The Highlight of the Night: The Top Moments from Raw

The Highlight of the Night
The Top Moments from Raw
Written by Mark Adam Haggerty

"In 80 countries, in seven languages, to over a half-billion viewers each week—the World Wrestling Federation , the world-wide leader in Sports Entertainment." If you were a fan of the WWE during the "New Generation," odds are you remember hearing those words spoken at the beginning of each and every broadcast. Twenty years later and things are a bit different—instead of boasting with company pride, the slogan "Then, Now, and Forever" implies a casual approach to business and no real desire to evolve. This evening's installment of Monday Night Raw was not without its enjoyable moments, but offered little in the way of provocative in-ring storytelling. The show moved at a slower pace than usual, and seemed to focus on mid-level feuds instead of main event rivalries—strange for the "go-home" show a mere six days away from "Fastlane." Oftentimes the hardest part of writing these reviews is seguing away from my introduction, so for lack of a smoother transition, my name is Mark Adam Haggerty and this is "Highlight of the Night."

5. "Limbo is No Place for a Soul Like Yours"
About three weeks ago, we began seeing backstage promos from the "Eater of Worlds" Bray Wyatt. Bray has been spouting rhetoric riddled with hidden messages since his debut, but it appears as though he finally has something worth talking about. Over the course of three separate videos, Wyatt fiddled with tools—a hammer and nails, challenging some unnamed entity to find him, before he finds them. Of course Bray Wyatt is looking for a fight with the Undertaker, and while generally shrouded beneath a veil of mystery, there was no use in mincing words tonight. Bray warned, "Limbo is no place for a soul like yours," as he continually prodded the "Dead Man," begging him to return. I've said before that I was never really interested in seeing Bray Wyatt versus the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 31, particularly after the Undertaker's streak ended last year in New Orleans. While I wasn't feeling the Sting scenario either, the idea of �Taker wrestling anyone on the current roster seems to pale in comparison to his last several years battling the best in the business. How does "Husky Harris" follow Brock Lesnar, and every other Superstar who's come before? The theatrics beyond what Bray is saying make me think that this could actually be the Undertaker's last battle at Wrestlemania. Although clearly backstage, standing on top of a fog machine, the imagery harkens back to the Undertaker's initial babyface run, so I choose to believe Bray is in his own "wood shed." At first he was just holding a nail, making me think of the obvious phrase, "final nail in the coffin." But later in the show, Bray was actually building something. Is he constructing a COFFIN for the Undertaker? Will this be the symbolic passing of the torch in terms of supernatural Superstars in the WWE, or will Bray Wyatt be the Undertaker's redemption after failing to defeat Brock Lesnar last year? If Bray Wyatt truly has the WORLD in his hands, he still must contend with the hellfire and brimstone possessed by the Undertaker.

4. "Millions of Dollars! Millions of Dollars!"
When I was a young irresponsible 20-something, I had a friend who happened to be dating a professional wrestler. His name is Chris Steeler, and he is still a very active athlete on the East Coast Indie circuit. Through Chris I was able to meet a lot of other young hopefuls, one of whom went under the name "Bone Crusher" Fred Sampson. Sampson was a big, bald, black guy who wore a chain around his neck. Entering each contest at over six feet tall and nearly 230 pounds, he dwarfed the majority of his smaller-sized opponents and earned the IWF heavyweight champion. I was lucky enough to meet and get to know Fred—fast forward six years later and "Bone Crusher" is standing alongside the rest of the Nexus running rough-shod on Raw. That's right, I have a bit of a sentimental-spot when it comes to Darren "Millions of Dollars" Young. I'm incredibly proud of him for overcoming such adversity and becoming the world-class star that he is today. Last week Darren posted a Tweet, expressing his feelings about the WWE's tour of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's treatment of gays and women. So when Darren Young appeared on Raw to face the Ascension, partnered with an unnamed jobber, I expected the worst. But low-and-behold the WWE surprised a lot of people by salvaging an enormously popular tag team, and thus allowing two incredibly talented professional wrestlers the chance to work. Listen, my admiration for D-Young aside, Titus O'Neill is a really phenomenal athlete with a huge upside in terms of charism and overall potential. The roof is so high for both of these WWE Superstars and I'd venture a guess that their shelf-life might be extended through their partnership. Maybe the "Primetime Players" might even win gold to go with their MILLIONS OF DOLLARS!

3. "Bell Means Stop!"
As weeks progress it would see only fitting that Damian Sandow could be on the verge of breaking away from The Miz. Two weeks ago, the Miz demoted Sandow to "personal assistant," and has since proceeded to make his life miserable. Despite being fortunate enough to take on the intercontinental champion, Sandow must also contend with the Miz sitting at ringside. As opposed to this shtick as I've been in the past, I chuckled whole-heartedly every time the Miz shook his bell into the microphone. The verbiage and excuses employed by the Miz were priceless, rattling his bell so that Sandow might leave the match to polish the Miz's shoes. "I can't see myself in my shoes," the Miz yelled! "Bell means stop! BELL MEANS STOP!" By this point in the progression of their overall story, Damian doesn't appear to be anything more than just a prop designed to highlight the arrogance of the Miz. It's hard to tell who will come out of this program the better; Will the former "Mizdow" get his comeuppance on his tyrannical employer, or will the "Hollywood A-Lister" defy the odds per usual, and escape the situation unscathed? The "Intergalactic Goofballs" known as Gold and Stardust appeared to have come to a "Cross Roads" in their relationship—what could that mean for other tag teams on the brink of destruction? At the rate in which the program is building, we could see Sandow make the turn next Monday, or very well wait until after Wrestlemania. These two could steal the show in Santa Clara, however they could just as easily slow-burn until summer, allowing for "A-List" antics of the highest degree on the "Grandest Stage of Them All."

