The Rock, Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels, and countless other WWE icons will welcome “Monday Night Raw” fans to tonight’s “Raw 25” celebration (Video)
The Rock, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Razor Ramon (pictured above), Shawn Michaels, Bret “Hitman” Hart and countless other WWE icons will welcome “Monday Night Raw” fans to tonight’s “Raw 25” celebration — at least, in montage form.
While a number of living legends will be on hand this evening at either Brooklyn’s Barclays Center or the Manhattan Center — it’s a dual-venue event, you see — WWE Superstars from past and present are depicted in a very cool three-and-a-half-minute opening segment, which readers can check out a few hours early via the video above.
All the McMahons are accounted for, and company chairman/family patriarch Vince actually survives a few attempted murders in the supercut. He also takes a stiff Stone Cold Stunner, which could kill one of us mere mortals.
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The highlight reel captures the moment WWE purchased rival WCW, the breakup of The Shield, the constant reinvention of Chris Jericho, and Mick Foley’s championship moment. There are also touching retirement speeches by Edge, Daniel Bryan and Ric Flair, as well as the entire female roster’s evolution from Divas to Women.
And no, friend to the pro-wrestling promotion Donald Trump isn’t included here. Watch the montage above.
“Raw 25” airs Monday at 8/7c on USA Network.
Every WWE Champion Ever, Ranked by Number of Reigns (Photos)
Pro-wrestling title belts change hands (or waists) like grapplers change trunks these days, though it wasn’t always that way. With “Survivor Series” just around the corner featuring a card of Champion vs. Champion matches, TheWrap decided to grace the Internet with a little history lesson. Scroll through our gallery to see every WWE Champion ever, ranked by their numbers of title reigns.
Remember: this is a list of those who won the WWWF Championship, the WWF Championship or the WWE Championship. So don’t come after us, Universal Champions, et al.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Jeff Hardy # of Reigns: 1
The un-“Broken” half of the Hardy Boyz has had the more storied singles career.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Bray Wyatt # of Reigns: 1
Abigail’s brother used to go by “Husky Harris” — we’d say this run is working out better for him.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Sgt. Slaughter # of Reigns: 1
Camel Clutch, Cobra Clutch — whatever “C”-animal it was, it hurt.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Dean Ambrose # of Reigns: 1
And “The Lunatic Fringe” pulled this off while wearing jeans.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Chris Jericho # of Reigns: 1
You’re a “stupid idiot” if you didn’t know this guy made “The List.”
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Eddie Guerrero # of Reigns: 1
Generally considered one of the best ever to have done it held the big-boy belt for 133.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: The Miz # of Reigns: 1
The kid from “The Real World” made good on his over-the-top MTV promos. One of the best on the mic, Miz has been holding down the Intercontinental Championship more than any other Superstar of the past few years.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Jinder Mahal # of Reigns: 1
Shortly before this publishing, the “Modern-Day Maharaja” dropped the title to A. J. Styles, ending a somewhat confusing run right before the WWE went to India.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: John “Bradshaw” Layfield # of Reigns: 1
JBL has taken his heel persona from the ring to the announce table. Never without a cowboy hat, Layfield thankfully leaves his lariat clothesline at home.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: The Ultimate Warrior # of Reigns: 1
The muscle-bound maniac who handed Hulk Hogan his first-ever “WrestleMania” loss died after suffering a heart attack three days after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: “Superstar” Billy Graham # of Reigns: 1
“Superstar” Billy Graham was a bodybuilder and buddy of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yeah, blame Graham’s body for Jinder Mahal.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Kevin Nash # of Reigns: 1
You mean Tarzan from “Magic Mike”?!?!? Yes, yes we do.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Pedro Morales # of Reigns: 1
History lesson: Back in the WWWF days, Morales became the first guy in wrestling history to win all three of the major men’s titles — the WWF Championship, the Intercontinental Championship and the WWF Tag Team Championship — in the company.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: André the Giant # of Reigns: 1
The stories about André the Giant sometimes feel as tall as he was.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: The Iron Sheik # of Reigns: 1
This guy is as big a hit on Twitter as he was in the ring.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Kane # of Reigns: 1
You wouldn’t know it by looking at him, but Kane is one of the smartest Superstars in WWE history.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Rey Mysterio # of Reigns: 1
We’re not going to talk about how ridiculous the setup to his finishing move, “The 6-1-9,” became. This is a happy list.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Stan Stasiak # of Reigns: 1
Unfortunately Stasiak only held the belt for nine days.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Rob Van Dam # of Reigns: 1
One of the most popular ECW wrestlers of all-time, RVD has brought his three initials to seemingly every pro-wrestling promotion with three initials.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Ivan Koloff # of Reigns: 1
The “Russian Bear” was actually Canadian.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Buddy Rogers # of Reigns: 1
Rogers was kinda-sorta the first champion in the company. It’s complicated — ask Killer Kowalski and Bruno Sammartino.
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Rank: 29 (tie) Wrestler: Vince McMahon # of Reigns: 1
Hell, Mr. McMahon runs the damn company — of course he made this list.
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Rank: 16 (tie) Wrestler: Batista # of Reigns: 2
Guardian of the Galaxy, defender of WWE Championship.
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Rank: 16 (tie) Wrestler: The Big Show # of Reigns: 2
You can’t miss this two-time champ — not even in a mega-arena.
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Rank: 16 (tie) Wrestler: A. J. Styles # of Reigns: 2
“The Phenomenal One” is the reigning WWE Champion, at the time of this writing.
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Rank: 16 (tie) Wrestler: Alberto Del Rio # of Reigns: 2
Si! Si!
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Rank: 16 (tie) Wrestler: Sycho Sid # of Reigns: 2
It was a long way down from Shawn Michaels’ former bodyguard’s power-bomb.
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Rank: 16 (tie) Wrestler: “Nature Boy” Ric Flair # of Reigns: 2
If you haven’t watched ESPN’s new “30 for 30: Nature Boy,” do that.
