RTW: RAVEN

[Odisho]

Real name:Scott Levy
Ring name(s) Raven, Johnny Polo, Scott Anthony, Scotty Flamingo
Born: 1964 46 years old
Height&Weight: 6'1 244 pounds
Trained by: Jake the snake Roberts, Larry Sharpe, Charlie Fulton, The Sheik
Debut:1988
Finishing move: Raven Effect

career championship(s) and such
3 time world champion(ECW heavyweight 2X and NWA heavyweight)
He also held the WCW United States Championship once, and is the record holder for most reigns as WWF/E Hardcore Champion with 26 reigns. He is the 2005 King of the Mountain winner at Slammiversary in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, being only the second person ever to win the annual event. Between WCW, TNA, WWE and ECW Levy has held 36 total championships.

Raven is also the innovator of numerous types of "gimmick" wrestling matches, such as Clockwork Orange House of Fun match, Raven's Rules match and Hangman's Horror match.

has been in every major wrestling company in the world.

career highlights:
He got his first major exposure as a wrestler in 1992 in World Championship Wrestling. He competed in the light-heavyweight division under the name Scotty Flamingo.

After leaving WCW, he joined the World Wrestling Federation as manager Johnny Polo, a spoiled, rich preppy kid, and was placed with Adam Bomb. He was also manager of The Quebecers tag team, whom he led to three reigns as WWF Tag Team Champions.

in 1995, now bulked-up to approximately 230 lb , he debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling under the name Raven. He made his debut with Stevie Richards, attacking Tommy Dreamer and claiming Dreamer was his enemy when they were children at summer camp.Raven and Dreamer had a multi-year ongoing feud with a great deal of matches; Dreamer got over as an underdog face showing resilience and tenacity in the spite of Raven coming out victorious every single time.

Another major ECW feud was with Sandman, having many bloody matches culminating in an October 1996 match in which Sandman's son interfered to help his father. After the match, the two embraced, but Raven came from behind with a Kendo Stick, and brutalized Sandman. Raven's lackeys, Steven Richards and the Blue Meanie, pulled out a giant wooden cross from under the ring, tied Sandman down to it, and lifted it up and "crucified" him.

Raven dominated ECW throughout 1995–1996 and enjoyed two reigns as ECW World Heavyweight Champion. His group of followers became known as the Raven's Nest. During his first stint in ECW, Raven successfully defended the ECW World Heavyweight Title against famous veterans Terry Gordy and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, among others. He gave Dr. Death his first loss in a singles match in the U.S. in many years. His feud with Tommy Dreamer began at his debut and, after a short pause while Raven feuded with Sandman, lasted for the next two years, before Dreamer finally defeated him at Wrestlepalooza on June 6, 1997 in a "Loser Leaves ECW" match. Raven then moved on to World Championship Wrestling.

he returned to the WWF, as Raven, in 2000 at Unforgiven when he interfered in the Strap match between Tazz and Jerry Lawler, by DDT Lawler.he defeated Steve Blackman for the WWE Hardcore Championship.he competed in his only WrestleMania match, losing the Hardcore Championship to Kane in a Triple Threat match that also included The Big Show.When the Invasion storyline began, he found himself in the new WCW/ECW Alliance. His most notable storyline during this time, was when he was managed by Terri Runnels and destroyed the love interest of Saturn, his mop called "Moppy." He also started teaming with Justin Credible in late July 2001. By the end of the year, Raven was not seen on WWE programs, as the Alliance lost the "Winner Take All" match at Survivor Series. released from WWE in 2003.

Raven debuted in TNA Wrestling on 2003, two days after his release from WWE, attacking Jeff Jarrett and stealing the NWA World Heavyweight Title from him. Raven then embarked upon a long-running storyline in which he claimed it was his "destiny" to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title.

he formed a stable known as The Gathering, which included ROH rival CM Punk, as well as Julio Dinero and mickie james. they all turned on him.

Raven and Sabu then feuded with Abyss and "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown.Raven defeated Sabu in a No Holds bared match

Raven turned face and fulfilled his self-proclaimed destiny when he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at Slammiversary defeating A.J. Styles, Abyss, Sean Waltman, and Monty Brown in a five way King of the Mountain match.