2. "Cody Rhodes is Dead."
Since 2011 the WWE Universe has been asking every question imaginable relating to the Rhodes Brothers: When will we get the inevitable split between Dustin and Cody; who will be the turncoat; where can we expect the subsequent blow-off? This evening's episode of Raw answered all but one of those questions, although the third is pretty clear considering we're just 40 days away from Wrestlemania. A few weeks back, Goldust made the mistake of calling his brother "Cody," rather than his stage-name "Stardust." Stardust snapped, which led to weeks of questionable conduct on behalf of the former intercontinental champion. Backstage the "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes dances into frame to offer his boys some last minute advice before their contest with the New Day. Despite everything Cody's been going through, Dusty reminds him that without family, he's got nothing. The match was what it was with plenty of impressive work by both teams, before dysfunction would lead the Rhodes duo to defeat. Goldust was miserable after costing his team the victory, and refused to stand up and leave the ring. Stardust initially attempted to help, but soon gave in to frustration, blind-siding his brother with a wicked "Cross Rhodes." Backstage, the Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes was in shock in response to what just happened. He attempted to reason with his son, who responded by saying, "Cody Rhodes is dead. And so is his father." I think this could be a step in the right direction for Cody. I've NEVER been fond of the Stardust character. I thought it was kind of funny the first time out, but has morphed into something that could potentially taint Cody Rhodes' entire legacy. I think if he drops the dumb body suit in favor of something less ridiculous, he could keep the paint and do another "Dr. Doom-type" character. I was hoping that the finishing hold on Goldust, named for his famous family, could mean the end of the Stardust character for good—but I guess not. I'll be interested to see how Cody Rhodes might evolve from here, and I'm excited at the prospect of finally seeing Rhodes vs. Rhodes at Wrestlemania.

1. "Mark My Words: I Am the WWE."
For the second week in a row, the number one program on Monday Night Raw is that which is developing between the 13-time world heavyweight champion Triple H and the 12-time world heavyweight champion Sting. That's right folks—count up his WCW, NWA, and TNA title runs, and the "Vigilante" is just one belt shy of tying the "King of Kings." Last week's particular brand of mind games featured a Sting look-alike and a jarring video package that concluded with the words, "I accept." Sting would be in Memphis at "Fastlane." This week, the "Game" laughed about the way in which he fell to his feet. He assured the fans in Orlando that he was in no way afraid of Sting, but before he could continue, Triple H was joined by a man who knows Sting better than anyone—the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. Flair entered the squared-circle and warned his friend that "a wrestler's worst enemy is time off," citing his skepticism as to how successful Hunter will be. Hunter laughed again, cutting Flair off at every turn, which made sense because Ric was doing a whole lot of rambling by this point. Triple H told the WWE Hall of Famer, "Sting is the WCW—but mark my words: I am the WWE." The "Nature Boy" seemed to get the hint, but stressed the importance of going into this confrontation as a wrestler and not a business man. Triple chuckle once more, and proceeded to shove the 65-year old Flair to the mat—Sting would be getting Triple H the wrestler all right. I said last week that this has the potential to be Sting's greatest match ever, and although I know that makes me sound like Tony Schiavone, I said it with absolutely no hyperbolic intentions. Everybody has something to say about Paul Levesque, but unless you're talking about the greatest wrestlers of the past fifteen years, there's not much more to talk about in terms of Triple H. Sting has had tremendous bouts over the past three decades, but never against someone as motivated, as conditioned, and as intelligent as the COO of the WWE. Sting is going to go into Santa Clara a WCW Icon, and will emerge a WWE Legend.

For the first time since I started counting down the Top Five Moments of Raw, neither the opening segment nor the main event portion of the show were featured anywhere on my list. While some could argue the top five moments were just so exciting that I didn't need to fall back on the top-drawing stars of the company, the truth is that those first and final moments of Raw were nothing to be proud of. John Cena beat up Rusev and yelled, "Every man feels pain!" That sounds like a line from the 1987 G.I. Joe Movie . "Be my eyes snake man!" As for the last match, I don't need to bore anyone with another rant about the Big Show. Instead I'll just say I'm glad the fans are getting behind Roman Reigns—I think he deserves it and although he's only been wrestling for five years, I'm confident he's got the growth potential to bring the WWE out of the "Dark Ages." Until next week, my name is Mark Adam Haggerty, and this has been "Highlight of the Night."