Ranking the 10 Best WWE Raw Moments in England

Since 2004, WWE has brought Monday Night Raw across the pond, treating their English audience to a night of exciting in-ring action and entertainment every spring and fall. And in turn, they've made the semi-annual experience an enjoyable one for those of us watching from home.

Each time Raw emanates from England, fans are almost always guaranteed an above-average show. From shocking title changes to magnificent matchups, the country has hosted some of the most memorable and monumental moments in the flagship show's history.

Few crowds in wrestling today are as rowdy and chaotic as English ones, making for an electric atmosphere whenever WWE holds Raw there. Furthermore, the fact that it doesn't air live never seems to take away from the excitement of the event.

With WWE overseas this week, this list will look at the top 10 most historic happenings to occur on Raw in England. Criteria for the following list will include the moment's lasting impact, shock value, aftermath, reception from fans and other factors.

10. Mickie James Unseats Beth Phoenix for the Women's Title (April 14, 2008)

In the summer of 2007, Beth Phoenix returned to action after sitting out for a year with an injury, wasting no time in embarking on a path of destruction. Within months of her re-debut on the main roster, she knocked off Candice Michelle at No Mercy to win her first Women's Championship.

For half a year, Phoenix reigned supreme over the Divas division, defending her title against all comers. From Maria to Candice Michelle to Kelly Kelly, she annihilated anyone and everyone who dared to step up and challenge her for the gold.

On the April 14 Raw in England, Mickie James was given one last shot at the title against Phoenix. To the surprise of many, she pulled out the victory for her third Women's Championship, ending the The Glamazon's reign at a whopping 190 days.

As great a moment as it was, the only thing preventing it from being higher on the list is that it wasn't as good as it could have been. Plus, it felt premature, especially since WWE could have saved it for the Backlash pay-per-view two weeks later.

Still, the reaction from the English audience on that night and the great commentary from Jim Ross made it feel like you had just witnessed something special. These are the moments when we long for the days of Ross at the announce table.

9. Naomi Spoils Paige's Homecoming (April 13, 2015)

For the better part of the last two months, WWE has made a conscious effort to prominently push women's wrestling as a top priority. They've taken small steps toward doing so of late by giving the Divas more match time and allowing stories and rivalries to develop more.

In the weeks since WrestleMania 31, Naomi has beaten Divas Champion Nikki Bella on multiple occasions, which would logically earn her a title shot. Despite that, a Battle Royal was held on the April 13 edition of Raw to determine a new No. 1 contender to the title.

With the show emanating from England, Paige entered the O2 Arena to a thunderous reaction. While the crowd was pulling for Paige to win, it seemed likely that Naomi would emerge victorious since she already holds two wins over the current champ.

When the smoke cleared, it was Paige who stood tall as the next challenger to the champion, much to the enjoyment of the audience. As she cut a passionate promo on how much her win meant to her, she was blindsided by Naomi, who was fuming over losing her rightful shot at the gold.

It's been quite some time since we've had a Divas angle on Raw that actually packed a punch, and Paige's triumph and Naomi's heel turn were genuine surprises and cool moments. The lasting impact has yet to be determined, but it might mean big things for the Divas from a storyline standpoint.

8. Jeff Hardy Regains the Intercontinental Championship (November 13, 2006)

Upon his return to WWE in August 2006, Jeff Hardy immediately set his sights on the title he once held: the Intercontinental Championship. However, then-champion Johnny Nitro, who had emerged as a singles star on the rise in Hardy's absence, wasn't going down without a fight.

After coming up short of winning the title on countless occasions, Hardy was finally successful in unseating Nitro as champion on the October 2 edition of Raw. Their feud was far from over, however, as Nitro would regain the gold a mere month later on November 6.

The very next week on Raw in England, Hardy invoked his rematch clause against Nitro. Once again, the two contested a highly competitive match, but it seemed unlikely that a title change would occur just one week after the belt was last switched.

Regardless, Hardy once again managed to do the impossible when he shockingly scored the win and his third Intercontinental Championship, setting the stage for a ladder match between the two on the subsequent Raw.

Interestingly enough, this also marked the first time the title had changed hands in England in over 14 years.

