WWE Raw, also known as Monday Night Raw or simply Raw, is an American professional wrestlingtelevision program produced by WWE. It airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on USA Network. The show features characters from the Rawbrand, to which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform. The show debuted on January 11, 1993 and is considered to be one of two flagship shows, along with Friday Night SmackDown.[4]
In September 2000, Raw moved from the USA Network to TNN,[5] which rebranded to Spike TV in August 2003. On October 3, 2005, Raw returned to the USA Network, where it remains to this day. The WWE Network has ceased operations in the United States as of April 5, 2021, with all content being moved to Peacock, which currently has most Raw episodes, excluding content that was censored or removed by Peacock's standards and practices department.[6] Recent episodes are still available for on-demand viewing 30 days after the original air date.[7]
Since its first episode, Raw has been broadcast live from 208 different arenas, 171 cities and towns, and ten different nations: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Afghanistan in 2005, Iraq in 2006 and 2007, South Africa,[8] Germany,[9] Japan,[10] Italy,[11] and Mexico.[12]
The first Raw logo used in the New Generation Era from January 11, 1993 to March 3, 1997
Beginning as WWF's Monday Night Raw, the program first aired on January 11, 1993 on the USA Network as a replacement for Prime Time Wrestling, which aired on the network for eight years. The original Raw was sixty minutes in length and broke new ground in televised professional wrestling. Traditionally, wrestling shows were pre-taped on sound stages with small audiences or at large arena shows. The Raw formula was considerably different from the pre-taped weekend shows that aired at the time such as Superstars and Wrestling Challenge. Instead of matches taped weeks in advance with studio voice overs and taped discussion, Raw was a show shot and aired to a live audience, with angles and matches playing out as they happened.
Raw originated from the Grand Ballroom at the Manhattan Center, a small New York City theater, and aired live each week. The combination of an intimate venue and live action proved to be a successful improvement. However, the weekly live schedule proved to be a financial drain on the WWF. From spring 1993 until spring 1997, Raw would tape several week's worth of episodes after a live episode had aired. The WWF taped several weeks worth of Raw from the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York in April 1993, and again in June and October. The first episode produced outside of New York was taped in Bushkill, Pennsylvania in November 1993 and Raw left the Manhattan Center permanently as the show would be taken on the road throughout the United States and had in smaller venues.
On September 4, 1995, the WWF's chief competitor World Championship Wrestling began airing its new wrestling show, Monday Nitro, live each week on TNT, which marked the start of the Monday Night Wars.[13]Raw and Nitro went head-to-head for the first time on September 11, 1995. At the start of the ratings war in 1995 through to mid-1996, Raw and Nitro exchanged victories over each other in a closely contested rivalry. Beginning in mid-1996, however, due to the nWoangle, Nitro started a ratings win-streak that lasted for 84 consecutive weeks, ending on April 13, 1998.[13] On February 3, 1997, Raw went to a two-hour format,[13] to compete with the extra hour on Nitro (which had been expanded to two hours in the summer of 1996), and by March 10, it was renamed to Raw Is War. It was also during the time Raw would be aired live more often. After WrestleMania XIV in March 1998, the WWF regained the lead in the Monday Night Wars with its new "WWF Attitude" brand. The April 13, 1998 episode of Raw Is War, which was headlined by a match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon, marked the first time that WCW had lost the head-to-head Monday night ratings battle in the 84 weeks since 1996.[14]
On June 28, 2000, Viacom won the landmark deal with the WWF to move all of its WWF programs stemming from the lawsuit action against WWF from USA Network.[15] The new television contract and the subsequent purchase of competitor WCW led to many changes in WWF's programming content. Raw Is War premiered on TNN on September 25, 2000.
WCW's sharp decline in revenue and ratings led to AOL Time Warner selling selected assets such as the WCW name, tapes, and contracts to the WWF in March 2001 for $3 million.[16] The final episode of Nitro, which aired on March 26, 2001, began with Vince McMahon making a short statement about his recent purchase of WCW and ended with a simulcast with Raw on TNN and Nitro on TNT including an appearance by Vince's son Shane.[17] The younger McMahon interrupted his father's gloating over the WCW purchase to explain that Shane was the one who actually owned WCW, setting up what became the WWF's "Invasion" storyline. Following the purchase of WCW and the September 11 attacks, the program was retitled as Raw on October 1, 2001, permanently retiring the Raw Is War moniker in prelude to the upcoming United States invasion of Afghanistan.
