World Wrestling Entertainment’s flagship program, Monday Night Raw has been on television for nearly 30 years, and no show can be consistent for that long. That's especially true in wrestling, where rosters and the people running the show behind the scenes can change over time. As a result, some years of Raw have been incredible, must-watch television, while others have been well into the realm of “avoid at all costs.”
At times, Raw has been at its very best thanks to a combination of writing, wrestling, and atmosphere. In other cases, it has been a huge miss for a number of reasons that upset the viewing audience.
Updated on September 8th, 2021 by Kevin Pantoja: These days, wrestling fans have an abundance of options to watch. There are plenty of hours of WWE television along with AEW's weekly programming and companies like New Japan Pro Wrestling. That makes the struggles of Monday Night Raw more evident as fans can ignore it to see something they much prefer. It makes fans think back to when they didn't care much for the weekly show and also look into the past for when Raw was the best wrestling event they could watch. The times when it was unpredictable and exciting, as well as the unfortunate cases where it was a drag to watch.
14 Best: 2005
Most fans look at the Attitude Era for the high points of Raw, specifically since that's when the company was at its most popular and had its highest ratings. However, the Ruthless Aggression Era was another time where WWE was delivering the goods. 2005 was likely the high point there for a number of reasons.
There were legendary moments like John Cena's shocking debut during the Draft and Batista giving the thumbs down to Triple H, turning face against Evolution. You had countless good matches involving the talents from the WrestleMania 21 Money in the Bank match for most of the year as well. The only negative was really the Diva Search segments, which is a shame.
13 Worst: 2010
Although 2020 nearly made it onto this side of the list, it does have something of an excuse. The COVID-19 pandemic made it so a lot of shows had no live audience or took place in the Thunderdome at best, which made for a poor atmosphere. 2010 doesn't have that excuse and suffered from one of WWE's most poorly received ideas.
Raw would be hosted weekly by celebrity guests. Only a handful were good like Bob Barker but the majority missed the mark. Many of them had no idea about wrestling, mispronounced important words, and shoved themselves into matches where they didn't fit. The WWE Title also changed hands too often and even the exciting Nexus appearance went nowhere.
12 Best: 2001
A lot of fans have negative thoughts about the year 2001 in WWE. With the closing of WCW and ECW, WWE no longer had competition and then the Invasion angle was widely panned as being poorly booked. However, a closer look reveals that there was actually a lot of good on Monday nights in 2001.
The year got off to a phenomenal start with the build-up to WrestleMania X-Seven. Once the Invasion started, though many of the talents coming to WWE were mishandled, there were plenty of good to great matches that audiences got to enjoy on a weekly basis. In terms of match quality, 2001 was a great year for the company.
11 Worst: 2002
Unfortunately, 2001 was followed up a lackluster year for Raw. The build to WrestleMania X8 wasn't anywhere near as interesting as the prior year, with things like Chris Jericho vs. Triple H and the nWo's arrival all not working. Then, the brand split happened and things only got worse for the show.
Smackdown's 2002 is considered some of the best wrestling ever but Raw was nowhere on that level. Hulk Hogan's time as Undisputed Champion, the loss of Brock Lesnar, the Katie Vick storyline, and things like HLA were all aspects that caused Raw to have one of its worst years in history.
10 Best: 1997
The Attitude Era officially began in 1997, and as a result, the Monday Night Raws of the year were extremely good. 1997 gave fans the first-ever WWF Championship change on the show, the formation of D-Generation X, and plenty of Stone Cold Steve Austin hijinx including that time he chucked The Rock’s title belt in a river and his incredible feud with Bret Hart.
This year also featured a lot of Shawn Michaels drama, including the “lost my smile” promo and the fallout of the Montreal Screwjob. The USA vs. CANADA storyline carried things, which was exciting each week.
9 Worst: 1995
The very first year of Raw (1993) is not great as WWF was transitioning out of the Golden Era thanks to a steroid scandal that tarnished Hulk Hogan’s reputation, but at least it has that awesome match between Mr. Perfect vs. Ric Flair amidst constant jobber squashes. There was also a sense that anything could happen.
1995 is actually a much weaker year, with Diesel struggling to be the top guy holding WWF Champion and the introduction of dead-in-the-water gimmicks like Isaac Yankem, D.D.S., Jean-Pierre Lafitte, Mantaur, and so many other similar ones.
