Captain McKay
Main Eventer
WF 15+ Year Member But all out of badges so this is not one
Joined on: Jul 13, 2002 14:19:45 GMT -5
Posts: 4,993
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Post by Captain McKay on Aug 9, 2013 14:26:32 GMT -5
I've always liked Raven's promos, and his wrestling style was always entertaining to me, whether he was doing hardcore stuff or standard in-ring stuff. The guy could talk with the best of them, some of his promo work was great IMO.
What are some of your favorite promos and/or matches? I'll get the ball started -
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RollinsFan44
Main Eventer
12 UK Classifieds Refs.
Joined on: Feb 27, 2013 13:05:53 GMT -5
Posts: 4,160
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Post by RollinsFan44 on Aug 9, 2013 14:28:15 GMT -5
A bit off topic, but some times he comes over to wrestling schools in the UK and helps out with young talent.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2013 14:32:18 GMT -5
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dante123
Main Eventer
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Posts: 2,420
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Post by dante123 on Aug 9, 2013 14:44:34 GMT -5
Genius and a Legend
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2013 14:44:51 GMT -5
Anything ECW. His stuff in WCW cannot compare and he was just utterly useless in the WWE. Oh the things he could have done.
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Captain McKay
Main Eventer
WF 15+ Year Member But all out of badges so this is not one
Joined on: Jul 13, 2002 14:19:45 GMT -5
Posts: 4,993
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Post by Captain McKay on Aug 9, 2013 14:50:40 GMT -5
That Spring Stampede match against DDP was good, no doubt. His ECW promo work was great, I've gotta check out some more of that.
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Revy
Superstar
Joined on: Oct 12, 2011 22:31:15 GMT -5
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Post by Revy on Aug 9, 2013 15:40:06 GMT -5
I enjoyed him in ECW and WCW, WWF ruined the character. I thought the flock was pretty cool for him, especially how he abused Stevie. I was excited when he debuted in WWF but quickly realized they were going to use him as a joke.
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Post by cordless2016 on Aug 9, 2013 21:17:27 GMT -5
Great in ECW and WCW missed a huge opportunity to push him to the main event in 98/99. He never ad a shot in the WWF because Vince is too stupid to understand the character. I'm still pissed how WCW basically did nothing w/ him after he put over Goldberg. Raven had just won the US Title not long before that and they should have built up the Goldberg/Raven feud more before finally having their big fight on PPV. Goldberg could have still ran thought him like every other opponent so it doesn't hurt Raven much. Then continue to push Raven in the midcard where he wins the US Title back after Goldberg gives it up and continue that push into '99 where he starts feuding w/ bigger names.
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Post by snatch on Aug 9, 2013 21:54:48 GMT -5
Could of been huge in WWE if booked right. Butttt they droped the ball on Raven.. never more
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mrassbillygunn
Main Eventer
WF 10+ Year Member
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Post by mrassbillygunn on Aug 9, 2013 22:02:54 GMT -5
I cant remember which shoot interview it was (maybe stevie richards) but another wrestler told a funny story about how Raven would always torture Vince to the point of taking liberties and knocking on his office and giving him ideas and creative input constantly for his character, Vince got so tired of it he got one of his agents to tell him if he knocks on the door one more time hes fired or something to that effect lol. I can just imagine Vince saying get that lunatic the hell away from me lol. Maybe someone else has seen this shoot interview im talking about and can expand on it.
When i seen his on the road dvd he did across as a pain in the ass, constantly talking and never shutting up, fast forward to where they are all in the room getting ready for the match and going over everything you'll know what im talking about, the guys were just looking at him the whole time like when is this guy ever going to shut up lol.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2013 22:41:36 GMT -5
His match against Dreamer at WrestlePalooza 1997 is still one of my favorite matches ever. His stuff in ECW was great as everyone knows and even his first year in WCW was pretty good. In WWF he had a few good matches (Backlash 2001 against Rhyno comes to mind.) And in TNA until he lost the NWA Championship he was great. His matches were always great and he always seemed to be in the main event somehow.
