Your Favorite Incarnation of RAW

[MTL722]

With all the reports of ratings being at an all time low and Raw in particular being a dumpster fire, I was going to come in here and ask if it was time to overhaul Raw. But that got me thinking of all the times RAW has changed. The intro music, the graphics, the sets, THE LENGTH OF THE SHOW etc.

With that said, what was your favorite incarnation of Raw. For example, Im going to choose...

Forget the lies, the money, we're in this together and through it all, they said nothings forever and they refuse to see in the change in me WHY WONT THEY WAKE UP?
Come on come on come on, Let's get it on

That would be Union Underground- Across the Nation and there has never been a song that got me more pumped for Raw. The video package was great, the graphics of the wrestlers, the set and that golden two hours (almost forgot J fucking R on commentary)

I'm sure somebody can help me with the years. And while you're at it, fess up if you think it's time for an overhaul

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

I definitely think the show should get a refresh every few years, just as a palette cleanser, helps the show to not feel so stale. Here's a video with all the theme songs for anyone that doesn't remember them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EeMFxBp_Q4

After having just given them all a listen. I think I would have to go with either "Thorn In Your Eye" or "Across The Nation" as my theme song choice. I don't know how much of that is that the quality of the programming was generally better during that era though, or if it's just good music to get you pumped.

The show absolutely needs to be 2 hours again.

Favorite overall look…probably right now, because of course the staging and lighting are always going to be improving as technology does, though I think they've taken it a little overkill at this point, like for example I really don't need the ring apron to be a video screen. It feels a little too "Pimp My Ride", like where else can we put a video screen? Or the camera on the turn posts that make them a foot taller and they barely ever use them anyway.

 

[Dagger Dias]

My favorite opening theme to Raw was this one:

[YOUTUBE]zxRPQZiCe4c[/YOUTUBE]

Highly underrated. It was extremely catchy and it always got me excited for a night of action and entertainment. They should never have changed this song. I detested the Nickelback one that followed, and the current one isn't much better. It was a step up from the over-rated "Across the Nation" song, I still don't get what anyone saw in that song. I still miss both "Thorn In Your Eye" and the original instrumental that the first few years of Raw used. I'm nostalgic towards both.... however the 2006-2009 song "To Be Loved" was the best.

As for sets the best was probably the one they were using back in 2005. It was at the same time as when Smackdown had the fist, both Raw and Smackdown had cool sets at the time. I'm in the minority here because I actually like that there's 3 hours to Raw. I just wish that they gave more time to more members of the roster so that we aren't seeing the same matchups so often or at the very least feature on Smackdown more often those who didn't make it onscreen on Raw that week, I won't go more into that though as that's a whole other topic.

For announcers, JR and King. Is there even any other option here? Today's rotating announcing team is a step up from being stuck with Cole and King EVERY week, but still....

When you take an overall average of sets, intro theme, show length, and announcer team.... I'll go with the 2006-2007 school-year I guess. My favorite intro theme, the final run together of the best announcing team, and they hadn't switched over to the same HD set on every brand yet.

 

[sMark]

Theme song - Union Underground
Set - Smackdown fist + RAW 2007-2010 sidetrons, no curvetron, ring apron tron and any other trons
Commentary - Jim Ross & Matt Striker

But the main roblem is the writing, this is what need to be changed first and foremost, without it everything else is pointless

 

[fuzz69]

To me the best one was the one underground did. The best set up was the regular attitude era stage and titantron. To me you don't need the flashy stuff if your wrestling is up to par. I know its not wwe but wcw had a very nice set up back when they were on top but had no titantron.

As long as people still go to wwe events and support wrestling in general then they will continue to keep going down the road they are going. It seems to me 3 hours would be alot more money and time and all that junk. The story lines are getting so bad its like they keep the same one going for 3 to 4 months because they can't come up with anything else to move on. With it being 2 hours they may be able to make smack down relevant again. Right now it just shows the story lines from raw and then it just puts matches on there. So if sheamus and ziggler are in a feud and they wrestled a singles match on raw then why not put them in a tag match on smackdown. Its just continuous the only good thing about the pay per views is the fact that it may be the end of the storyline and something new may happen or someone may interfere which will make a new story line develop. Thats another problem it seems like the only story lines to get brought up are when someone else interferes.

 

[WrasslinPittsburgh]

I like the original RAW is WAR in the first hour. and then the second became Warzone and you knew shit was going down

 

[HBKperfect23]

I liked when they changed the intro in early 97. They used the "beatiful people" before switching to "thorn in your eye". I liked thorn in your eye but wish they would have stuck with the beatiful people, I think it fit better. Not sure how long they used the beatiful people. Might have only been a week or two.