In March 2002, as a result of the overabundance of talent left over from the Invasion storyline, WWF instituted a process known as the "brand extension", under which Raw and SmackDown! would be treated as two distinct divisions, each with their own rosters and championships.[18] Shortly thereafter, the WWF was legally required to change the name of the company to World Wrestling Entertainment.
On March 10, 2005, Viacom and WWE decided not to go on with the agreement with Spike TV, effectively ending Raw and other WWE programs' tenure on the network when their deal expired in September 2005. On April 4, 2005, WWE announced a three-year deal with NBCUniversal to bring Raw back to its former home, the USA Network, with two yearly specials on NBC and a Spanish Raw on Telemundo.[19] On the same week as Raw's return to the USA Network, Spike TV scheduled Ultimate Fighting Championship's live Ultimate Fight Night in Raw's old timeslot in an attempt to go head-to-head with Raw.[20]
Since the move to USA Network, Raw has been pre-empted during the U.S. Open, which aired on USA, resulting the program to be moved to SciFi, a sister channel to USA, for three years. Since 2016, the two-hour version of that week's Raw has aired on Syfy. In February 2022, Raw temporarily moved to Syfy for two episodes due to USA's coverage (as part of NBC Sports) of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
On the August 29, 2011 episode of Raw, it was announced that performers from Raw and SmackDown were no longer exclusive to their respective brand, thus effectively dissolving the brand extension.[21] On July 23, 2012, Raw aired its 1,000th episode, which also began its permanent three-hour format.[22][23] On January 14, 2013, Raw celebrated its 20th year on the air.[24] On May 25, 2016, WWE reintroduced the brand split, and a new set with red ring ropes, a brand new stage, used at SummerSlam. Furthermore, the broadcast table was moved to the entrance ramp similar to how it was in 2002–2005.[citation needed] On January 22, 2018, WWE celebrated the 25th anniversary of Raw with a simulcast show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the home of the first Monday Night Raw, the Manhattan Center.[25] On the February 19 episode of Raw, six days before Elimination Chamber, seven participants of the men's Elimination Chamber match, Braun Strowman, Elias, Finn Bálor, John Cena, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and The Miz, were involved in a Gauntlet match that began with Reigns and Rollins. Strowman won the Gauntlet match by pinning The Miz in what was the longest match in WWE history, lasting nearly two hours.[26]
From March 12, 2020 to August 18, 2020, WWE announced that all of its live programs would air from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Floridawithout an audience until further notice beginning with the following day's episode of SmackDown due to the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in the suspension of many professional sports leagues. On the May 25 episode of Raw, NXT trainees were added into live crowds at the Performance Center.[27] In August, all programming was moved to the new, state-of-the-art WWE ThunderDome inside of the Amway Center in Orlando. On May 21, 2021, WWE announced that they will return in front of live fans with a 25 city tour,[28] therefore the July 12, 2021 edition of Raw would be the final WWE ThunderDome show.[29]
The USA Network version of the Raw modern TitanTron set that was used from October 3, 2005 to January 14, 2008
Raw's original set featured red, white, and blue ring-ropes, a blue ring-apron, blue steps, and a small stage made of neon light tubes. In 1995, the entrance way was changed to feature "Raw" in giant letters. Beginning on March 10, 1997, broadcasts of Raw were split into two hour-long blocks, each given its own name for television ratings purposes. The first hour was referred to as Raw Is War, and the second became known as War Zone. These changes were reflected in television listings and, beginning with the June 9, 1997 episode, by the show's on-screen graphics. War Zone initially opened with a repeat of the Raw intro, punctuated with the War Zone logo. On November 24, 1997, the hour received its own distinct opening video, a remixed version of the typical Raw opening.
In 1997, the WWF changed the color of the ring-ropes to red and began printing Raw Is War along the ring in reference to their rivalry with WCW. The stages was updated to feature a 70-foot tall large screen video wall known as the "TitanTron", which consisted of a projection screen with several metal stage trusses and a video projector. The set also initially featured curtains on each side with truss beams and lighting later bearing the "WWF Attitude" banner on the sides. By 1999, the WWF placed a "WWF.com: 'Download This!'" logo on the bottom of the TitanTron and added two vertical sides on the stage.
Raw moved to TNN from USA beginning with the September 25, 2000 episode. The TNN network logo was added atop the TitanTron on the December 11, 2000 episode. Chyron graphics were added to the bottom beginning with the July 2, 2001 episode.
