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10 Worst Moments In WWE Raw History

Writer Sophia Bowman

The year 1993 marked the premiere of Monday Night Raw, a new program that ended up becoming WWE’s flagship show, ballooning from one hour to three hours over the span of 30 years. Over those years, Raw has delivered iconic moments, major title changes, and shocking plot twists, not to mention hundreds of matches.

RELATED: The First 10 Episodes Of WWE Raw, Ranked Worst To Best

With three decades of pro wrestling television, it stands to reason that not everything can be great. In fact, Raw has been the platform for some of WWE’s worst moments ever, which range from offensive and sophomoric to simply wrongheaded. Let’s take a look at 10 of Raw’s lowest points.

10 Bayley, This Is Your Life (WWE Raw, 5/29/2017)

Bayley This Is Your Life

The year 1999 brought one of WWE’s funniest segments in “The Rock, This Is Your Life,” with Mankind hosting a parody of This Is Your Life. The segment gave WWE a ratings win in the Monday Night Wars, and the promotion has returned to the well several times over the years, with the arguable worst one being Alexa Bliss subjecting her rival Bayley to the same treatment. On top of being ridiculously long, the segment proved to be unfunny, awkward, and just a little cruel.

9 Fake Razor Ramon (WWE Raw, 9/23/1996)

Fake Razor Ramon

Speaking of the Monday Night Wars, one of the biggest early shots fired in the weekly competition between WWE and WCW was the latter signing Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, formerly known as Diesel and Razor Ramon in WWE. Of course, Hall and Nash weren’t allowed to bring their WWE-trademarked gimmicks with them to WCW, so WWE attempted to prove that it didn’t matter who portrayed the characters. This resulted in the audience-insulting debut of a fake Razor Ramon, which fans immediately rejected, with Fake Diesel showing up the following week.

8 Katie Vick (WWE Raw, 10/21/2002)

Triple H Katie Vick Cropped

While WWE spent the late 1990s and much of the 2000s entertaining fans with edgy subject matter, there were a few times that the promotion actually crossed the line. One of the most infamous was the “Katie Vick” storyline, where a feud between Triple H and Kane revealed Kane’s dark past with his deceased girlfriend, Katie Vick.

RELATED: 10 Times WWE Went Too Far In The 2000s

As part of this angle, Triple H played mind games with the monster by shooting a video of himself in a Kane costume being inappropriate with a mannequin in a casket (representing Vick’s body) in a funeral home. It’s one well-remembered by fans, but not in a good way.

7 John Cena vs. Michael Cole (WWE Raw, 6/4/2012)

John Cena vs Michael Cole Cropped

By 2012, evil authority figures were pretty well played out, with John Cena’s feud with authority figure John Laurinaitis being a great example of just how tired the trope had become. After Laurinaitis booked Cena to take on Tensai in a match the previous week, Cena’s victory earned him a No DQ match against whoever he wanted on the 6/4/2012 Raw. Rather than target any champion, Cena decided he wanted to fight Michael Cole, who at the time was working a heel gimmick. The result saw John Cena humiliate Cole on live television through such acts as ripping his clothes off and dousing the commentator with barbecue sauce — a weird look since WWE had a pretty prominent anti-bullying campaign.

6 The Roman Reigns Jack & The Beanstalk Promo (WWE Raw, 1/12/2015)

The Roman Reigns Jack & The Beanstalk Promo

These days, Roman Reigns is WWE’s top heel in the midst of a seemingly endless reign of terror, but in 2015 he was still a babyface that WWE was pushing way too hard as a cool hero. This resulted in loads of tightly scripted promos that showed off absolutely zero of Reigns’ strengths, including this promo on the January 12th episode of Raw. In cutting a promo on his rival The Big Show, Reigns turns their feud into a Jack & The Beanstalk metaphor not unlike John Cena’s equally cringeworthy Star Wars promo, rambling about “magic beans” and the like and further adding to the crowd’s hatred of the supposed good guy.

5 “Bark Like A Dog” (WWE Raw, 3/5/2001)

trish-stratus-bark-dog

It’s amazing that Trish Stratus stuck around and established a legacy as trailblazer in women’s wrestling considering how many demeaning acts she was subjected to during the Attitude Era. One of the worst was certainly this promo with Vince McMahon, who was in an on-screen relationship with Stratus at the time. In attempting to seek forgiveness from McMahon after a series of losses, the WWE boss forced Trish to strip her clothes off, crawl around on all fours, and “bark like a dog.” It’s easily one of the most uncomfortable segments WWE’s ever put together, regardless of era.

4 Bobby Lashley’s Sisters (WWE Raw, 5/21/2018)

Sami Zayn And Lashley's Sisters

After returning to WWE following a decade-long absence in 2018, Bobby Lashley soon got into a feud with Sami Zayn, with the younger star mocking the veteran for his military background as well as his family. It was an extremely low-effort feud to give Lashley a strong win over an easy heel, but resulted in one of Raw’s worst segments ever.

RELATED: Bobby Lashley's Sisters: How One WWE Raw Almost Ruined Lashley's WWE Career

In another attempt at comedy a la “Bayley, This Is Your Life,” Zayn introduced fans to three men in drag — including future AEW star Max Caster — claiming them to be Bobby Lashley’s sisters. Once again, the attempt at comedic mind games fell flat.

3 Vince McMahon Gives Jim Ross Colon Surgery (WWE Raw, 10/24/2005)

Vince McMahon Mocks Jim Ross' Surgery

During Jim Ross’ time in WWE, Vince McMahon loved to humiliate the iconic play-by-play commentator on television — including in JR’s absence. In 2005, Ross took time off to have colon surgery, so McMahon decided to devote a segment on Raw to making fun of Good Ol’ JR’s butt. Joined by a “Dr. Hiney,” Vince McMahon simulated Ross’ colon surgery in an operating room set by pulling various absurd props out of a fake butt. It wasn’t funny, but it was very representative of Vince McMahon’s well-known love for crude humor.

2 Mae Young Gives Birth To A Hand (WWE Raw, 2/28/2000)

Mae Young Gives Birth Cropped

Few “ladies’ man” gimmicks result in said ladies’ man pairing with an objectively hot person, and Mark Henry’s turn as “Sexual Chocolate” continued that trend, as he began to romance elderly women’s wrestling veteran Mae Young. The 76-year-old ended up getting pregnant (in kayfabe), resulting in one of WWE’s more absurd gags. Following her taking part in a match, Young began to go into labor backstage at the arena, resulting in the legend giving birth to a single full-sized hand covered in goo — but not before a whole lot of gross sound effects.

1 The Raw After WrestleMania 39 (WWE Raw, 4/3/2023)

Cody Rhodes at the Raw after WrestleMania 39

After Vince McMahon was forced to step away from WWE in June 2022, the promotion appeared to be in solid hands under the creative guidance of Triple H, who was running NXT in its peak years until 2021. Vince’s return in 2023 meant that he had a hand in creative again, with McMahon fully taking the reins for the Raw after WrestleMania 39. The result — which mostly lacked surprises or exciting matches save for Brock Lesnar attacking Cody Rhodes — was panned by many fans as the worst Raw ever. Over on Cagematch, the episode has a dismal 0.68 out of 10, which is lower than some of WWE’s Saudi Arabia shows and slightly higher than the episode of game show era NXT that had no matches.