ECW Original and 2x ECW World Heavyweight Champion Raven returned to the ring on Sunday night, to help fellow ECW alum (and his most heated ECW rival) Tommy Dreamer to defeat the team of Impact’s Eli Drake and former WCW Superstar Disco Inferno at Future Stars Wrestling (FSW) in Las Vegas at FSW Mecca II.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgNHk3Sg0fe/
I always said @theraveneffect was evil
He can levitate pic.twitter.com/bUUntJ9CQG— Tommy Dreamer (@THETOMMYDREAMER) March 12, 2018
Raven went into semi-retirement in 2012, working only six matches in 2013 and two in 2014, before taking all of 2015 off. He made four appearances in 2016 and only worked once last year, teaming with former WWE Superstar Pierre Carl Ouellette (whom Raven managed in the WWE as Johnny Polo to WWF Tag Team Champions as The Quebecers) at an Xtreme Zone Wrestling (XZW) show in Quebec, Canada last October.
Raven started out in CWA in the late 80s, before joining WCW in 1992 as Scotty Flamingo, where he defeated Brian Pillman for the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship (the forerunner to WCW’s Cruiserweight title). He lasted only a year with WCW before heading to the WWF, where he was repackaged as Johnny Polo. He was transitioned to a managerial role, where he guided the Quebecers to WWF Tag Team gold. After a year with the WWF, he headed to ECW in 1995, where he begun his most successful and enduring character, the morose and twisted genius Raven. In his first run, he had one of ECW’s most iconic rivalries, against Tommy Dreamer, and captured the ECW World Heavyweight Championship and ECW World Tag Team Championship (with Stevie Richards) on two occasions.
In the summer of 1997, Raven headed to WCW with his entourage, Raven’s Flock, where he spent the next three years, winning the WCW United States title, as well as winning WCW World Tag Team gold with Perry Saturn. Following a feud with another former ECW Original, Sandman (known as Hak in WCW), he left WCW in 1999 and returned to ECW for another stint before returning the WWE in 2000, this time as his Raven character. While his second WWE stint wasn’t entirely memorable in comparison, he did become one of WWE’s most decorate champions of all time, when he became a 27x WWE Hardcore Champion during his run from 2000 through 2003.
Following his departure from the WWE in 2003, he headed to TNA Impact Wrestling, where he worked until 2010. In June of 2005, Raven won a King of the Mountain match against Abyss, AJ Styles, Monty Brown and Sean Waltman (X-Pac) to become the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Raven rarely chased titles with much fervor in TNA, but definitely caused his fair share of chaos.
While there’s no indication that Raven has returned to the ring full time, there’s always a chance he rejoins Dreamer in House of Hardcore some time this year, even if he’s just continuing his recent routine of a handful of appearances a year. He also hosts his own podcast, The Raven Effect, on the Chris Jericho Network.