Beginning October 1, 2001, in direct response to the September 11 attacks, the first hour was referred to as Raw instead of Raw Is War, and the second hour was rebranded from the War Zone to the Raw Zone within the show's on-screen graphics. The Monday Night Wars had ended months earlier with the WWF's purchase of the competing WCW brand. Monday Nitro, which had once gone head-to-head with Raw, aired its final show in March. WWF announcers began generally referring to the entire two-hour block as Raw on-air. Raw updated to a new, industrial-inspired, parallelogram-shaped TitanTron in 2002. Ring apron lettering that had once born Raw Is War slogan was replaced with an advertisement for the WWF website. Around this time, black ring-ropes were occasionally used. Like the previous set, the TNN logo was relocated to the bottom side of the TitanTron. It was subsequently replaced by the Spike TV logo on August 11, 2003 upon network relaunch. During the July 25, 2005 broadcast of Raw in Cleveland, Ohio, a special stage design was built for the John Cena-Chris Jericho Battle of the Bands concert.
The 2002 set was designed by Production Designer Jason Robinson. It featured a larger TitanTron with dimensions of 55 feet wide by 25 feet tall. The expanded structure weighed about 4,000 pounds and requiring three 18,000-watt projector screens to power itself. According to Eric Bischoff on a 2003 episode of WWE Confidential, the show utilized 13 cameras at the time at a cost of $85,000.
On October 3, 2005, as Raw returned to the USA Network, the 2002 set was retained but the beams and lighting on the sides were modified. The Spike TV logo was removed from the bottom side of the TitanTron. On October 9, 2006, the show debuted a new logo and opening intro featuring "...To Be Loved" by Papa Roach as its theme song. This logo and intro were retained until November 9, 2009, a period that also saw the changeover to broadcasting Raw in high-definition, which occurred on January 21, 2008.
From November 16, 2009 to July 16, 2012, the theme song for the Raw brand was "Burn It to the Ground" by Nickelback.[30] Prior to this, the theme song for Raw was "...To Be Loved" by Papa Roach, which had been used since October 9, 2006 and "Across The Nation" by The Union Underground which was used from April 1, 2002 to October 2, 2006. The rap outro of "Thorn In Your Eye" featuring Scott Ian of Anthrax was the theme song from March 31, 1997 to March 25, 2002.
On May 17, 2012, WWE and USA Network announced that Raw would switch to a permanent three-hour format beginning with the 1,000th episode on July 23, 2012.[31] Since then, all three hours of the broadcast have been known solely as Raw, though they are still considered three separate programs for Nielsen ratings purposes (as indicated by the on-screen copyright notice shown near the end of each hour). In 2010, WWE retired the red ropes for Raw after thirteen years for an all white scheme, which in 2012 became standard for all WWE programming. In 2012, Raw updated their HD set.[32]
Beginning in mid-2014, this set would also be featured in pay-per-views. From late September through the end of October 2012, the middle rope at all WWE programming was changed to pink due to WWE's alliance with the Susan G. Komen organization for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.[33] This was repeated in 2013, from late September to early November, and it was repeated in 2014 from September 29. WWE is one of many organizations who provide financial contributions to the organization in addition to raising awareness among its employees and consumers.[34]
On August 18, 2014, Raw switched to a full 16:9 letterbox widescreen presentation, with a down-scaled version of the native HD feed on a 4:3 SD feed. In conjunction with this, Raw updated its graphics package, with the new WWE logo (first used with the WWE Network's launch in February) now on the lower-right corner of the screen, right next to the word, "Live". At this time, the new WWE logo began appearing on the ring's turnbuckle covers, and the USA Network logo moved to the lower-left hand corner of the screen. Additionally, Raw's theme song ("The Night") was modified.
On March 23, 2015, WWE added a small LED board to the left side of the ring on Raw. This LED board was also used at WrestleMania 31. The LED board has since been featured on a sporadic basis, appearing in some weeks and being absent in others. On the 1,000th episode of Raw, "The Night" by Kromestatik debuted as the theme for Raw. "Energy" by Shinedown served as the secondary theme-song until August 18, 2014, when it was replaced with "Denial" by We Are Harlot.[35]
On the September 14, 2015 season premiere of Raw, the middle rope was colored gold. Throughout the month of October 2015, the program once again partnered with Susan G. Komen for the Cure to promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with various stage elements being made pink.[36] On the November 16, 2015, episode of Raw, WWE had a moment of silence for the victims of the terrorist attack in Paris, France, on November 13, 2015.[37] Another moment of silence was held months later in June for the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting.