8 Best: 1998
With the Attitude Era in full swing, 1998 saw Monday Night Raw step up in a big way during the Monday Night Wars, as D-Generation X infamously “invaded” Monday Nitro this year and Steve Austin was crucified by the Undertaker on national television.
Speaking of Stone Cold, 1998 is the year fans most associate with the Attide Era, as so many iconic moments of the Austin/Vince McMahon feud happened on Raw in this span, including the hospital attack and the Zamboni attack. This was where WWE got so good that they passed Nitro in the ratings and set the tone for the rest of the future.
7 Worst: 2003
The Raw/SmackDown brand split happened in 2002, with SmackDown hitting a creative peak in 2002 and 2003. Meanwhile, 2003 era Raw was hitting one of its many nadirs thanks to what fans refer to as Triple H’s “reign of terror.”
It was at this time that Trips had the World Heavyweight title for most of the year and managed to beat pretty much everyone he competed with -- most infamously, Booker T. Scott Steiner's run with the company flopped, as did the first run of Goldberg.
6 Best: 2000
Many WWE fans consider the year 2000 to be one of WWE’s best years, even better than some of the other aforementioned Attitude Era years. By this point, WWE had Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, The Radicalz, The Dudleys, Edge and Christian, and more in addition to the other Attitude Era staples.
With Stone Cold gone for most of the year, The Rock was able to become the top babyface in the company while Triple H was becoming the top heel. At this time, WWE also had a former television writer behind most angles, as he was known for penning out long-term stories that were great, like the Kurt Angle/Stephanie McMahon/Triple H love triangle.
5 Worst: 2009
The year 2009 for Raw was rough, as WWE seemingly valued celebrity status over pro wrestling. As a result, there was minimal wrestling on the program but a weekly parade of celebrity guest hosts that drew criticism from many fans, which was a similar problem in 2010.
The most memorable stuff from 2009 is probably the increasingly embarrassing D-Generation X skits featuring Hornswoggle, but they’re not exactly memorable in a good way. It's likely that the true bright spot was Kofi Kingston's late push, though that stalled out.
4 Best: 2011
CM Punk’s infamous pipe-bomb promo happened on Raw in 2011 and is easily one of the most memorable things to happen on WWE television in the 2010s. It was surprising enough to catch the attention of mainstream media and blurred the lines of fiction enough to make wrestling fans think it was real.
Outside of CM Punk, 2011 also had Edge’s tragic retirement, The Rock returning, and the controversial defeat of Rey Mysterio Jr. at the hands of the selfish opportunist John Cena. Throw in a fun reign with The Miz as WWE Champion, R-Truth starting his wackiest run, and some quality performances from the women of WWE and you have a good year.
3 Worst: 2012
It’s easy to forget that Monday Night Raw wasn’t always a three-hour slog, as it was originally an hour-long before becoming a two-hour affair. In 2012, Raw officially expanded into three hours, and the show really suffered for it.
Lowlights in 2012 include the awkward AJ Lee/John Cena romance, WWE’s incessant promotion of the failed social media platform Tout, and Jerry Lawler’s real-life onscreen heart attack. Alas, there were highlights to make it better than the other "worst" years, including CM Punk's WWE Title reign, the Daniel Bryan/Punk/AJ Lee/Kane saga, and Brock Lesnar's return.
2 Best: 2014
2013 had some strong moments, with the formation of the Authority and their feud with the Rhodes Brothers, but Raw in 2014 saw the YES! Movement in full force as fan enthusiasm propelled Daniel Bryan to the top of the WrestleMania XXX card despite the company’s original plans.
This year not only had The Shield’s official face turn but also had their shocking breakup as Seth Rollins betrayed the trio. There was also Paige making her debut, Cesaro getting his first push, the Wyatt Family on the rise, and The Usos establishing themselves as a top tag team.
1 Worst: 2018
Monday Night Raw in 2018 was pretty dismal. Brock Lesnar was Universal Champion but barely on the show, WWE was trying too hard to make Ronda Rousey seem cool at everyone else’s expense, and there was way too much Constable Baron Corbin on television.
Highlights like Dean Ambrose’s upsetting heel turn devolved into him telling crowds how bad they smelled, and by the end of the year, Raw ended up scoring some of its lowest ratings of all time.