Stone Cold Steve Austin Hit Vince McMahon With a Stunner to Kick Off a Messy WWE Raw 25
Take a trip down memory lane.
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On Monday, the WWE celebrated the 25h anniversary of Raw, the biggest, wildest, dumbest show in all of wrestling, by returning to the building where it all began. But the Manhattan Center is no longer big enough to hold the WWE, so Monday’s Raw 25 celebration was a two-venue event, with Brooklyn’s Barclays Center also packed to the rafters with screaming fans.
The WWE has been hyping this night for months, and it began on a high note.
Appropriately, the McMahon family took the ring first, with Stephanie and Shane giving their father Vince a commemorative plaque. He hated it and as he snarled and snapped about his singular role in building the WWE, the sound of breaking glass overtook Barclays.
You know what that means. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was soon the ring listening to McMahon’s pleas for mercy. They were not answered.
Kicking off Raw 25 with “Stone Cold” delivering a stunner to McMahon was an acknowledgment of Austin’s star power. He owned the WWE during the attitude era and his rivalry with McMahon is one of the best in WWE history.
Austin wasn’t the only old-timer to make a comeback Monday. The Undertaker, who “retired” at Wrestlemania last year, made an appearance at the Manhattan Center. It’s hard to make sense of his little speech, but reports on Tuesday indicate that the Deadman is dead certain to be on the card at Wrestlemania 34.
An his opponent? John Cena, whose own appearance at Raw 25 came to an inglorious end thanks to Elias and a flimsy acoustic guitar.
The song of @IAmEliasWWE was just played…across the BACK of @JohnCena! #RAW25 pic.twitter.com/MsP8bmo3Sv
— WWE (@WWE) January 23, 2018
There were some matches sprinkled in between the reunions, but we were watching Raw 25 for the nostalgia, and the best bit, apart from Austin vs. McMahon, was the Degeneration X reunion that went down at Manhattan Center.
The crew, which once ran six deep, was without a mainstay after Chyna’s death in 2016. But the rest of the DX was there, including Shawn Michaels, Road Dogg, Billy Gunn and XPac. Everyone was a little flabbier and a little grayer than they were in the heyday, but hey, so are we.
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