On July 25, 2016, the ropes returned to red, the announce table moved back to the top of the stage for the first time since 2005, and a new HD set and graphics were debuted. The new set was almost identical to the set used for SummerSlam2012 and 2013. After some fans responded negatively to the redesign, the set was revamped four weeks later with a more elaborate and distinctive arrangement. The new set featured the absence of a traditional TitanTron, which had been part of the Raw staging since 1997. In its place was a curved LED banner with several rows of rectangle LED lights behind it. The new set also introduced LED floor panels on the entrance ramp along with LED ring posts. On the January 29, 2018 episode of Raw, new graphics and an updated logo were introduced, which lasted until September 23, 2019.[38]
On September 30, 2019 for its season premiere (and coinciding with the premiere of SmackDown on Fox later that week), Raw introduced a new set (including the reinstatement of pyrotechnics, which had been dropped in 2017 due to budget issues), updated logo (cropped with a chevron to make it resemble the corner of a ring), and new theme music ("Legendary" by Skillet). It was also revealed that both shows would be staffed by separate writing teams.[39][40]
In September 2021, the ring-ropes changed color from red to white, which was also reflected on SmackDown. On November 22 of that year, an updated version of the 2019 logo was introduced, alongside new graphics. The theme song was changed to "Greatness" by Vo Williams, which remains the shows theme song currently.
In February 2022, Raw and NXT temporarily moved to Syfy in the United States due to USA Network broadcasting coverage of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
^ Bold song titles are currently being used as the opening theme.
Name-related lawsuits
The name for Raw was disputed in June 2009 when Muscle Flex Inc., a Los Angeles-based fitness company, had taken legal action against the WWE after a court ruled that some of WWE's trademarks related to Raw were similar enough to the In the Raw trademark that they caused confusion among Canadians.[63] On June 18, 2008, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office then issued a final decision that found certain wares listed in the trademark application from WWE (No. 1,153,018) were confusingly similar and thus lacked distinctiveness from the Muscle Flex trademark, which Muscle Flex is in the process of acquiring. The WWE appealed the CIPO's ruling to the Federal Court of Canada, but failed to file the required documents by the deadline.[64]
In August 2009, the court ruled in favor of Muscle Flex, Inc. that it was successful in defending its In the Raw trademark against the WWE. In a press release date issued on July 20, 2009, Muscle Flex Inc. disclosed that it was in possession of WWE Raw-labeled items that it believes directly infringe on its In the Raw trademark such as various CDs, VHS tapes, and a number of apparel items. According to the WWE's most recent reported financial quarter in 2009, combined sales of WWE's consumer products and digital media business segments produced $40 million in global revenues. In previous quarters, these numbers were even higher.[65]
Similarly, in June 2017, the WWE issued a legal order to Raw Motors, an automobile repair company in Colwick, UK, over a logo that it claims infringes on one of its logos for Raw that was used from 2006 to 2012.[66][67]
Throughout its broadcast history, the show has aired episodes that have different themes. Some of them are yearly events such as the Slammy Awards. Others include tributes to various professional wrestlers who have recently died or retired from actively performing, as well as episodes commemorating various show milestones or anniversaries such as Raw 1000, which celebrated the 1000th broadcast.
The show features various on-air personalities including the wrestlers themselves (both males and females), ring announcers, commentators, on-screen authority figures and musicians. Raw also has had various recurring on-air segments hosted by members of the roster.
Broadcast
In the United States, the show airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network. Occasionally, Raw is aired on same-day tape delay when WWE is on an overseas tour. Raw is also shown live on BT Sport in the United Kingdom and Ireland,[68] in a deal which began January 2020.[69][70]Raw airs live in India at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesdays on Sony Ten 1.[71][72][73] Since October 6, 2014, Raw has been airing live throughout Latin America on Fox Sports.[74] The show also airs live on Supersport in South Africa on Tuesdays at 02:00 am CAT. Raw had aired in Australia on Fox8 since 2003, usually on a 27-hour tape delay, but has started airing live as of February 4, 2014.[75]Syfy in the United States started airing a 2-hour replay of Raw on May 20, 2016. On June 26, 2018, WWE and USA Network announced a five-year contract extension for Raw. The new agreement for the live, weekly three-hour block commenced in October 2019.[76] Clips from some WWE shows have also been shown on Fox Sports.com.[77]
Online streaming
On September 24, 2012, Hulu signed a multi-year deal with WWE to stream all of the company's TV shows and some of its web series which includes Raw. Episodes of Raw are available for viewing the following day as a condensed 90-minute version is available, not the full version as shown the previous night on the USA Network.[78]
As of December 9, 2016, all episodes of Raw are available on demand on the WWE Network. Recent episodes are available for on-demand viewing 30 days after their original air date.[79][80]
After WrestleMania 32 in 2016, WWE began with airing the newest episodes of Raw and SmackDown on YouTube for countries that do not air WWE programming on traditional TV for free in less than 24 hours after the original broadcast (The links are blocked in countries where the shows are traditionally available). The 90-minute Hulu version gets put on YouTube for international audiences.
