Raw's 20th Anniversary

[Jack-Hammer]

I was looking on the calendar a few minutes ago and it suddenly occurred to me that the 20th anniversary of the first episode of Raw will be coming up in a little more than a month. Raw debuted on January 11, 1993 but the 11th of the month falls on a Friday this year. So, I'm assuming that they'll have Raw's anniversary celebration the following Monday, January 14.

I'm thinking that WWE will do something along the lines of an old school Raw in which they'll invite some wrestlers tha've been part of WWE throughout the course of the last 20 years. I see another possible reunion of DX, I see The Rock making an appearance, possibly The Undertaker, maybe Rowdy Roddy Piper. Maybe some guys in the mid and undercard like Tatanka and some others.

It wouldn't surprise me if Ric Flair made his return to WWE on that night. It's just a matter of time before Flair returns and I think the writing is on the wall.

At any rate, I think the show will be filled with a lot of nostalgia, which can be fun every now and again.

Given the recent situation regarding CM Punk's knee injury, I have a feeling that they'll give Ryback his title shot on the anniversary show. It'd generate a lot of buzz if The Rock is going to appear on the show, which I think he would if his schedule allows it.

If WWE does have some sort of celebration for Raw's 20th anniversary, what would you like to see happen?

[King Patrick]

Raw’s 20th Anniversary. Well, it has to be big, but not bigger than the Big 4. Some of the things I would like to see are:

• The return of Rob Bartlett!!

• Bobby The Brain Heenan spending 3 hours outside the arena trying to get in.

• Mr. McMahon announces the new GM of Raw…Booker T.

• About 20 Doinks all over the arena.

• The “Rematch” Undertaker vs. Damien Demento…with Damien Demento getting the win. Hey, it’s not WrestleMania and the Undertaker has lost matches before. Let’s get some Shield interference to help the injustice from 20 years ago.

• Miz TV with guests MVP, Edge, Roddy Piper, Carlito, Dude Love, Brother Love, Shawn Michaels, Jerry Lawler, and anyone else who has had an in-ring interview segment on Raw in the past, except Chris Jericho, because of the...

• 4th viral ad for the return of the Best In The World At What He Does.

• Kane and a partner of his choice vs. Daniel Bryan and a partner of his choice for the Unified WWE World Tag Team Championship. Surprise, they actually pick each other!! Hug it out and change the name to Team Hell Yes!! HAHA!!

• The return of Ric Flair and the debut of the new Horsemen. Don’t call them the 4 Horsemen, so that there could be 3 or 5 or any other number of members in the group.

• CM Punk and Brock Lesnar with Paul Heyman vs. Triple H and Mike Tyson with Shawn Michaels. It’s not real fighting, it could work.

• John Cena and Randy Orton vs. The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Shield interferes and makes it a 4 on 4 match. Yes, by this time, Shield should have a 4th member, maybe Brad Maddox.

• Fatal Four Way Elimination match. WWE Champion vs. World Champion vs. Intercontinental Champion vs. United States Champion, whoever the Champions may be at the time.

[Fansince1992]

With the show in Texas. Could this be the return of a certain Rattlesnake? I hope so. Imagine the pop Austin would get from his home town fans. Could even be a teaser between a possible future Punk v Austin fued. Not saying Austin would wrestle a match, i think WWE would save that moment for a Wrestlemania, but an in-ring segment would be a must see for me.

Another possible angle is have Punk and Rock building thier Royal Rumble match (which takes place the following Sunday) Austin interupts and announces that he will be the special guest ref or enforcer.

Be good to see some old faces again, but i would be dissapointed if Austin no shows this event, especially as it's coming out of his hometown.

[closet_fan]

PWInsider.com reports WWE is trying to get some wrestlers who appeared with the company in the earlier years to either make cameos live or pre-record something.

I'm not getting excited about this. They always bring back the same ole Roddy Piper, Ted DiBiasi and Slaughter.

Bring back some new people and give them a paycheck for the evening. Lord knows the WWE can afford it. But I don't see it happening. It will be the guys they already have signed under LEGENDS contracts.

Also, have something big happen. Punk taking out the Rock was okay, but I want something that's going to make my jaw drop.

[Charismatic Enigma]

Originally Posted by closet_fan

I'm not getting excited about this. They always bring back the same ole Roddy Piper, Ted DiBiasi and Slaughter.

Bring back some new people and give them a paycheck for the evening. Lord knows the WWE can afford it. But I don't see it happening. It will be the guys they already have signed under LEGENDS contracts.

Also, have something big happen. Punk taking out the Rock was okay, but I want something that's going to make my jaw drop.