7. Eve Wins Her First Divas Championship (April 12, 2010)

There was a period in time when the Divas matches on Raw meant absolutely nothing, as did the title changes. From 2007 to 2010, there wasn't much going on with the women, who weren't given much TV time or storylines to work with.

At the start of 2010, the Divas Championship was vacated and put up for grabs in a tournament ultimately won by Maryse. She captured the title for the second time in her career in February, though she didn't defend it at all from that point forward.

Eve, who was a relatively fresh face in the Divas division, was just starting to break out on her own, winning the audience over with her girl-next-door looks and amazing abilities in the ring. Thus, it didn't take long for her to secure a shot at the strap.

On the April 12, 2010 edition of Raw from England, Eve was finally given her deserved championship match against Maryse. The bout was decent at best, and the reaction to the title change was lukewarm, but Eve's first singles title win became a major milestone in her illustrious career.

Not only was she the first WWE Diva Search winner to win a belt, but she went on to have one of the best runs of any woman in the last five years. Having accumulated three Divas title reigns by the end of her tenure in 2013, Eve had quite the career in WWE—which truly started at this moment.

6. Tea Time with Santino (November 8, 2010)

While this moment may seem out of place on this list, hear me out: It was easily one of the greatest segments to take place on Raw in all of 2010. And that's no joke.

Following his loss of the WWE Championship in September 2010, Sheamus floundered for the remainder of the year but at one point found himself in a fun but short-lived rivalry with Santino Marella. In one of the biggest upsets in the history of the flagship show, Santino beat the former world champion on the October 25 edition of Raw.

Two weeks later on Raw in England, Santino invited Sheamus to a "tea party" in an attempt to make amends. As silly a concept as it appeared to be on paper, it ended up being comedy gold.

Santino's humor can be hit-or-miss most weeks, but in poking fun at Sheamus' skin and hair color, he was genuinely funny for once. The Celtic Warrior should never be involved with comedic relief, but in this one instance, he was the perfect target of Santino's juvenile jokes.

The English crowd certainly got a kick out of it, and while it resulted in Sheamus' squashing the Milan Miracle shortly afterward, the moment was more memorable and enjoyable than it had any right to be.

5. William Regal Wins the Intercontinental Championship (November 10, 2008)

Needless to say, English natives are always given a hero's welcome every time Raw travels across the pond. William Regal, a seasoned veteran in this industry, was no exception.

Coming off the exceptional year Regal had as Raw General Manager and King of the Ring winner, the least he deserved was a consolation prize for his efforts throughout 2008. Thus, on the November 3 edition of Raw, he came out on top in a Battle Royal to become the new No. 1 contender to the Intercontinental Championship.

The very next week on Raw, Regal was granted his championship match in front of his fans in Manchester against Santino Marella, who had been in possession of the belt for three months. It was his goal to break the record of The Honky Tonk Man as the longest-reigning intercontinental champion of all time, but thanks to Regal, he wouldn't come close.

As soon as the bell rang, Regal went to work on Santino, wasting no time in beating him to a pulp. In a matter of a minute, he hit him with a trembling knee to the skull to score the three-count and his second intercontinental title.

The crowd roared as Regal celebrated his huge championship win, effectively putting an end to the "Honk-a-Meter" once and for all. The evil Englishman's post-match promo, in which he stated that it was an honor for him to win the strap in his home country, endeared him to the audience and capped off what was a great year in the career of William Regal.

4. Rated-RKO Capture the World Tag Team Championship (November 13, 2006)

Despite Raw being taped in advance in England, WWE isn't afraid to do a title change or two to send the message that anything can happen overseas, even if it isn't live.

That's been a common theme throughout this list, but no championship match made more of an impact than this one.

The Spirit Squad dominated the tag team scene for much of 2006, but it wasn't until October's Cyber Sunday event that they were finally unseated as champions by Ric Flair and Roddy Piper. Even at their age, the two WWE Hall of Famers showed they could still hang with the best of them in the ring.

Not taking too kindly to this, Randy Orton and Edge, who had recently joined forces as Rated-RKO, immediately challenged Flair and Piper to a championship match on the November 13, 2006 edition of Raw in England.

