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For the past 25 years, WWE RAW has been the home to so many iconic feuds. The longest running weekly episodic show has provided some of the best matches in wrestling history.
This week, RAW featured a stellar match between Seth Rollins and Finn Balor that has inspired me to write this article. Let's take a look at my picks for the Top 5 matches from the rich history of Monday Night RAW.
#5 Daniel Bryan vs Cesaro, July 23, 2013.
Two of the best wrestlers in the World going at it. What's not to love? This was my legit WWE dream match at the time because those two were my favorite wrestlers.
Daniel Bryan was chosen by John Cena to face him at WWE's second biggest event of the year, Summerslam. Bryan had a lot to prove to his fans and his detractors so Brad Maddox, the then General Manager of RAW booked him in a gauntlet match to see if Bryan had what it takes to hang in with John Cena.
The first bout saw Daniel Bryan beating Jack Swagger to advance to the second match where the Swiss Superman was ready to tear him apart.
The match started with submission holds being displayed until Cesaro suplexed Bryan and mounted him with punches and elbow drops. Bryan returned the favor and the slugfest continued till both guys started the European uppercut battle which was ultimately won by Cesaro.
The finish came when Cesaro attempted to land yet another devastating European Uppercut but the resilient Bryan countered it into a small package to overcome his hard-hitting nemesis.
#4 Bret Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid, July 1994.
Whenever a case about great matches that happened in the early days of Monday Night RAW is made, this match easily comes to people's mind.
The 1-2-3 Kid was known for a couple of iconic early moments in Raw history. The most memorable being the match in which he defeated Razor Ramon in a huge upset and earned the nickname of 1-2-3 kid. A year later he got an opportunity to dethrone the then WWF champion, Bret Hart. Although he lost the bout, the match was highly acclaimed and was contemplated as the best match in WWE RAW history up until that point.
It was also a stupendous way to put Bret Hart over as a fighting champion which made him more of a fan favorite.
Fact: This match is ranked by the WWE as the third-best match aired on the company's flagship program on its website.
#3 Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, May 2001.
A few months after the WrestleMania 17 event, bitter rivals in Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin formed a tag team known as Two Man Power Trip and eventually won the tag team gold.
Furthermore, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit also adjudicated their differences and became partners which set them on the collision course with the tag team champions on the May 21st episode of RAW.
The match was incredible due to the atmosphere provided by the crowd for the action being so intense. Both teams did anything and everything they could to secure the gold. Pinfalls, submissions, chair shots, sledgehammers. In the end, it was the team of Jericho and Benoit that secured the victory.
The finish came when Jericho tried to pin Austin, but Triple H got in the ring and tried to hit Jericho with the sledgehammer. Jericho avoided the blow and the sledgehammer instead hit Austin in the chest, a situation Jericho and Benoit took advantage of to win the match.
Fact: This was the same match, in which Triple H severely tore his quad mid-match causing him to miss nearly a year of action. Triple H being the tough man he is, however, completed the match.
#2 Shawn Michaels vs John Cena, April 2007.
Their WrestleMania 23 bout was won by John Cena, this was the rematch. One match just wasn’t enough for the Heart Break Kid, he knew he could beat Cena, but he never got the chance. Until this match.
The conclusion of the match saw HBK flipping out of the Attitude Adjustment and decking The Champ with the Sweet Chin Music for the win.The match lasted nearly an hour and is widely regarded as the best match of John Cena’s career by many. It was a tight slap to his haters, right in the middle of the "Cena can't wrestle" heyday, he busted this one out of nowhere.
Fun Fact: Chris Jericho has gone on camera saying that this was the match that prompted his return to the ring in 2007, after being gone for two years.
#1 CM Punk vs John Cena, February 2013.
The February 25 edition of Monday Night Raw featured CM Punk vs. John Cena in a #1 contenders matche for a shot against The Rock's WWE Title. While there was little question of what the outcome would be, few expected the two to deliver a performance that would be remembered for years to come. Both wrestlers were at the top of their game and created magic in the ring whenever they met.
The crowd was hot for the match to begin with. This was neither a gimmick match nor was there any kind of special stipulation set. It was just a regular old one-on-one wrestling match. The build was truly only a week old but everything fell together perfectly when these two were face to face in the ring.
The match started at a great pace right from the get-go with tremendous back and forth action. Each man busted out everything in his arsenal to put away the other guy but neither man was willing to give up. The desperation was so high that it led to John Cena busting out the sit-out Powerbomb, a move he had never used before which happens to be the finishing maneuver of Dave Batista and in response CM Punk busted out the piledriver which was banned by the WWE for safety reasons but none of those moves were able to get the job done.
As confident as Punk was after hitting the piledriver, John Cena kicked out leading to Punk showing great frustrations as he tried to cover Cena a few more times but to no avail.
The finishing sequence saw CM Punk missing the Flying Elbow off the top rope and Cena hitting a hurricanrana and the Attitude Adjustment for the win.
The fact that two guys basically in their primes got near 30 minutes to tear the house down helped the match. The fact that Cena and Punk have tremendous chemistry together also elevated this to exceptional heights. To truly get a sense of how good these two are together, check out their match for the WWE Championship at Money in the Bank pay per view in 2011.
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