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Post by punksnotdead on Aug 9, 2013 23:24:54 GMT -5
Yeah, WCW had Raven to the point where they could have elevated him at any time over 1998 imo. His Spring Stampede match with DDP was awesome and that entire feud was incredible. Uncensored 98 was right around that same time so throw the triple threat with DDP and Benoit in there as well. The Slamboree 1998 cage match vs DDP is my favorite match between the two and easily in my top 5 favorite WCW matches ever. Just incredible. Raven and DDP had tons of chemistry together. Halloween Havoc 1998 vs Chris Jericho. Great promo work, awesome match. My two favorite guys at that time just being awesome. Raven vs Goldberg for the US Title on 4/20/98. Raven makes Goldberg look like a million bucks. (Total bullish*t though. They could have built towards Goldberg vs Raven for at least 2 months and they didn't. It wasn't about helping Raven though.) Raven vs Saturn at Fall Brawl. I think this is proof that Raven really got the Flock over and Saturn in particular. Slamboree 1999 match when he won the tag titles with Saturn is just a really fun tag match and I think it had an awesome Raven highlight finish. I loved all those tag teams. Uncensored 1999 triple threat vs Bam Bam & Hak (Sandman) If we are talking ECW, you have to check out his match with Terry Gordy. It's awesome, and so cool to watch. Ditto on his match vs Dr. Death. Raven & Dreamer vs The Dudleys 8/26/99 I went absolutely bat sh*t crazy for this moment. I was a massive Raven fan and for him to come back and help Dreamer, well, I'll remember it forever as a fan. Raven & Stevie vs The Pitbulls in the 2 out of 3 falls dog collar match Raven vs Dreamer at Wrestlepalooza 1997 Raven & Dreamer vs The Impact Players at Guilty as Charged 2000 In WWE, Raven vs Rhyno from Backlash 2001 is my favorite Raven WWE match. Probably the best match in Hardcore Title history imo. Then there is the Mania 17 match and his match with Regal from Invasion. In TNA i'd go: Raven vs JJ NWA Title match from Weekly PPV #42. Spectacular in every way, except that Raven should have won... Raven vs AJ Styles NWA Title match from Weekly PPV #92 (Arguably one of Raven's best pure wrestling matches ever. I was there live in the second row and I love this match so much.) Raven vs Rhino Unbreakable 2005 In ROH you have the dog collar match with CM Punk at DBD. I could probably go on and on. I loved Raven the most in WCW personally. His promo work and vignettes were really polished, and the character was at its peak in terms of mass appeal. I personally think WCW had every opportunity to make him a star. Raven could have worked incredibly well against Austin and I've said countless times he should have been the leader of the alliance, but he was never anywhere near that in WWE. WCW gave him enough time that he was a top guy in the midcard, so it would have taken very little effort had he ever been given a shot at the top imo. Just very disappointing. I think the stuff Raven did in WCW exploring his past and essentially making himself look like a hypocrite as this tortured rich boy when he was doing that stuff with Kanyon was great too. As far as TNA, I think Jeff Jarrett really dropped the ball. Raven was in the best shape of his career in 2003 when he was feuding with Jarrett, arguably the most important feud in the companies history. Raven was a star in that promotion jumping over from WWE and being established in ECW and WCW. The audience hated JJ, and they had been begging to see Raven beat him. So Jarrett did the obvious thing and didn't put him over. THEN, when Raven finally did go over, Jarrett took the title back from him just before the first BFG. This is the story of why Jeff Jarrett can go himself. Raven will always be one of my favorite wrestlers ever. I do think he was too much of a niche character for a lot of people. He wasn't given a ton of opportunity, but I think the reason ECW was the only place he got a real shot to be the guy was because Heyman was the only guy who got the character, since it was so modern and WWE and certainly WCW weren't there yet. When you don't have someone who gets it, and let's be honest, it was far more layers deep than just about every other character on the show, you're bound to not get used correctly. I personally think WCW inadvertently got him over. They were just letting him do whatever he wanted, similar to Jericho. So imagine what he could have been had he actually gotten pushed to go along with the promos and antics. Again, just a shame imo.
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TheXtremisT
Main Eventer
10 Year Member
This is the way
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Posts: 3,875
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Post by TheXtremisT on Aug 10, 2013 4:54:16 GMT -5
Raven will go down as one of my all-time favorites. He simply was captivating, and I was totally behind him after watching TNA for the first time, then it allowed me to appreciate his work beforehand. Totally underused and spit on in WWF, still really pisses me off to this day that he could have been at least Intercontinental champ. Even in my figure fed he became World Heavyweight champion back in the day. Good memories.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2013 5:22:21 GMT -5
I always liked him.
Actually...he was most successful in WCW which is weird to think. I know he was a big deal in ECW but they didn't have near the global popularity of WCW.
Shame his WWF run sucked. I actually remember him as Johnny Polo too.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2013 11:46:42 GMT -5
To me he'll always just be the manager of the Quebeckers.
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Post by cordless2016 on Aug 11, 2013 10:44:09 GMT -5
To be fair Raven had just come off his WWE run where he was portrayed like crap. Jarrett was the far more credible name of the two at the time and he was trying to build a fan base. It wouldn't have looked good have a WWE jobber as their world champ in 2003. Raven needed to be built up over time as a legit top contender and TNA did a good job of that. In 2005 Raven was ready for the world title while in 2003 he wasn't. Though I do agree that Jarrett taking the title back right before BFG was crap. Raven should have defeated Jarrett for the title (not AJ) and held the title through the event and then put the title back on Jarrett to go into the Jarrett/Christian feud.
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Post by Scott! on Aug 12, 2013 13:17:26 GMT -5
Who doesn't love this match?
And his WWF theme, god I loved that.
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Post by kazoosandstreamers on Aug 12, 2013 15:29:40 GMT -5
Top 10 of all time material for sure. That's all I have to say.
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koreygunz
Main Eventer
Elite Trader
287 Refs in WFClassifieds and counting
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Post by koreygunz on Aug 12, 2013 19:43:49 GMT -5
I was always a fan of Raven. He was grossly misued in WWE, but WCW really dropped the ball with him too. He was one of the most interesting wrestlers they had as the leader of the Flock and had been built up really well in his feuds with DDP and Benoit. He got the US title, was fed to Goldberg, and then nothing. I thought he actually could have had a legit feud with Goldberg over the title (Goldberg has to go thru the Flock to get to Raven), dropped it to him in the same fashion, and not lost so much momentum. Ill never understand why he was dropped out of the picture so quick after being made to look so great in his pursuit of the US title.
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Captain McKay
Main Eventer
WF 15+ Year Member But all out of badges so this is not one
Joined on: Jul 13, 2002 14:19:45 GMT -5
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Post by Captain McKay on Aug 12, 2013 20:56:51 GMT -5
Who doesn't love this match? And his WWF theme, god I loved that. I just watched that the other day. Great stuff. Glad to see Raven getting some love here. I've always liked his work, even in the aimless WWE angles he was involved with. I never saw much of him in TNA, but I might have to check out some of those matches. The WCW matches posted above are excellent as well.
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