He returned as a heel by attacking Abyss with a Kendo stick with Dr. Stevie assisting him. He then aligned himself with Dr. Stevie and Daffney

on a scale from 1-10 what would you rate RAVEN

i would rate him 4.5/10

 

[Carpathian Florist]

I would rate him 8/10, which is a bit generous in a way but I can't blame him for all the companies missing the boat on his character. If a waste of skin like Rey Misterio can hog the spotlight and get world title reigns, it's just beyond absurd that Raven never got the chance. If you listen to shoot interviews and such things with Raven you can tell he truly has a great mind for the business, it's not just some hollow claim made by fanboys in an attempt to justify their favoured wrestler. He is a legitimate genius too and his obvious passion for the business gives a great creative outlet for it.
If WWF/E or WCW had really pulled the trigger on him he could have been one of the most memorable heels the wrestling business had ever known, but now he's just relegated to the "what might have been" chapter in wrestling history.

Find his fanmail address, send him the scratch offs he craves and bow down to the master!

 

[RicoLen]

Raven is one of my favorites. I remember him as Scott Polo in the WWF with Adam Bomb, but I never got to watch ECW. However Raven was the centerpiece to the most memorable feuds in ECW history with both Sandman & Tommy Dreamer. Raven's Flock, which I did see from beginning to end was probably the most disappointing stables I've ever seen in terms of wasted potential.

Honestly, I liked Raven's Flock even more than the nWo. The Flock had great talent in it, with Perry Saturn, & Billy Kidman. Van Hammer always seemed to me like someone that should have been in more high profile matches, but to be fair I haven't watched a whole lot of WCW since I saw it first air, and I have a feeling he might be one of those guys that's just not as good as I remember. Their collective gimmick was awesome though. It was Fight Club before the fight club movie was made combined with a grunge look, and I ate it up. I am still disappointed that that stable never met with great success like nWo did, especially since it WAS a popular stable.

Raven the wrestler is among the best, and very underrated IMO. I couldn't honestly tell you what caused him to fluctuate around so much from organization to organization, but as far as I'm concerned Raven was CM Punk long before CM Punk was CM Punk. Perhaps Raven is part of the reason I'm not more keen on CM Punk, because I've always thought I should like CM Punk more but he's never done much for me.

Raven is a Hall of Famer for sure. I don't think it's a bit generous to give him 8/10. I think it's a pretty dead on mark for the guy.

8/10

 

[Skinsley]

Raven! What a gimmick! I think they utilised him right, he was never heavyweight quality and back in the days he was in WWE the other titles were credible and prestigious.
I would rate him at a 7/10 and that’s a better score than it may seem if we’re going to say that people like Austin and Y2J are the pinnacle.
The Flock was a fantastic stable and he was one of the best things to happen to ECW. Even when he was one of the big guys in TNA, he was well worth a watch.
However, if I ever see him again I hope it is only in a Cameo type appearance here and there.

Quote the raven nevermore…. Indeed.

 

[supernatural1981]

Raven was my fave wrestler when i was in my teenage years. He had some great matches in ecw and some of his fueds were classics. the one with sandman springs to mind when he brainwashed sandmans wife and kid was great and his battles with the other kid from summer camp "tommy dreamer" was one of ecw's greatest rivalries.

When he jumped ship to wcw he had a couple of decent hardcore matches that i remember but the flock was total badass. I remember the matches with saturn that ended in saturn breaking the flock up as being quite decent.

His wwe and tna runs were filled with hardcore gimmick matches that served a purpose and his "clockwork orange house of death" matches were decent. Im sure even mickie james was in one of them.

All in all i would rate him as 8/10. He had some classic matches back in the day and he carried ecw for a while. His later career was not on par with his earlier work but not a lot of people can pull of the type of match they did 10 years earlier.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Raven Rules

My favourite wrestler of all time, and what a gimmick! He was the perfect fit for ECW with his aggressive brawling style, mind games and grunge style look. The feuds with Tommy Dreamer, where Raven claimed they had known each other growing up and he was returning to take his revenge, and the rivalry with The Sandman where he "stole" Sandman's wife and child and ended up crucifying him on a makeshift cross are iconic and will always be remembered as 2 of the finest feuds ECW ever did.

