Full Career Retrospective and Greatest Moments for Raven

To try summing up the career of Scott Levy in a single article would be a mistake of epic proportions.

A veteran of the mat wars for nearly three decades, he got his start in the dying days of the territories, working in Memphis, Oregon, Texas and the critically acclaimed Smoky Mountain Wrestling before gaining national recognition in Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling as Scotty Flamingo.

There, he would clash with the likes of Johnny B. Badd, Brad Armstrong and the late, great Brian Pillman. Along the way, he captured the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship in 1992, establishing himself as one of the more intriguing young talents in the industry. As was the case with many of the wrestlers working for the company in that era, however, arguments with then-booker Bill Watts led to his departure from the promotion.

He would find a home in Vince McMahon's WWE as Johnny Polo, an overbearing yet quick-witted intellectual who guided Jacques and Pierre, known collectively as the Quebecers, to three WWE Tag Team Championships. 

During that time, he would also showcase his verbal skills as a commentator and his mind for wrestling as a booker. Despite his success, he left the company in 1994.

From there, he would make a move that changed his career forever. 

Arriving in the small, independent promotion operated by Paul Heyman out of a former bingo hall in Philadelphia, he would undergo a drastic change. Gone was the smile and the annoying personality. The bright clothes were replaced with cutoff jean shorts and black T-shirts. He became a loner who had been disenfranchised by the world.

Raven was unleashed on the wrestling world, and Extreme Championship Wrestling would never be the same again.

These are some of his greatest matches and moments.

Note: Some videos contain language, violence or suggestive themes NSFW.

The Tommy Dreamer Saga

Raven made his ECW debut as a former childhood friend of Tommy Dreamer's. The complete opposite of the pretty rich boy from Yonkers, Raven was grunge personified. He dressed like a Seattle rocker, had such a nonchalant attitude and was seemingly angry at the world around him.

While the feud was a intensifying nicely on its own, the introduction of Beulah McGillicutty made it that much more personal and, as a result, entertaining. The beautiful young woman, as it turned out, was once the fat girl at summer camp whom Dreamer would not give the time of day. Back for revenge, she aligned herself with Raven and spent months getting involved in matches between the two.

Every time Raven and Dreamer clashed, there was a boatload of interference from the likes of lackey Stevie Richards, the Blue Meanie and other outside forces. As a result, Dreamer went years without ever defeating the enigmatic wrestler, something that constantly ate away at him.

That all changed on June 6, 1997, when Dreamer defeated his longtime rival in a Loser Leaves ECW match. 

The Raven-Dreamer feud helped bring recognition to ECW. Already a hot indy promotion, the company benefited exponentially from a program that was intense and personal as theirs was. It was an easy-to-follow story with intriguing developments each month and exciting action.

It was very much a Moby Dick story, with Dreamer functioning as Ahab and Raven being the whale, making it one of Paul Heyman, Raven and Dreamer's greatest creative accomplishments.

Tormenting The Sandman

The Raven character had a way of playing mind games with anyone who opposed him, breaking down even the strongest of wrestlers and manipulating them in ways few could have imagined. That was the case when he began targeting The Sandman.

Raven brainwashed the cane-wielding, beer-drinking hardcore icon's wife, Lori, and son, Tyler, turning them against him and taking away the only thing Sandman cared about outside the squared circle. For the first time in his career, the fan favorite broke down and cried, openly weeping about being betrayed by his family.

It was an emotional program, different from the feud with Tommy Dreamer in that it showed the depths to which Raven would sink in order to fulfill his destiny and see his plans come to fruition. Using Tyler to get at his father, Raven consistently had the mental edge over his opponent, and thus, he had an advantage before the bell even rang for their matches.

Eventually, Tyler rejoined his father, but Raven still got the best of Sandman, crucifying him on a cross in what many consider the most controversial angle in ECW history. The entire ordeal got heat from the boys in the back, the crowd in the ECW Arena and special guest Kurt Angle, who threatened Heyman with legal action if his likeness was used on the same show during that segment.

The Dog Collar Match

Raven was part of some of the most revolutionary angles in the long and illustrious history of professional wrestling while part of ECW, and he cut some of the greatest promos the sport had seen. But it was the Dog Collar match pitting he and Stevie Richards against the Pitbulls on September 16, 1995 that ranks as his greatest achievement and arguably ECW's first, and only, five-star classic.

Not only was the storytelling superb, the match tied together feuds from up and down the roster in a single match, leading to some of the highest tension and hottest drama the promotion had ever seen. It was a perfect example of overbooking done the right way. It benefited the entire ordeal rather than bogging it down, and a lot of that had to do with the quality wrestling minds involved.