Commentators: Ross/King/McMahon. Always enjoyed those 3 together.

Time for Raw is a huge problem in my eyes. 3 hours is insanely long. I'd love to see them go back to 2.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Everything in late 97 and 1999. The opening intro always got you into the show and the set was simpler but through simplicity I think the live crowd was more involved with the show. I never liked it when WWF kept adding more things to the set starting 2000, it's too busy and made the show feel more manufactured which is the problem I have with the RAW set and opening song even today.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Everything in late 97 and 1999. The opening intro always got you into the show and the set was simpler but through simplicity I think the live crowd was more involved with the show. I never liked it when WWF kept adding more things to the set starting 2000, it's too busy and made the show feel more manufactured which is the problem I have with the RAW set and opening song even today.

Favorite RAW opening
[YOUTUBE]nS8Eq8k21iM[/YOUTUBE]

Straight to the point but aggressive and gets you into the show.
Also a side note with the vid you can tell WWF was trying to make Ahmed Johnson a thing

Favorite RAW set
This video has a good look of the set
[YOUTUBE]ZpRv1FVAvsI[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Mustang Sally]

Everything in late 97 and 1999. The opening intro always got you into the show and the set was simpler but through simplicity I think the live crowd was more involved with the show. I never liked it when WWF kept adding more things to the set starting 2000, it's too busy and made the show feel more manufactured which is the problem I have with the RAW set and opening song even today.

Agreed.....and I couldn't say it any better than the above quote. The company managed to take the same people we'd known for years and give them the air of having turned into a gang of outlaws, loosely associated with the 'sport' of professional wrestling.

Suddenly, everything seemed new and dangerous, as if you should be afraid to take a snack break and miss something big. Yes, it took changes in the roles of the performers to bring this about......but without the outstanding adaptations made by the creative staff in the theme of the organization .......and obviously, Vince McMahon himself.....it never would have happened in the manner it did.

I've enjoyed every incarnation of WWE, but nothing compares to what happened in the late 90's.

 

[@smarkmouth]

I find the discussion about the intro music in this thread interesting, and I think it validates something I suspected about wrestling fans. I think in general, we prefer rock or rock alternatives to hip hop and rap, or at least feel that the musical style is more in keeping with WWE wrestling. So why on earth are we still stuck with "The Night"? Perhaps that's another topic.

I was a fan of the Eric Bischoff incarnation, mostly because creative was on point, and I don't mean just storylines. There were some production differences that, for better or worse, made Raw look like an Eric Bischoff product. Not least of which was stationing JR and King over by the entrance as opposed to ringside.

 

[MTL722]

I find the discussion about the intro music in this thread interesting, and I think it validates something I suspected about wrestling fans. I think in general, we prefer rock or rock alternatives to hip hop and rap, or at least feel that the musical style is more in keeping with WWE wrestling. So why on earth are we still stuck with "The Night"? Perhaps that's another topic.

No doubt "The Night" is the worst song they've had. I'd prefer to have Nickelback again (which says alot). Not surprisingly, although probably not related, Raw is the worst it's been in years. I think this song is definitely geared more for the younger fans. I'm 23 and it sucks that I feel like I'm no longer the demographic this show is aimed at

 

[TDFG]

Thorn In Your Eye & the whole intro was great.
For commentary JR & Heyman.
Raw needs to go 2hrs, sometimes less is more & with Smackdown, Main Event, PPV's, NXT etc. There is too much WWE.

 

[Terry Gyimah]

Across The Nation now that was the best incarnation of RAW with JR and King in Ruthless Aggression Era (2002-06)

 

[Why Always Me]

I am glad I am not alone in watching Raw and Smackdown every week and feeling they overdo it. The ringtron, post camera things, crowd lighting, flashy stage etc, its all crap IMO.

If I was in charge, it would go back to basics. Red ropes for Raw, blue for Smackdown. Black ring steps and ring posts. No stupid lightning on the crowd, make then feel part of the action. Minimal LED lighting, save that for PPV's. The bigger entrance ramp, JR on f*cking commentary. I would trail Raw & Smackdown at 2 and a half hours, tag it as 'the fastest 150 minutes in Sports Entertainment' (maybe not actually....). Raw would have a more grungy set like back in the day, would have Smackdown with a slightly more polished feel, both live and of equal importance like the good old days, ALL superstars appearing on both shows. No more sh*tty rap/hip hop music (once again, save that for PPV's). For my weekly Raw and Smackdown I want something to get me pumped, followed by fireworks and a decent commentary team welcoming me to Raw & Smackdown every week. Cheese on toast at the moment and people make the same excuses about why. Go on You Tube and watch any Attitude Era clip in 360p quality for ten minutes and the comments are all the same, saying that one clip is better than anything WWE has produced in years