My Two Favorite Moments in 25 Years of Monday Night Raw (Part 1)

So in honor of Raw celebrating 25 years, I figured I would look back at my favorite moment in its history. Unfortunately, there were so many moments that came to mind and choosing just one would almost be a crime to so many other moments. But there were two segments that came to mind when I considered this and I thought I would post a couple articles that would detail these two favorites along with why they were so meaningful to me.

I will be the first to admit that I am not, not was ever really the biggest John Cena fan in the world. Did I hate the man? Absolutely not. Did I ever call him my favorite at some point? I don't even recall that. But I will not deny that there were so many times that his promos and matches made me feel inspired. And on the flip side, there were also so many times that his promos and matches had me cringing. So many of his promos can be forgettable and so many can be pretty basic, almost as if they were even recycled every week. But there was certainly one promo that he cut that I will always remember, one promo that always stands out as not only my favorite moment in John Cena's career, but one of my two favorite moments in the history of Raw. Before you roll your eyes at me or comment how ridiculous I am sounding, give this a quick read...

The date was November 24, 2008, just a day after Survivor Series was held in John Cena's hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. Episode #809 for anyone keeping score. Monday Night Raw was live and emanating from Providence, Rhode Island. The main story behind this episode was who would be Cena's next challenger for his coveted World Heavyweight Championship. A triple threat match saw Chris Jericho beat out both Batista and Randy Orton to score another crack at the gold. But that wasn't the main event of the night. The main event was a segment that saw Chris Jericho come out to once again put down the audience and John Cena before declaring that by the end of 2008, nothing will have changed because he was ready to recapture the World Heavyweight Championship.

Jericho's long rant continued until John Cena appeared with the audience and began putting over the audience before making his way to the ring to meet Jericho. If there is ever a promo for anyone to remember Cena by when his career is all said and done, this is the one. Can we quickly remember what the fall of 2008 meant in the real world? It meant struggle, it meant doubt and at times, it meant not knowing where the next paycheck would come from. The country was stuck in a recession, the worst of its kind since The Great Depression. But for us professional wrestling fans, one thing that always stood still was tuning in every Monday night to watch our favorite wrestlers not only entertain us, but also take us away from reality. Those two hours represented putting aside any real-life problems we had to focus on something positive. Whether it be spent by ourselves, with our friends or with our families, whatever problem that anyone was facing would have to wait until the show was over.

So what made Cena's promo so special here? It wasn't the basic "never give up" or "anything is possible" speech we have become so accustomed to hearing. Cena went on to discuss how we doesn't even remember how many championships he has won or lost. He went on to talk about how the WWE is only as powerful as its audience. Corny? Sure, but this was something everybody in this time frame needed to hear because it certainly offered a glimmer of hope in such bleak times.

What else did it represent? Well, get ready to hate me even more for this one. But he talked about the different types of people who were apart of the audience. You got kids, you got women and you got men. So what does that mean? It means that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the WWE becoming a PG program. There is nothing wrong with being able to sit down with your family and being able to enjoy the show together. It also means that professional wrestling has no prejudices and has no discrimination against any race or gender. No pun intended, but professional wrestling is universal and without having each other, we have nothing.

While it is more than possible that I took more out of this segment than probably anyone else on the planet, I definitely will always stand by what I just wrote. This wasn't just a prototypical promo we get from Cena, it was one that sounded and felt as genuine as you could imagine. I highly doubt many of you reading this will even remember this moment but without sounding like an advertisement for the WWE, it is convenient more so now than ever to relive it on The Network.

"And I know that every time that we come to an arena... These good people, these good families spend their hard-earned money so they can stand up and cheer... So they can boo, so they can get rowdy, so they can stand up and make some noise."

It's a moment that is an odd pick to be one of someone's favorite moments, but I will always hold this special to my heart.

- Ray