Looking for any advantage they could get. the dastardly duo didn't even give the champs a fair fight. They decimated Piper before the bout, leaving Flair to fend for himself in what turned into a Handicap match.

To his credit, Flair fought valiantly against the hungry team of Edge and Orton, but the numbers game proved to be too much for him. With one sickening spear, Edge covered The Nature Boy to win the World Tag Team Championship, solidifying Rated-RKO as one of the most threatening tandems WWE had seen in years.

3. The Undertaker Returns to the Ring on Raw (April 22, 2013)

Since retiring from active competition in 2010, The Undertaker had seldom been seen on the flagship show. Although he returned to TV every year during WrestleMania season, he never saw in-ring action on either Raw or SmackDown.

That changed in 2013.

One night removed from a stellar match against CM Punk at WrestleMania 29, The Undertaker paid tribute to the late, great Paul Bearer on Raw, only to be interrupted by The Shield. Before they could unleash their fury on The Deadman, Undertaker's brother Kane made the save along with Daniel Bryan.

It appeared to be nothing more than a one-off occurrence but actually set up a six-man tag team match for Raw in England two weeks later.

Three hours of Raw can be tough to sit through most weeks, but if fans are given a lengthy match as a result, the show can be worth watching. That was the case with this match, which ended up going close to 20 minutes.

In his first match on Raw in nearly three years, Undertaker was no worse for wear. He hung in there with the young up-and-comers, giving the undefeated trio a major rub in the process.

Although his team came up short against The Shield, it was still surreal to see The Brothers of Destruction (and Daniel Bryan, of course) team up one last time on Raw.

2. R-Truth Reaches His Breaking Point (April 18, 2011)

On the April 11, 2011 edition of Raw, a Gauntlet match was held to determine a new No. 1 contender to the WWE Championship. With the final match between John Cena and R-Truth ending in a draw, both guys were inserted into the title match at Extreme Rules.

The next week on Raw in England, Truth's friend John Morrison goaded the rapping Superstar into putting his title shot on the line in a match against him. Thinking he had it in the bag, Truth accepted the offer only to be beat by the former intercontinental champion.

Instead of congratulating his former partner on his big win or showing signs of regret over the mistake he made, Truth unleashed all his anger on Morrison by ruthlessly attacking him. As shocking as it was, it was also pretty refreshing considering how uncharacteristic it was of him.

If it wasn't already evident that Truth was joining the dark side, he lit a cigarette and smoked it at ringside, which was significant because it's an illegal activity in English arenas. It was completely unpredictable, proof that just about anything could happen on an overseas Raw.

And thus, R-Truth was reborn as a heel. He had the best run of his career that year, and it all started with this one moment.

1. John Cena and Shawn Michaels Go the Distance (April 23, 2007)

Although Raw had been traveling to England since October 2004, it wasn't until the April 23, 2007 edition that it became commonplace for WWE to do something special while there.

The show itself was forgettable at best but was headlined by arguably the greatest match in the history of the Monday night program.

Originally, Raw was supposed to see John Cena take on Shawn Michaels in the main event, while Edge battled Randy Orton, but because Orton was sent home from the European tour for misbehavior, the time their match would have received was given to Cena and Michaels, resulting in a nearly hour-long bout.

Only six days before they collided at Backlash in a Fatal 4-Way for the WWE Championship, the two icons held nothing back. With five commercial breaks spliced in, Cena and HBK basically wrestled five different matches in the span of an hour, each offering something different that saw the crowd on their feet the entire time.

With one match, Cena proved all the critics who claimed he couldn't wrestle wrong; he held his own against the very best in the business. No stranger to hour-long matches himself, Michaels never missed a step during his outing against The Champ.

As Raw came to a close, the rivals desperately tried to put the other away to no avail. After everything they put each other through, all it took was a Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere from HBK to score the clean pinfall victory.

To say this contest was better than their clash at WrestleMania 23 would be an understatement, as it easily superseded anything they were going to do at Backlash.

It was a match that truly revolutionized Raw—and what better place to host it than England?

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is a journalism major at Endicott College. Visit his website at Next Era Wrestling and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.

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