Michael Cole loves to say it and certainly WWE loves to flaunt the fact that Monday Night Raw is the longest-running episodic television show in history. It is certainly quite the accomplishment that ever since Monday night, January 11, 1993, the WWE has ruled over the airwaves, except for the Monday Night Wars and the occasional tennis match or dog show.
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During that time, to keep things fresh, the company has done several special episodes of the flagship show commemorating all sorts of events, and some of those episodes have become the best special episodes ever.
10 ECW Invasion
During the Monday Night War, when WWE was losing, they did all they could to try and spice things up a little bit. That’s where ECW taking Raw to the extreme comes in. On the eve of ECW’s first-ever PPV, Paul Heyman led his band of misfit toys to the Manhattan Center to show the WWE Universe a different brand of sports entertainment. ECW invaded Raw in a big way, complete with Sabu diving off of the original Raw sign. There were also appearances from The Eliminators, and a debate between Heyman and Jerry Lawler who at the time constantly railed against what he called “Extremely Crappy Wrestling.”
9 USA Homecoming
Sometimes you head to where the money goes, and sometimes you head back to where the money went. Beginning in the fall of 2000, the TNN Network, which eventually became Spike TV acquired the rights to air Monday Night Raw. After nearly five years however, WWE decided to head back to its original home and broadcast partner, the USA Network.
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They celebrated with a special Homecoming episode. This show could have been a PPV! It began with an Iron Man match between Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle and also featured the Loser Leaves Raw Ladder match between Edge and Matt Hardy. Those two matches are worth the price of admission to any show by themselves but throw in Stone Cold Steve Austin stunning the entire McMahon family and you have a great episode of Raw.
8 Raw 1000
Not many shows on TV reach two or three hundred episodes, let alone 1000; which certainly called for a raucous celebration. Raw 1000 was hyped up for months and was accompanied by a special compilation of all the crazy moments the Monday night staple ever had. The actual show didn’t disappoint. For the first time ever, every member of DX was in the ring at the same time and JR got to come back to call a match or two. Legends like Bret Hart and The Rock returned as well. But the night ended on the very intriguing note of CM Punk leaving the arena with Paul Heyman after laying out The Great One.
7 Raw Is Smackdown
While the WWE has never missed an episode, nor has an episode ever been preempted, every so often their superstars can’t make the show. While on The WrestleMania Revenge tour, the Raw Brand had to deal with its most daunting challenge yet - the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland. That kept flights grounded, and Raw roster stuck in Belfast. Which meant the Blue Brand got tagged in and Raw became Smackdown for the evening.
6 Raw Is Snowed
A storm was brewing after the 2015 Royal Rumble, and it wasn’t the chorus of boos for babyface victor, Roman Reigns. A massive snowstorm rocked The New England portion of the United States. It was so bad that travel was banned and arenas across the region were canceled. Which put Monday Night Raw for the first time ever inside the WWE Studios.
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Interviews were held as well as the Rumble and the triple threat title match from the night before. For a brief moment with no audience around to boo him, Reigns seemed like a credible threat to The Beast, which wasn’t such a given seven years ago.
5 Raw 25
Where it all begins again might have been the tagline for WrestleMania 20, but that’s also what happened when Monday Night Raw turned 25. Simply titled Raw 25, the show emanated from Brooklyn at the Barclays Center and from The Manhattan Center, where Raw made its home for several years. Seeing The Deadman back in the Manhattan Center was a cool sight, as was watching DX form an alliance with The Club and Finn Balor, who forged their way in Japan-based off The Kliq to begin with. Toss in a few Stunners and an excellent IC title match between The Miz and Roman Reigns and you have a pretty good show.
4 Thursday Raw Thursday
While generally speaking Raw is destination television for Monday nights, the show got preempted in 1997, leading to a very special “Thursday Raw Thursday;” which took place on a well…you know. A few important moments happened on this night. The first was one of the early clashes between the Rocky Maivia and the Greenwich Blue Blood Hunter Hearst Helmsley. The excellent match saw Rock win the IC title. But the moment the world remembers about this night is that it’s the night Shawn Michaels lost his smile.
3 Viewer's Choice Raw
Between the Cyber Sunday and Taboo Tuesday events, the WWE has been able to pull off fan voting before. But they had yet to do it on the grand scale of Monday Night Raw. In 2010, the WWE held its first-ever Viewers Choice Raw where the fans got make the matches on WWE.com. But the biggest shock would come at the end of the evening when The Nexus debuted, stormed the ring and destroyed it.
2 Raw Is Nitro
If only they waited one more week to have WCW debut on Raw. At least then they would have been the old promotion’s home of Atlanta. The night instead took place in Tacoma, Washington.
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The night as abysmal as it turned out is what fans were waiting for since the day WWE purchased their competition. WCW would be on Raw. Perhaps if they waited that week, the WCW fan base would have cheered loud enough to mask the poor main event that took place pitting Buff Bagwell vs Booker T.
1 MSG Is Raw
For the first time ever, Raw and by extension, The Attitude Era invaded Madison Square Garden. Backstage news had Vince McMahon explain to Bret Hart that he couldn’t honor the 20-year contract. Onscreen, the action began with a video intro by Jim Ross. The IC tournament was being held, the Undertaker was interviewed about the upcoming first ever Hell In A Cell Match. Bret Hart defended the WWE title against Goldust. The Garden really got rocking when Triple H was set to take on Dude Love in a Falls Count Anywhere match. But the Dude wasn’t man enough and summoned his alter ego, Cactus Jack for the first time in WWE. Lastly and perhaps most easily the biggest moment on the show - Stone Cold Steve Austin nailed McMahon with a Stunner for the first time ever.
