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Legend-Packed WWE Raw 25 Was Too Sweet! (An All-Nostalgia Recap) [Updated]
Monday Night Raw's 25th-anniversary celebration is in the books, and as expected, it opened up a can of… nostalgia on the asses of audience members at the Barclays Center and Manhattan Center and viewers watching at home. The only problem was all the current-day WWE wasting time between the nostalgia segments. As a sign in the front row during the opening of the show declared: WWE used to be cool!
Luckily, we've gone through WWE's Twitter and YouTube feeds to gather all the nostalgic clips featuring the Legends of years past and cut out all the filler. Welcome to Raw 25: The Nostalgia Edition!
[Tuesday Morning Update: We've updated the article with more videos WWE posted overnight, including more backstage interviews that didn't air on the broadcast.]
The show opened up with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon reprising their classic roles like it was 1998 again.
Backstage after the segment, Stone Cold gave an online interview to Mike Rome, and he wasn't pleased with Rome's interview skills…
While viewers during the Barclays Center segments were stuck with the regular Raw announce team, Manhattan Center segments treated viewers to the stylings of Jerry "The King" Lawler and Good Ol' Jim Ross, and Lawler even made a "puppies" reference after a women's tag match, prompting a disgusted look from JR.
Raw General Manager Kurt Angle had a visit from Jonathan Coachman, Harvey Whippleman, The Brooklyn Brawler, Brother Love, Teddy Long, and the Boogieman.
The Brawler, one of the greatest jobbers of all time, had some advice for Curt Hawkins.
The Undertaker made an appearance at the Manhattan Center.
And he told all his friends to enjoy retirement.
The APA set up shop in their old office, which has been unused backstage for all these years, and got to doing what they do best in segments throughout the night.
Which was joined by more superstars as the night went on, including Jeff Hardy and MVP!
Ric Flair is looking well and in good spirits after his health scare.
Even Christian was there for an episode of The Peep Show.
Matt Hardy was Woken in front of a giant ICOPRO banner.
Female Superstars of the past (and pregnant Superstars of the present) took the stage, including the Bella Twins, Jaqueline, Michelle McCool, Terri Runnels, Torrie Wilson, Lilian Garcia, and Kelly Kelly.
And headlined by Trish Stratus!
Trish was also interviewed backstage for an online exclusive.
Some past General Managers were there as well, including John Laurenitis, William Regal, Eric Bischoff, and current Smackdown General Manager Daniel Bryan.
Chris Jericho sang a song to Elias and put him on The List of Jericho.
Which led to Elias getting revenge later… on John Cena!
Backstage later, Chris Jericho added more people to The List:
Former Nation of Domination members The Godfather and Mark Henry were reunited.
What ain't easy, WWE? What?
The Dudley Boyz showed up to put Heath Slater through a table.
It was touching when D-Von went for the Wazzap, and Booker T was concerned for his safety.
While AJ Styles got to do his best Hulk Hogan impersonation with Mean Gene Okerlund.
And of course, the highlight of the evening was the reunion of Degeneration X, with Triple H and Shawn Michaels…
The New Age Outlaws…
And X-Pac.
It then turned into a Kliq reunion with Scott Hall joining the party in an amazing jacket.
The Balor Club came to the ring as well.
And they all exchanged a Too Sweet, the highlight of the entire night just as it was at Survivor Series.
You can watch most of it here:
The Revival hit the ring for a tag team match with Gallows and Anderson, who dispatched them quickly, giving everyone a chance to perform their finishers to the crowd's delight.
After the show went off the air, Triple H addressed the crowd:
Backstage, The Club reflected on the experience:
As did Triple H:
And everyone posed for photos:
Can this be Raw every week?