Monday Night Raw has been WWE's flagship show for nearly 30 years. It's become a staple of American cable television. During Raw's time on the air, fans have been witness to some of the greatest and most memorable moments in wrestling history. During the late 90s in particular, Raw was must-watch television.
Despite its astronomical highs, Raw has also experienced its fair share of lows throughout the years. Some instances were simply the result of bad luck. However, there have been many other times where Raw's misfortune was its own doing. Poor booking comes with the territory in pro wrestling, but some of Monday Night Raw's worst booking decisions are hard to excuse.
10 Lashley & Lana
Unfortunately, ill-fated love angles are as common on Monday Night Raw as a headlock. Furthermore, Lana is no stranger to horrible romantic storylines. In 2015, Lana, Rusev, Summer Rae, and Dolph Ziggler were all involved in a poorly planned, convoluted love angle. Many fans thought WWE had learned their lesson after that.
However, in 2019, WWE creative decided to give it another shot. This time Bobby Lashley and eventually, Liv Morgan, would get thrown into the mix along with Rusev and Lana. The results were notoriously bad. Luckily, the stink of such a horrible storyline didn't stick with Lashley for too long.
9 Kane's One Day Reign
It's fair to say that heading into his WWE Championship match against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at King Of The Ring 1998, Kane was at his peak as a monster.
Taking advantage of the First Blood stipulation, Kane would defeat Austin to win the WWE Championship less than a year after debuting. Inexplicably, Kane would be booked to drop the title back to Austin the following night on Raw. It's completely understandable for WWE to want its biggest championship on its biggest star. Although, they could've easily booked Kane to drop the title back to Austin at the next pay-per-view. Sadly, Kane would never win the WWE Championship again.
8 The Higher Power Revealed
The biggest let-down for an audience is getting emotionally invested in a particular storyline only for the payoff to be a disappointment. That was the case during the infamous Higher Power angle. In 1999, The Undertaker embraced his dark side and shifted his character into The Lord Of Darkness.
This led to the Higher Power storyline in which Undertaker claimed he was being given direction by a higher power. After a great build-up, Vince McMahon was revealed as The Higher Power. Most fans were disappointed and a bit confused. In reality, McMahon as The Higher Power was an audible. Christopher Daniels was originally booked to be The Higher Power but McMahon changed his mind. There's no telling what might've been, had WWE stuck to their original plan.
7 Rey Mysterio's Under Two Hour Reign
At this time, Rey Mysterio was generally viewed as one of the best in-ring performers on the planet, but too small to ever be World Champion in any promotion. Luckily, Mysterio proved his skeptics wrong multiple times.
Unfortunately, Mysterio's last run as World Champion didn't last very long. On the 7/25/2011 edition of Monday Night Raw, Mysterio defeated The Miz to win the vacant WWE Championship. He would grant John Cena a title match later that same night and lose the WWE Championship. Mysterio being a transitional champion is understandable, but he could've at least held the title longer than an hour and 46 minutes.
6 Heel Michael Cole
Michael Cole has been with WWE since the 90s. During The Attitude Era, Cole became a familiar voice on commentary. Eventually, Cole would become the lead play-by-play announcer for SmackDown. Alongside the likes of Tazz and John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Cole became synonymous with SmackDown's commentary team. Shockingly, in 2008, Cole and lead Raw announcer, Jim Ross were swapped as a part of the WWE Draft.
In 2010, WWE creative got the whacky idea to turn Cole heel. He began heavily favoring The Miz and siding with other heel wrestlers. As a heel, Cole was a disaster. Inexplicably, the heel turn lasted until 2012 when Jerry Lawler's on-air heart attack put an end to all the silliness.
5 The Kiss My Ass Club
Over the years, the lines between Vince McMahon the person and Vince McMahon the performer have been heavily blurred. So much so that many fans truly believe that McMahon is the character they see on TV in real life. If that were indeed the case, McMahon would have a lot of enemies coming after him.
Throughout Monday Night Raw's history, McMahon has committed some truly heinous acts. Perhaps his most egregious booking was the infamous "Kiss My Ass Club." Regrettably, WWE creative thought it would be funny to have certain performers kiss McMahon's rear live on television. In hindsight, that was a terrible booking idea the likes of which we'll thankfully never see again.
4 Mae Young Gives Birth
Mae Young is regarded as a pioneer in women's wrestling. She helped break down a lot of barriers that led to the advancement of women in a male-dominated sport. Unfortunately, Young is also remembered by a lot more fans as a raunchy comedy act from The Attitude Era. To be fair, The Attitude Era as a whole, pushed the envelope on what was acceptable.
However, almost all of Young's angles during the era are cringe-worthy. Perhaps the most questionable of Young's bookings was her involvement with Mark Henry. As if a geriatric woman wrestler engaging in a sexual relationship with a former U.S. Olympian didn't push the envelope, WWE upped the ante by having Young get pregnant. The angle was supposed to be comedic and it was received that way at the time. However, the angle certainly hasn't aged well.
3 Anonymous Raw General Manager
In 2010, after firing Bret Hart, Mr. McMahon appointed a new Raw General Manager who would remain anonymous. The new GM would communicate via a laptop sitting at ringside.
This continued until July of 2011 when Triple H became the new on-screen COO of WWE. The Anonymous Raw GM storyline would go unresolved until 2012 when it was revealed that Hornswoggle had been the Anonymous GM all along. An underwhelming payoff to an extremely annoying angle, to say the least.
2 Triple H & Katie Vick
2002 was a weird time in WWE. The company was beginning the difficult transition away from The Attitude Era and towards Ruthless Aggression. However, there were a few growing pains. Specifically, when it came to pushing the envelope creatively. In 2002, Triple H entered a brief feud with Kane.
To gain the advantage, "The Cerebral Assassin" decided to bring up a demon from Kane's past, Katie Vick. Long story short, Vick was Kane's girlfriend who died in a drunk driving incident that Kane was responsible for. Where WWE took a hard left turn was when it booked Triple H to re-enact sexual acts with a mannequin representing Katie Vick. It's hard to imagine that segment getting over in an era of wrestling.
1 Brawl For All
WWE is no stranger to bad ideas. However, in 1998, Vince Russo pitched perhaps the worst creative idea in wrestling history. He suggested that WWE take some of its underutilized talents and put them in a shoot fighting tournament. The idea might've looked good on paper but it didn't play out well.
The objective of any wrestling storyline is to tell a story and get someone over. The Brawl For All was designed with the idea of getting "Dr. Death" Steve Williams over, but instead it ended his career and jeopardized many more. In the end, Bart Gunn would win the tournament and get knocked out cold by Butterbean at WrestleMania XV, cementing the whole Brawl For All idea as a disaster.