisoners.

- If DX could have driven their tank down to the ring in WCW,

that could have been the biggest moment in wrestling history.

- Get a shot of them closing the gate.

[yelling]

The war begins, but the cowards end it by closing the gate.

- They were pounding on that door.

I could hear him.

There was this, oh, man, and we're just saying,

"Open the door."

He's like, "I can't."

In retrospect, now, I wish I should have just pie faced him

and pushed the thing."

[crowd chants "DX"]

If it feels very heavy on the Attitude Era,

well that's because Raw in 1997 through 1999

was absolutely on fire.

Providing unforgettable memories that will live forever.

Like the number two moment on the countdown.

One of the most thrilling action-packed and emotionally

charged moments in the history of WWE.

The WWE Championship is up for grabs.

The Rock against Mankind.

There's no disqualification.

- This was the cool kid versus the outcast.

- Mankind, obviously, the underdog.

- Watch, look at this.

- His desire to entertain an audience through

great impact with his body was mind-boggling.

- The Rock is putting Mankind through a tremendous

amount of punishment.

- Mankind has locked in the Mandible Claw.

Oh, no disqualification.

- Look out.

- There's Billy Gunn.

- One of the corporate members came in.

Billy Gunn nailed the hell out of him.

- DX and the corporate team are going at it.

[Stone Cold's music]

- What?

- Oh, no.

- Stone Cold is here.

Oh no, Stone Cold is here.

Oh, Stone Cold with a chair.

He pulls Mankind on The Rock.

- Don't do it.

[bell rings]

- Mankind has achieved his dream, and the dream of everyone

else who's been told, "You can't do it."

- People like me don't reach the summit.

They don't reach the pinnacle, until we do.

Yo, Adrian.

I did it.

[crowd cheers]

- Butts were in the seats that night to witness "The Micker"

winning the big one from The Rock with an assist from the

Rattlesnake, who just happens to occupy our final moment.

The number one Monday Night Raw moment of the 1990s, featuring

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin and the infamous beer truck.

[Stone Cold's music]

- Uh-oh.

- What?

What?

- Wait a minute.

What the hell?

King.

- Look at this.

- King.

- Look at him.

He's coming to the ring with a beer truck.

- Austin with a beer truck.

- Look at this.

- Back then it was the Wild West.

"Yes, just drive that thing in, it'll be all right."

WWE was different, the world was different back then.

Things were a little more chaotic.

- What a reaction.

[laughing]

- It was just a hell of a sight.

- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is going to take his ass to

Philadelphia, check right into the SmackDown Hotel, roll right

in to room 3:16, and burn that son of a bitch to the ground.

[crowd cheers]

- The beer truck was something else, you know.

To drive an actual complete truck in the building,

and then just spray beer all over everyone from the guys

in the ring, to people in the front row.

If you're talking about entertainment, really,

can't get much more entertaining than that.

- Stone Cold.

- The beer.

- Stone Cold with the beer bath.

A beer bath on the corporation.

- Vince trying to swim in the

middle of the ring in the beer,

it was just a great time, and people just ate it up.

- He's drowning Mr. McMahon in beer.

- The fact that we're talking about it now, 20-plus years

later, tells you the impact that a segment like that had.

- That's the bottom line 'cause Stone Cold said so.

- What a reaction, and what a time.

Austin 3:16's contributions to the industry cannot be

overstated enough, and for that, we raise our beers in salute to

the Texas Rattlesnake, and all the superstars who laid the

foundation for Raw becoming the powerhouse that it became.

♪