Top 5: Requested Raw 25th Anniversary Returns

One thing we know for sure about the Raw 25th anniversary special on January 22 is that plenty of legends will return for the occasion. Whenever WWE has an anniversary you can count on that. We already know that Undertaker, Shawn Michaels & Kevin Nash will return, along with Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler, and we can probably expect the usual suspects for these events as well.

Mick Foley could be one of them. Even if he got fired last year, firings are temporary events for the Hardcore Legend. He’s been fired as many times in storyline as Marty Jannetty was in real life. He was asked recently who he would like to see return for Raw’s 25th anniversary, and his idea was one you might not think of…

Al Snow.

I’d forgotten that Al had been out of WWE for so long, but indeed it’s been more than ten years since the Snow Man appeared on WWE television. Raw’s 15th anniversary show was the last time Al Snow was on TV before being wished well in his future endeavors. Snow is still quite active in the business, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind being on the show if asked.

This got me to thinking of who some of the more random people to invite back for Raw’s 25th anniversary. For the purpose of novelty, I’m not bringing back anybody that’s appeared on Raw since the show’s 15th anniversary show on December 10, 2007. Here are the top 5 random people I’d like to see make a comeback for Raw’s 25th anniversary…

5. T.L. Hopper

Some of you might not have been lucky enough to be around during the glorious run of the WWF’s favorite plumber. Here’s some of what you missed!

Mid-90s episodes of Raw featured a ton of characters that had day jobs & were WWF Superstars during their time off. Tony Anthony, better known as The Dirty White Boy during most of his South-based wrestling career, actually did have a day job as a plumber. He knew the material and was certainly convincing as a plumber. The problem: who wants to see a plumber wrestle? Is a plumber going to main event WrestleMania? Not if that’s the entirety of his character.

Still, wouldn’t it be funny to see T.L. Hopper pop up backstage cleaning a toilet or something?

4. Ken Shamrock returns to Raw

I still consider Shamrock one of the all-time MMA legends, no matter how many years he stuck around after he should have retired. He was one of the people that popularized the UFC in the early years and his run with the WWF only served to increase the visibility of that sport.

His WWF run seems pretty under-appreciated as well. Dude won the Intercontinental Championship, co-held the Tag Team Championship with the Big Boss Man, and was 1998 King of the Ring. He also introduced the WWF to the ankle lock, a move that Kurt Angle used to win & defend several championships.

Certainly Raw’s General Manager would be willing to welcome back the man that created his finishing move, wouldn’t he?

3. Stacy Keibler

Let’s be honest: Stacy wouldn’t rank as one of WWE’s top women of all time. Her win-loss record in the ring wasn’t great, and she didn’t show a great amount of improvement at the craft as her career developed. Nobody she managed saw a great deal of success due to her acumen. She left WWE in 2006 to pursue an acting career…and the main accomplishment of all of that was that she dated George Clooney for two years.

So why do we still remember Stacy today, and would love to see her at Raw’s 25th anniversary?

You see, in the 2000s that was enough.

2. Jeff Jarrett

Here’s something that’d turn heads. Jarrett hasn’t been seen on Raw since October 1999, when he left for WCW & countless world championship reigns. He wasn’t part of the WCW crew that the WWF signed, so he took his ball & created his own company. Then when his company didn’t want him anymore, he created another company. Then he came back to his company & left again and eventually would up in rehab.

Which WWE paid for. Figure that one out.

Jarrett exited rehab recently and was last seen wrestling Jerry Lawler at a Memphis Grizzlies game. What if his next appearance was for the company that paid for his rehab? It’d definitely generate some headlines, that’s for sure.

1. Rob Bartlett

I’ve never really understood the thought process behind making Bartlett part of the original Monday Night Raw announce team in 1993. OK, there was a thought process.

-Bartlett was big on Imus in the Morning, and for whatever reason, Vince was big on New York radio personalities. Todd Pettengil also got hired by the WWF from New York radio right around this time. If Peter Rosenberg came along twenty years earlier, he’d be on one of the announce teams instead of working the pre-shows.

-They wanted somebody other than Bobby Heenan so they could run an angle with Heenan not being able to get in the building.

-Vince was in this weird phase where he wanted commentary to be stand-up comedy. I noticed this while re-watching the 1993 & 1994 Raws on the Network. There were weeks where he’d spend an entire match running through current events & trying to get Randy Savage to react. I guess it was supposed to make the show different or edgy or something. Bartlett, theoretically, would have been good at that.

It didn’t work because Bartlett didn’t know anything about wrestling & his idea of comedy didn’t get over with the fans. He lasted three months. The one episode I remember him being entertaining on was one where he spent the whole show imitating Vince McMahon. Heenan & Gorilla Monsoon were there in place of Savage & McMahon, and Bartlett was so bizarre that he got Heenan & Monsoon agreeing fairly often for one of the few times in recorded history.

I just want him on Raw because it seems like the least likely thing to happen other than people returning from the dead.