WWE: The 5 Best Moments from International Raw and SmackDown Tapings

As I noted in my speculative preview about the Raw and SmackDown tapings that were held over the weekend in Mexico City, WWE TV shows held outside of the United States and Canada (which is really an extension of their regular U.S. tours even though it's another country) can often be pretty special.

The crowds will always be incredibly hot. Usually, there will be something done to cater to the market. It could be a native of the country (sometimes the city) being spotlighted in some form, wrestlers with experience in the country working a match in the local style, etc.

In addition, before last year, the Tribute To The Troops shows took place overseas at military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the shows were generally lame duck in terms of anything major happening, they have had some memorable matches and promos.

So, as we get ready for Raw tonight and SmackDown this Friday, here are the five best moments from WWE television broadcasts outside of the North America, as well as a couple bonus slides.

No. 5: Tajiri and William Regal Win the World Tag Team Championship

At the Oct. 11, 2004 edition of Raw in Manchester, England, William Regal and Eugene appeared to have won the World Tag Team Championship from La Resistance.  The crowd went completely insane, but the match was restarted when the referee was alerted to Regal's use of brass knuckles to get the pin. It was a bad idea to screw the crowd in that situation, and WWE was heavily criticized for it.

Four months later, on Feb. 4 in Saitama, Japan, Regal got another shot at La Resistance's titles, this time with Japanese native Tajiri as his partner. In front of another hot crowd, Regal's team decided to cheat to win again (Tajiri used his green mist), but the decision wasn't questioned, and the crowd went crazy as they celebrated and Tajiri addressed the crowd on the house microphone.

It was very, very satisfying after the questionable booking in Manchester.

No. 4: That's Not Santa Claus...

The Christmas In Baghdad edition of SmackDown (the show that evolved into Tribute to the Troops in 2005) that was taped on Dec. 20, 2003 and aired five days later featured a nice surprise for the troops in attendance and the fans at home.

After Vince McMahon's opening speech, Santa Claus came out to give gifts to the fans in attendance. Vince was angry that Santa didn't give him a gift, so he refused a handshake and then attacked Santa from behind.

As Vince gloated, Santa got up, dusted himself off and then removed his hat, wig, false beard and belly cushion. Under all that was the recently "fired" Steve Austin, and you can guess what happened next: Bird flipped, kick, WHAM, stunner.

Austin then cut his own motivational promo, and the show was off the to races.

No. 3: Vince McMahon Issues an Open Challenge for a Shot at I.C. Champ Umaga

Wrestling was red-hot in Italy in 2007, with WWE television doing huge ratings and independent promotion Nu Wrestling Evolution drawing big live crowds. To take advantage of this, WWE toured the country for a week in April of that year with a dozen shows in one week as part of a larger European tour.

Raw was taped in front of a ridiculously hot crowd in Milan on April 16 for broadcast several hours later in the United States. The show opened with Vince McMahon issuing an open challenge to face his henchman, Intercontinental Champion Umaga, for a shot at the title.

When no wrestlers accepted the challenge, McMahon turned his attention to the fans. He invited them to accept the challenge and picked out a fan who was sitting at ringside.

The fan, who couldn't really speak English, identified himself as Santino Marella. He made a solid showing to start the match, but got nailed with a cheap-shot by Umaga after Vince McMahon announced that he forgot to mention it was a no holds barred match.

Umaga proceeded to beat the heck out of Santino and went for the kill, heading to the top rope for his big splash. He was stopped by his rival at the time, ECW Champion Bobby Lashley.  Lashley slammed Umaga to the mat, nailed him with multiple chairshots and speared him before dragging Santino on top of him for the pin.

The crowd was very loud throughout and went nuts for the surprise upset finish.  After Raw, it was "revealed" on WWE.com that Santino had actually been attending a wrestling school in Italy, which explained his initial strong showing.

In America, fans eventually turned on Santino, as he wasn't much of a character and never had good matches. He re-invented himself as a comedy character and has done well in that role ever since.

Even though the Santino who we see now has pretty much erased his original persona, the unique angle and incredible crowd reaction made for a very memorable moment.

Honorable Mention: The Best Master Lock Challenge Ever

At the 2006 Tribute to the Troops, Chris Masters took offense to Santa Claus mingling at ringside and dared him to take the Master Lock challenge (escape Masters' "Master Lock" full nelson finishing hold). Masters appeared to maim Santa and easily won.

Masters then challenged one of the soldiers in attendance, and a young man named Jose Avila accepted. He was losing until Santa regained consciousness and took his outfit off, revealing John Bradshaw Layfield.

JBL entered the ring and literally kicked Masters' ass, causing him to break the hold. Officially, the first person to win the Master Lock Challenge was one Jose Avila.  Cue the celebration from a bunch of happy soldiers.

For what it's worth, a few months later, to solidify him as a top guy in his role as Donald Trump's representative at Wrestlemania 23, Bobby Lashley broke the Master Lock himself, the first and only wrestler to do so.

No. 2: John Cena and Shawn Michaels Have a Classic

At Wrestlemania 23 in 2007, John Cena retained the WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels in a great match that exceeded most people's expectations. Whether that or The Undertaker's World Heavyweight Championship win over Batista was the best match of the night was a toss up.

A few weeks later on April 23, they had a non-title rematch at a Raw taping at Earl's Court in London, England.  It was "officially" scheduled as the next to last announced match on the show with Randy Orton vs Edge following them, but that's not what happened.

Cena and Michaels went on to have another fantastic match that was one of the longest in Raw history. While history now remembers it as going about 55 minutes, it was closer to 40, just with commercial breaks padding the length.

Still, they had great chemistry, and it was one hell of a match, as good as or better than their Wrestlemania effort.  It's available on the Shawn Michaels Heartbreak and Triumph DVD.

Before I Reveal No. 1, Here's the Worst International Raw Ever

Billed as "Raw on Two Continents," the April 14, 1997 edition of Monday Night Raw was not only the worst international Raw ever, but one of the very worst episodes in the 18-plus year history of the show. While other episodes have been more actively bad, few, if any, have been as boring and dull.

The bulk of the show was taped five days earlier in Johannesburg, South Africa, with two matches taped a week earlier in Muncie, Ind. spliced in. Nothing of note happened, the matches were all pretty bad, and the South African footage had distractingly bad production values.

The match embedded here, Goldust (wearing leopard-themed face paint presumably because there are a lot of leopards in South Africa) vs The Sultan (an unmotivated Rikishi in the nadir of his career), was an embarrassingly dull affair that sums up the boredom induced by the show.

No. 1: European Championship Tournament Finals

Over the course of several days in Germany in February 1997, WWE held a tournament to crown the first European Champion. For the finals in Berlin at Deutchlandhalle, it came down to Tag Team Champions Owen Hart and "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith facing off to determine the champion.

Even though they were heels on TV, Davey was a huge fan favorite in Europe, and by association, Owen wasn't quite as hated as he was in the United States. With a hot crowd hanging onto their every move, they wrestled a straight scientific/mat-based match, the likes of which you'd never expect in what was technically a heel vs heel match.

While both wrestlers were incredibly talented, they didn't always bring their A-game in those days. In Berlin, they specifically went out to have a great match and blew the roof off the place.

They used moves they hadn't shown off in years during a series of arm bar reversals, with Owen doing his old bouncing flip off the top rope and Davey doing a British style spin escape. After 20 minutes of fantastic chain wrestling, Davey countered a victory roll to win the match and the title to a huge ovation from the German fans.

Monday Night Raw has had some great matches over the years, but there is a strong argument for this being the best match ever to air on the show.