5 Great WWE Raw matches you should watch again

Monday Night Raw has been on the air for over 25 years. Not every episode of the show, let alone every match on it has been great, but there have been a number embedded in the long history of the show. Given the high volume of content, it can be easy to forget individual matches, especially if they weren’t a part of iconic angles or didn’t necessarily occur during the hottest eras of WWE programming.

It would be a herculean feat to collect every single great match in Raw history, but this article takes a look back at five forgotten gems fans may have forgotten. These matches range from an early classic between two veterans, to up and comers challenging the establishment, to an epic battle between tag team partners, to a surprise marathon match. These are bouts that stand the test of time and weather stand-alone viewing for those fans who want to take a trip back through time.

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#5 Mr. Perfect vs. Ric Flair

The last match of Ric Flair's first WWE campaign was one of his finest.

In 1993, Ric Flair had run his course for his first WWE tenure and was on his way back to WCW. On his way out the door, Mr. Perfect had returned to the ring with a face turn. All of this set the stage for an early episode of Monday Night Raw that saw these two collide in a match with the stipulation that the loser had to leave WWE.

In those days before the Internet, when fans might have predicted Perfect would win, but wouldn’t have known Flair was on his way out, there was some real drama attached to this match. What followed was a forgotten classic between two all-time greats. Because WWE mostly wanted fans to forget about Flair in the upon his return to WCW, and because Perfect didn’t go on to accomplish very much in this run, the legacy of this match is mostly forgotten. Nonetheless, it’s every bit as good as the names involved would lead you to believe.

#4 Bret Hart vs. The 1-2-3 Kid

Bret Hart and The 1-2-3 Kid staged a rare face vs. face classic.

In 1994, Bret Hart was in his second reign as WWE Champion and in a one-off match with little build, he put the title on the line against a fellow face, The 1-2-3 Kid.

This was a relatively rare case of Hart being the bigger man in a match, particularly in this era, and it was intriguing to see him work a no less technical, but more punishing style against her perennial underdog opponent. Kid, for his part, was game for the spotlight match and his typical great self from that era when it came to stealing neat falls.

WWE, and particularly Monday Night Raw is not known for great matches in this era, but this one is a true gem of an exhibition between two popular stars. It reinforced Hart’s position as the top dog of the day, and firmed up Kid’s status as a rising star.

#3 Owen Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith

The match between Davey Boy Smith and Owen Hart got the European Championship off to a great start.

WWE doesn't not have an extensive history of heel vs. heel matchups, and especially not in big match scenarios. However, when it came time to crown the first European Champion, The company was well served to cast heel partners in crime Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith against one another.

That the match happened in Germany set up the oddball dynamic that both men were received ostensibly as faces by the live crowd, and didn’t do anything overtly heelish. Nonetheless, there was an undercurrent of neither guy really playing the hero, but nonetheless working a largely technical, clean match.

Smith and Hart demonstrated chemistry to rival The British Bulldog and Owen’s brother Bret, as this downright great match immediately established the credibility of the new title. While the European Championship wouldn’t go on to have the most consistently prestigious lineage, and ultimately only lasted five and half years, this was nonetheless an auspicious start for it.

#2 Jeff Hardy vs. The Undertaker

Jeff Hardy was the perfect underdog foil for Big Evil.

In pretty much any era, it’s hard to accept Jeff Hardy as anything but an underdog if cast as an opponent to The Undertaker. In the summer of 2002, this was especially so, as Hardy had not yet won a world title or in any meaningful way broached main event status. But there the Charismatic Enigma was, challenging The Dead Man for the WWE Championship in one of the few contexts in which it seemed he could conceivably win—a Ladder Match.

This is an offbeat and tremendously fun match. It tells about the story one would expect, with Hardy the never say die face against The Undertaker at the peak of his heel biker run playing the merciless bully. The Phenom wins out, as you’d expect, but the journey to get there is pretty electric as the crowd buys in more and more that Hardy has a chance and the match is more competitive than anyone might have expected to go in.

#1 John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels

John Cena and Shawn Michaels staged an unexpected marathon classic.

The WrestleMania 23 main event outing between John Cena and Shawn Michaels was a perfectly respectable outing. Nonetheless, it left a lot of fans wanting more, given HBK’s ‘Mania legacy and the spotlight afforded to him here.

When the two staged a non-title rematch for an episode of Raw, pre-taped in the UK, the general expectation was we’d get a lite version of the match we had already seen. Instead, WWE treated us to a surprise nearly hour-long epic, which Michaels wound up winning cleanly. Despite a much-anticipated Edge vs. Randy Orton match being on the card the same night, this one went the distance and was easily the best free TV match from this era of WWE. It’s easy enough to forget it given there was no title change and it was more of a coda to the WrestleMania program between these two than something WWE meaningfully followed upon. Nonetheless, it’s a classic worth revisiting.