WWE Monday Night RAW 25th anniversary: Ranking the 25 biggest stars

As Monday Night RAW gets set to celebrate its 25th anniversary, here’s a look at the 25 biggest stars of WWE’s flagship program.

Since its inception on Jan. 11, 1993, Monday Night RAW has been the flagship program of WWE and is easily the most successful program in professional wrestling history. Over the course of 25 years, two networks (USA and TNN/Spike … well, three if you count that one night on TNT when WWE took over WCW), more than 200 arenas in more than 170 cities in 11 countries, one Monday Night War and nearly 1,300 episodes, Monday Night RAW has showcased hundreds upon hundreds of professional wrestlers, promoters, celebrities, political figures and others while bringing in millions of viewers each and every week.

Starting at one hour, moving to two after a while and now broadcast for three hours every single Monday night, RAW has seen most of the biggest names in wrestling history appear on the show in one capacity or another. So at 25 years, how exactly does one come up with the 25 biggest stars in the history of Monday Night RAW? I can tell you with absolute certainty that this may be the most difficult list I’ve ever had to put together.

As with every list that any of us wrestling writers put together, there may be the slightest amount of bias (some do it more than others) but I honestly try to be as objective as humanly possible. In this case, I looked at the biggest stars I could think of, took personal preference out and broke it down in a number of different ways. How big of an impact did a particular superstar have on the business as a whole? Did he or she spend too much time on SmackDown when that came around or when the brand splits happened? Longevity had to come into play.

For instance, take a big name like Hulk Hogan. Sure, he was around a little before he went to WCW and gave us some big moments when he returned to WWE in 2002, including that amazing segment with The Rock in Chicago. However, he just didn’t have enough to make the top 25. Neither did names like Goldberg, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Booker T, Owen Hart, The British Bulldog or Jeff Jarrett. I also had to exclude a lot of big-name tag teams like The Dudley Boyz and The New Age Outlaws. Were they important to the business? Absolutely. But are they on this list? No.

It’s not that I didn’t want to include multiple names in one entry because I will admit that I did that a few times here so you actually are getting a bit more than the top 25. However, there’s good reason for each of those and you’ll understand once you get there. What you also won’t find on here is some of the newer superstars. Do I think that in five years when I put together a list for the 30th anniversary that names like Charlotte Flair or Braun Strowman will be on it. Yes, I do. But for now, they’re just going to have to wait their turn.

Lastly, as much as I really wanted to put one or two on this list, I just couldn’t bring myself to add announcers, unless you count the owner (who has to be on here, by the way). The team of Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler, who will reunite to call the anniversary show, were obviously a MAJOR part of why Monday nights are what they are but I just couldn’t pull the trigger. Sue me.

There are obviously going to be some entries (or the order of them) on this list that you agree with and certainly ones that you don’t. But while some don’t like to stir the pot, I want you to argue with me a little bit. Tell me who you think deserved a spot or who you think deserved to be higher than someone else. Or just tell me that the list is perfect and you wouldn’t change a thing. Highly unlikely, I know, but stranger things have happened.

Either way, I hope you enjoy the list as I had a great time putting it together. So without further ado, let’s take a look at the 25 biggest stars in Monday Night RAW history.