Raw After WrestleMania - The History
- Thomas Hall
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
We’re at the big time of the year. It’s officially WrestleMania season and by now we’re really running out of time before the big night. Er, nights. Yeah that still doesn’t sound right to me but that’s another story. WrestleMania is a unique entry in the sports world as it is pretty much the only event that serves both as a season finale with the season premiere taking place immediately after. That is what we’re going to be seeing the week after WrestleMania and that is what we are going to be taking a look at today.
WrestleMania is taking place on April 18 and 19, but that isn’t the end of the biggest week of the year. The night after WrestleMania is over, we have the biggest Monday Night Raw of the year. Over the years, that has become one of the most important shows that WWE presents on its entire calendar and there is a good chance that it is going to be the case again this year. If WWE can make that work, we could be in for one heck of a night in front of a rather enthusiastic crowd.
The First "Raw After WrestleMania" Moments
Let’s back up a bit first. The Raw After WrestleMania (Get it?) has been a thing for the better part of thirty years now, with the tradition arguably starting back in 1995. That was the year where Sid turned on Shawn Michaels, making Michaels a good guy for the first time in a long while. Granted it wasn’t much of a push as the fans had wanted to cheer for Michaels for a long time but it was still a heck of a moment.
That was the first of many such shows, with the night becoming a regular event of debuts, returns, major changes and surprises. 1998 featured the return of The 1-2-3 Kid, now known as X-Pac. 2001 saw the formation of the Two Man Power Trip (which featured three wrestlers). 2008 gave us Ric Flair’s retirement ceremony (I told a buddy of mine, who hadn’t seen the show, that it made me cry and he laughed. A few days later I got a text: “Ok you were right. I was bawling too.”) and then things got big.
"Raw After WrestleMania" Became Bigger Over The Years
Eventually we saw things like Brock Lesnar returning, Dolph Ziggler’s Money in the Bank cash-in and all kinds of NXT callups. Sometimes you would even get all kinds of major events on the same show, such as Paige debuting and The Shield turning face on the same night in 2014. It leaves you wondering what you might be seeing in any given year, which often has fans all the more tuned in. The show became such a big deal that WWE even released a DVD set of great moments from the show over the years.
It’s a rather smart idea when you think about it. The fans are going to be jazzed over WrestleMania and the crowd is all but guaranteed to be as hot as possible. WWE has a chance to come up with the best things and fresh ideas imaginable, including some some fresh characters. That can make for a heck of a night if everything goes wrong, but there are also times when it doesn’t work out so well.
Eventually the idea started to go downhill a bit, which might have been when WWE started oft the shows telling us that it was going to be one of the most unique shows of the year. As usual, the worst thing that can happen to a fan pushed concept it so have the company get behind it, which is what wound up happening. You could still see the big moments, but unfortunately the company was officially setting a standard and that meant the show had to live up to what the previous editions had done over the years. That was never going to work out, and that has become the case.
"Raw After WrestleMania" Is Different Nowadays But Still A Big Deal
Over the last few years, the show has slowed down a bit, with less in the way of major debuts or angles taking place. You would still see some of the things taking place, but instead the show has been featuring cameo appearances from the NXT Champions (makes sense as they are in town and can give a bit of a special moment) and maybe one or two twists. That doesn’t make for the most shocking situations, but it’s still good enough for what it has become.
That’s where WWE has its fans though, because they know that they have something special coming the night after the biggest event of the year. The momentum and interest are already there and WWE knows how to capitalize on the whole thing. That alone is enough to carry things, and if they can open up those creative minds of theirs one more time, it could work out again for the next version.
What Happened Last Year On Raw After WrestleMania 41?
What Will Happen This Year?
So that brings us to this year, as we have more than a few possibilities for what we might be seeing. While you have the obvious options like NXT callups (Jacy Jayne, Ethan Page and Sol Ruca should be locks) or a surprise debut (maybe someone from AAA or outside the WWE world), the bigger moments tend to be a storyline development. That’s what becomes the memorable times in the show’s history and it would be great to see it happen again in Las Vegas.
I won’t begin to pretend to guess at what is going to happen (as I tend to be an absolute disaster when it comes to fantasy booking) but I know that this show has me interested in what we might be seeing. It might not be quite the same thing as SmackDown has taken away some of the impact as everything is split in two, but there is something so special about the feeling of “what could happen?”.
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That’s what makes the show work out so well. At the end of the day, fans want to be surprised by what they see, as it opens up a world of options for what might come next. There are times when you can guess what you are going to see coming most of the time, but this show brings in a clean slate. It’s the kind of thing that only works one night a year (ok two as you have the Friday as well) and the fans know what they want.
That’s where this show tends to hook in its fans and as a result, WWE capitalizes on the concept. Granted it’s the kind of chicken or the egg thing (either the show is exciting so people watch or people watch and WWE makes it exciting, or both) but all that matters is it works. For a few years, this show was arguably the second biggest WWE event all year long and it would be nice to see it get back to that point. I’m not sure how they could pull it off, but the fact that it has so many fans, including me, wanting to see what WWE has in store is more than enough of a reason to try.
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