Raven was an incredibly smart performer, and with the aforementioned Paul Heyman overseeing the booking, the match excelled. Other promotions, including WCW and TNA, have fallen victim to overbooking because they did not (or do not) necessarily know when to and when not to utilize it to their advantage.

A great match and an even better example of storytelling at its finest.

WCW

When Eric Bischoff began throwing money around and acquiring the brightest and best talent from around the world in the mid-1990s, it was only a matter of time before he set his sights on ECW and its top stars. Like any sane individual would have done, Raven jumped at the opportunity to set himself up financially for years to come by signing on the dotted line and debuting with the company in June 1997.

From the get-go, it was clear that the brain trust in WCW did not have the understanding of the Raven character or what made it work so well in the first place. He was a featured midcard act for the majority of his time there, but one could not help but be disappointed by the watered-down nature of the character.

That is not to say he was not part of some great matches and moments.

There was the rivalry with Chris Benoit, which resulted in a classic match at Souled Out in January 1998. From there, Diamond Dallas Page was added to the equation, and a three-way rivalry over the United States Championship ensued. Raven would win that title before dropping it to Bill Goldberg in a historic Nitro match.

Raven's Flock, a stable full of jobbers and afterthoughts, became a key component of Nitro and Thunder and allowed young star Billy Kidman to break out.

It was Raven's partnership with Perry Saturn that led to the most consistently great work of his WCW run. Throughout the spring and summer of 1999, the duo was in the mix for the tag titles, working with the likes of the Jersey Triad (Page, Chris Kanyon and Bam Bam Bigelow) and Benoit and Dean Malenko in some extraordinary matches.

In particular, the Spring Stampede 1999 match against Benoit and Malenko ranks as one of the last truly great tag team matches produced by the company.

After two years of frustration, Raven walked out during a talent meeting that same year and was granted his release. It was the end of a run that had seen so much potential go unrecognized because of those in power not fully understanding the quality performer they had on their hands.

There's No Place Like Home, Right?

Raven returned to ECW in 1999 and immediately reignited his rivalry with Tommy Dreamer, though this time as a tag team partner.

On his first night back with the promotion, he slid into the ring, planted Bubba Ray Dudley with the DDT and won the ECW Tag Team Championships for he and his hated rival. Eventually, the team disintegrated and the feud raged on, but for a moment in time, the duo managed to work together to reign atop the tag division.

Unfortunately, creative differences between Raven and Heyman allowed the wrestler to find employment elsewhere, this time in WWE.

WWE

Like WCW, WWE had no idea what it had on its hands with Raven. Rather than booking him strong, allowing him to build on his reputation and run as a top-level star, WWE buried him in the midcard, booking him in the company's hardcore division.

To his credit, Raven helped rejuvenate the WWE Hardcore Championship, bringing some legitimacy back to it after it had been traded back and forth as part of the stupid 24/7 rule, but it still was a gigantic waste of the man's considerable talent, even if he did have a stellar match against Rhyno at Backlash 2001.

When the WCW-ECW Invasion ran wild in the summer and fall of 2001, Raven got lost in the shuffle, a punching bag for WWE Superstars to deal punishment to on second-rate shows like Sunday Night Heat, Jakked and Metal.

It was on Heat that he began showing off more of his potential. He booked himself in a storyline in which he used the seven deadly sins against his opponents. It was an intriguing angle, but the fact that it was wasted on Heat meant that very few knew it was going on, including management.

In 2003, Raven wrestled his last match for the company against Jeff Hardy.

TNA

The creative freedom in the early days of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling meant that Raven could be himself again, and he did so with tremendous success.

His rivalry with Jeff Jarrett led to the first must-see match in the promotion's history, a battle for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in the April 30, 2003 pay-per-view presentation. It was a much-anticipated bout and one that had fans tuning in to see the former ECW star knock off Jarrett and capture TNA's most coveted title. 

But that did not happen. Jarrett retained, and critics immediately took TNA to task for not properly paying off the story.

Raven would star for the company for years, competing in violent and brutal Clockwork Orange House of Fun and Monster's Ball matches, all the while rediscovering the passion he once had for the industry.

In June 2005, he won the King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary to become NWA champion and start a run atop the company that would see him feud with the likes of Abyss and Rhyno over the title.

His reign would come to an end in September at the hands of Jarrett, and Raven would never again experience the type of exposure he did that year, despite continuing to work for the company until 2008.

It was Raven's last major run on a national level and one that proved just how special a performer he was when motivated. An incredible wrestling mind, there will always be a place for him in the wrestling world, and the business is much better off for having him around.