Canada
From 1995 to 2006, Raw was shown on The Sports Network (TSN) until it moved to rival sports broadcaster The Score (now renamed Sportsnet 360) after it was announced that TSN would be carrying Monday Night Football for the 2006 season. This meant that Canadian viewers would have to watch via tape-delay, as The Score did not broadcast Raw live at that time. Around that time, The Score aired Countdown to Raw until May 2013 when Raw is shown live to match the United States airtime.[81][82] It was also shown on CKVR-TV in Barrie and CKMI-TV in Quebec until 2009.
During its run on TSN, which aired live, Raw occasionally had been censored live for extremely violent scenes, or when female wrestlers or characters were assaulted by male wrestlers (particularly one segment that featured the 3-Minute Warning assaulting Kitana Baker). These actions are supposed to be in order to meet Canadian broadcast standards, with repeat broadcasts often more heavily edited. This move had disappointed many wrestling fans over the years, and is unusual since the violence of wrestling scenes are not significantly different from other television programs aired on regular Canadian networks.[83][84]
Raw airs live in the MENA region on Shahid streaming platform Tuesday mornings, and later on the same day, a one-hour version airs on MBC Action at 8 PM Egypt Standard Time.[86] It also airs on FM1 in Iran and[87][88] on Sport 1 and Sport 1 HD in Israel.[89][90]Raw further began airing on S Sport and S Sport Plus in Turkey.[91]
Europe
In Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, Raw airs live on DAZN and with German commentary on ProSieben MAXX every Wednesday at 10pm.[92] In Belgium, Raw airs on ABXplore (in French) and on Play6.[93][94]
Previously the rights to broadcast Raw, along with other WWE shows, were held by free-to-air broadcaster e.tv.[139] Raw would play on Sundays in the evening, with a 7-day delay, edited to one hour and was the most watched program on the channel. However, in 2017 e.tv decided not to renew its broadcasting deal with WWE.[140] The rights were later resold to SuperSport (the initial broadcasters of WWE programming).[141][142][failed verification]
In 2019 SuperSport, along with its parent company MultiChoice, signed a deal to broadcast the 24-hour WWE channel as a pop-up channel for five months on their DStv platform.[143] It is now a permanent channel on DStv under the channel number 128
^"WWE Entertainment's RAW IS WAR Delivers Highest Rating of the Season". WWE Corporate. December 13, 2000. Archived from the original on April 15, 2020. Retrieved October 16, 2021. WWE Entertainment's (NYSE: WWE) RAW IS WAR, already the highest rated regularly scheduled program on cable television, achieved its highest rating of the season this past Monday night on The National Network (TNN).
^"Raw: August 29, 2011". WWE.com. August 29, 2011. Archived from the original on October 16, 2021. Retrieved October 16, 2021. Not only did WWE's Chief Operating Officer figure prominently throughout the first ever Raw SuperShow, combining Superstars from both Raw and SmackDown, he also informed one Superstar that he'll be hanging up the suit and tie to square off in three weeks at Night of Champions.
^Welch, Chris (March 8, 2021). "WWE Network on Peacock: your questions answered". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2021. In-ring action with new weekly episodes of NXT the day after air, as well as the 2021 replays of RAW and SmackDown 30 days after air.
^"WWE and BT Sports announce new partnership". WWE. London, England. June 20, 2019. Archived from the original on April 16, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2021. WWE® (NYSE: WWE) and BT Sport today announced a new multi-year exclusive pay TV agreement that will make WWE's weekly flagship programming available live in the U.K. and Ireland on BT Sport beginning January 2020.
^De Menezes, Jack (June 20, 2019). "BT Sport secure WWE rights from rivals Sky Sports". The Independent. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2021. BT Sport have landed the exclusive rights to show the WWE in the United Kingdom and Ireland, meaning that every pay-per-view event will be shown on BT Sport Box Office from 1 January 2020 along with Raw and Smackdown Live.
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