Very rarely do you get to say that you witnessed an event that fundamentally changed the wrestling landscape. The rise of Hulkamania, Austin’s 3:16 promo, CM Punk’s ‘pipebomb’ – these moments are as indelible as they are uncommon.
And yet, without getting too far ahead of ourselves, that may quite possibly be how we look back at All In in a couple of years. As an event that, with a nod and a wink to the past, shaped the future of professional wrestling.
Whatever your personal feelings about the overall match quality that was delivered on Saturday night (and it wasn’t without its hiccups), it’s safe to say that the world took notice. Cody and the Young Bucks threw down the gauntlet and dared the industry’s big boys to take up the challenge.
So you had to know that WWE would respond. With it being the Labor Day episode of Raw and the final show before the start of Monday Night Football, this was sure to be memorable. Vince and Co. would use every trick in the book. They would pull out all the stops, bring out the big guns. They would call on… the Bellas?? Shawn Michaels, Triple H and The Undertaker?
The former weren’t particularly good before their three-year retirement, and feel hopelessly out of place next to today’s standout cast of female wrestlers. And the latter are three current or future Hall of Famers with a combined age of 155… the same age as Jerry Lynn, Raven and Tommy Dreamer.
This is precisely why #HBK @ShawnMichaels will have a LOT to say on #RAW tonight… pic.twitter.com/GMKu0AOIco
— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) September 3, 2018
Without turning this into an indictment of Raw, those moments alone serve to highlight the subtle difference in philosophy between All In and WWE. One acknowledged the importance of history while blazing a path into the future – the other tries to convince us that the only way forward is by travelling back into the past.
You’re probably tired of my rambling, and to tell you the truth, so am I. And Raw was a lot more than simple nostalgic returns this week. So I’m going to turn over to our excellent WrestleTalk team, to give you the rundown of what happened. As part of our regular Roundtable discussion, we gathered the views of four of our writers, who each selected their one favourite and one worst moment from last night’s episode. We share our thoughts with you and you, in turn, leave your opinions with us. It’s a wonderful symbiosis.
Let’s get to it!