I thought they did a really good job of this with Raw 1000, almost all those guys I never would've expected: Vader, Sid, DDP, Rikishi, etc. Those aren't the kind of guys that show up to every nostalgia show.

I agree though, I never get tired of seeing the classics, but I would really love for them to dig a little deeper. Maybe some guys we haven't seen in a long while like Jake Roberts, Damien Demento, Hakushi, if you really want to shock people...Ultimate Warrior, the Godwinns maybe. People that were in the first 5 years of Raw that we really haven't seen make any appearances since then. That would be a trip.

Honestly though, I don't think a whole lot of effort is gonna go in to this show, because Raw 1000 was treated like such a big event. I think they would've probably already started promoting it by now if that was the case.

[George Steele's Barber]

Austin is the big question mark. Is he healthy and interested enough to show up?

I think we will definitely get a ton of RR build with The Rock going nose to nose with most likely Punk or whoever is champ. Will get some of the usual nostalgia. Vince and HHH will probably be there. Lesnar should show up by then. HBK will make an appearance. Trish too. I'm kind of surprised they haven't built this up further like they did with 1,000 but right now it seems they are more focused on selling TLC.

Some dream scenarios are a Flair return of sorts. Rock and HBK altercation. When does Hogan's contract end with TNA? UT makes a return to let the world know he will be at 29. I answer all three questions correctly and get to become Damien Sandow's apprentice.

[Dyscord]

Originally Posted by Jack-Hammer

I was looking on the calendar a few minutes ago and it suddenly occurred to me that the 20th anniversary of the first episode of Raw will be coming up in a little more than a month. Raw debuted on January 11, 1993 but the 11th of the month falls on a Friday this year. So, I'm assuming that they'll have Raw's anniversary celebration the following Monday, January 14.

I'm thinking that WWE will do something along the lines of an old school Raw in which they'll invite some wrestlers tha've been part of WWE throughout the course of the last 20 years. I see another possible reunion of DX, I see The Rock making an appearance, possibly The Undertaker, maybe Rowdy Roddy Piper. Maybe some guys in the mid and undercard like Tatanka and some others.

It wouldn't surprise me if Ric Flair made his return to WWE on that night. It's just a matter of time before Flair returns and I think the writing is on the wall.

At any rate, I think the show will be filled with a lot of nostalgia, which can be fun every now and again.

Given the recent situation regarding CM Punk's knee injury, I have a feeling that they'll give Ryback his title shot on the anniversary show. It'd generate a lot of buzz if The Rock is going to appear on the show, which I think he would if his schedule allows it.

If WWE does have some sort of celebration for Raw's 20th anniversary, what would you like to see happen?

Quite frankly, I think they should have saved everything for the 20th anniversary show as opposed to the 1000th show. Honestly, 20 years is a lot bigger IMO.

I would love to see another "old school" Raw though. And of course you know they will be playing montages throughout the show.

[Sax_Player41]

At the 15th anniversary, they did a Gimmick Battle Royal featuring guys like Flash Funk, Skinner, Brother Love, The Goon, etc. I thought that was a great idea and it is something that definitely be used again. It's a way for 20-30 guys from the past to make an appearance, not have to do a lot of heavy work, and not have to many big spots. Even bring back Howard Finkel to announce the competitors.

[xavyer]

I think it will be the usual WWE, they have the oportunity to make something really big out of this, but i have a feeling that in part they will have some awesome segments, but they will blow it in some other segments, and in some ways they will do the same old things, like a DX reunion, the usual legends like Pipper, DiBiase Sr., Sgt. Slaughter Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Doink and the Brooklin Brawler will make an apearance, along with Dusty Rhodes and Arn Anderson, probably Ric Flair, they will probably have Mick Foley questioning CM Punk's credibility as a champion, The Rock will make one of his wanna be funny promos, and cameo apperances from superstars from the 90's, and the actual fun segment will be when Stone Cold Steve Austin appears, and is innevitable that he and Vince McMahon have a confrontation, but then again, they can surprise us, like many people say, they haven't made a buzz about the 20th anniversary show, and in a way, i think they don't want the IWC to start spoiling it for everyone, maybe they actually are planning something big, but so far, those are our opinions, i sure hope i'm wrong......

[ProWrestlingFan]

• Undertaker to return and cutting a promo than Brock Lesnar returning and giving him an F-5 setting up their match at Wrestlemania.
  
• Goldberg returning and spearing Ryback
  
• Evolution reunion
  
• Paul Heyman cutting a shoot promo on PG and sports-entertainment
  
• CM Punk and The Rock face to face setting up their match at Wrestlemania for the WWE Championship but interrupted by Stone Cold Steve Austin who announces that he will be the special guest referee for their match at Wrestlemania and giving stunners to both of them.