Raven is a member of Mensa, and a very intelligent guy, which comes across in his mesmerising promos. No other wrestler has been able draw me into what they are saying quite like Raven. He truly is the master of mind games in professional wrestling, which you saw when he made the previously tough, uncaring Sandman break down and openly cry after Raven got into the head of his family members and turned them against him. The strength of his promos is what got him noticed and in somewhere like WWE, where the storylines are more important than the actual matches, this should have been capitalised on more.

I loved the Flock in WCW. I thought the gimmick was great, and Raven has always worked best with a team of followers, again getting across the cult leader aspect of his character, something which CM Punk took on recently. I think that WCW again wasted a phenomenal talent, by only giving him a short US title reign. I reckon the WCW World Title would always have been out of reach as it was dominated by the likes of Nash, Hogan etc, but Raven would have made a great long-term US Champion. It's a shame that never happened, and he ended up leaving after growing frustrated with not getting the push to the next level.

I marked out like crazy when Raven showed in up WWE in 2000, aligning with Tazz and helping him beat Jerry Lawler in a strap match. It was so cool to see him in his original ripped jeans, leather jacket gimmick in a WWE ring, nailing Lawler with a Raven Effect. I thought that Tazz and Raven should definitely have been the tag-team champions, and hoped that WWE would make the most of Raven's mic work by giving him some meaningful feuds, but they never did and the only really memorable matches I can remember him having in WWE was the Hardcore title match with Rhyno and the 3 Way Hardcore match with Kane and Big Show at Wrestlemania X7. It was a shame that was relegated to only Hardcore matches, as Raven had so much ability and could have carried a feud with someone much higher up the card.

I think he should have been an Intercontinental champion at least, but it doesn't seem like he ever had "the look" that Vince McMahon wanted from a champion. I have actually read somewhere that Vince yelled "Who the hell hired Raven?!" after seeing Levy's name on the card for a particular nights matches, which says it all really.

In TNA I again enjoyed his work. His debut was great, stealing the belt for Jeff Jarrett and immediately going into the main event, where he belonged. I wasn't a fan of his change in style to wearing the kilt though, it didn't look right at all. After a top quality rivalry with Jarrett and a great and bloody feud with The New Church including a brutal scalping by Father Mitchell I thought it was awesome when Raven finally fulfilled his destiny and became the NWA World Heavyweight Champion again. I was genuinely pleased for a guy who has given so much to the business.

After he lost the belt he kinda faded away, which was a shame and has suffered numerous health issues over the last few years which has led to weight gain and ageing. I liked seeing Raven return as part of the EV2.0 stable last year in TNA, but I do think that his days as a top level wrestler are probably over at his age and in the shape he is in now.

However, I think he has alot to offer as a manager, a commentator, or in creative. Raven has a great mind for the business, he always has. On the "Forever Hardcore" documentary, Sandman says that Raven would have pocketfuls of ideas scribbled down on paper, napkins and toilet paper with suggestions for storylines and promo. He was always thinking of the business, and Sandman also says that Raven would hold classes in the dressing room, teaching the younger ECW wrestlers. It is people like that that wrestling needs in the future. Genuine fans of the business who have creative and innovative ideas to improve the product. I hope that Raven is used right in the future, he would be a great addition to the WWE or TNA creative teams.

I think his career has certainly been hampered by bad booking. He could have achieved alot more than he has if the organisations had utilised his talent. I just dont think WWE or WCW understood the Raven character and its potential. He didn't even get a fair shot in WWE, especially during the Invasion storyline when he could have been a major player but was competely ignored.

His personal issues and drug problems probably contributed to this to be honest. In ECW it didn't really matter as half the locker room was on drugs, but in WCW this must have held him back. By the time he went to WWE and was clean the peak of his career had probably passed, which was a shame.

All in all, Raven was a phenomenal talent. Good in the ring without being spectacular, but it was the promo's, the mic skills and the mind for the business (which so many young wrestlers lack today) that made him special.

I would have to give him a 8/10, as there are far better actual wrestlers, but for telling a story in his matches, and crafting magnificent promos that make you WANT to see him wrestle, there were few better than Raven. His lack of success in WCW and WWE stop him from getting any higher, and if those 2 companies had made the most of the Raven character, he could have gone even higher, and been one of the top heels of the last 15 years.

 

[Rasha]

Raven could have been epic in WCW. The timing was just right for that kind of character based on the landscape of the business and the fanbase. Let's pretend that with Sting/Hogan at Starrcade the WCW vs NWO story had been resolved one way or the other. Now you'd have an established regime, be it the victorious NWO or the return of WCW. What if Raven has been used in an Austin-like role as the anti-establishment hero?

For example, let's say JJ Dillon (assuming Sting had beaten Hogan) walks out a week or two after Starrcade and begins to address Raven and The Flock as they sit in their old front row section of the crowd. Keep in mind, Raven has been in WCW for about six months at this point. The Flock is still going strong with all of the signature members and Raven is still only doing "Raven's Rules" matches. Dillon says that now that he's done dealing with the NWO, there's something he's been wanting to do for a while. He calls Chris Benoit (or someone like him) to the ring.

With Benoit behind him, Dillon orders Raven to enter the ring and wrestle a "TRADITIONAL" match. Raven smirks and shakes his head. Dillon asks if he wants to be fired, and Raven just shrugs. So instead of firing Raven, Dillon threatens to fire Lodi. Cue Lodi immediately writing up a new sign that says, "UMMM... NO?" or something funny in response. Raven stands up at the threat to one of his Flock members and calls for the mic, then slices into Dillon with some great promo tearing down the idea of "tradition" in wrestling.

Dillon cuts him off, saying these fans want to see a match and not listen to his ramblings. So he gives him one last chance. Raven tries to call his bluff, but Dillon fires Lodi! He says that he'll continue to fire a Flock member every week until Raven "plays by OUR rules." Security comes out to take Lodi from the arena. The Flock looks like they're going to fight, but Raven holds them back.

Later that night during the Main Event, The Flock hit the ring! They go off, destroying everything in sight. Raven gets on the mic and says Dillon's not the only one who can make threats. He says that every week Dillon tries to attack The Flock, they will ruin his "good ol' wrasslin show." Then Raven really plays up to the crowd, telling Dillon and the rest of WCW to "look around" and see who their audience is. "Look at the t-shirts! Look at the torn jeans! Look at the hairstyles! This is MY audience! THEY ARE THE FLOCK!"

You can't tell me this wouldn't have worked. The average wrestling fan in 1997 would have gobbled this up. Not only would it have attracted all of the people who liked cheering for the NWO, but it would have been more attractive to an ever larger group of teenagers and young adults who want to root for the rebel. Everything about Raven, from his look to his music to his promos, was perfect for my generation (I was 16-17 at the time this would've taken place).

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Rasha, as I said to you in the green rep I sent, that was an absolutely epic post.

There is no doubt in my mind that your idea would have worked, the audience at professional wrestling shows at that time WAS The Flock! Brilliant idea, much better than most of the people in WWE creative could come up with.

If they went with that idea, or were planning on going with it at some point, I reckon The Flock would have needed a couple more "bigger names", rather than guys like Van Hammer as they would need to be booked as a threat to the guys they were going up against.

But, yeah, your idea fucking ruled. Raven taking on WCW...I like it.

 

[RicoLen]

You know I don't understand why Benoit was never a part of the flock to be honest. He seemed like one of the flock type to me. Same with Bret Hart to be honest. I mean by the time Bret Hart came around if The Flock was a serious contender, it would have been great having Benoit & The Hitman in the Flock.

Bret entering the Flock really could have been pretty amazing too. We've all seen him wearing the jeans with the flannel tied around his waist and the leather jacket over the T-shirt. In fact I think that's how he debuted in WCW wasn't it? Minus the flannel? Had he played that up after he entered WCW and talked about how he was just tired of playing the same old corporate games. He'd done that up north and got screwed, now that he's here in the WCW it's time to address that. He'd been watching Raven and his flock even while working "elsewhere" and while at first he scoffed at everything Raven had to say, as time went on, and he dealt with his issues up north he began to realize Raven made perfect sense.

That could set up Bret as a co-leader of the flock, with him possibly feuding with Raven later for the world title because everyone took Bret seriously as a world title contender, and Raven was physically a match in every way for Bret.