WWE Raw

This article is about the television program. You may be looking for the 1994 video game or the 2002 video game.

WWE Raw
Created by	Vince McMahon
Starring	RAW Brand
Opening theme	"...To Be Loved" by Papa Roach
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	760 (as of December 17 2007)
Production
Camera setup	Multicamera setup
Running time	Approximately 2 hours and 7 minutes per episode (1 hour 35 minutes and commercials)
Original release
Network	USA Network (1993 – 2000, 2005 – Present), TNN/Spike TV (2000 – 2005)
Release	January 11, 1993 – Present

WWE Raw is the Monday night professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and is the primary broadcast of the RAW brand. WWE Raw is generally seen as WWE's flagship program over its sister programs, SmackDown! and ECW, due to its longer history and the way it is promoted.

The show currently airs live on USA Network (and on tape delay Wednesdays on mun2, and Sundays on Telemundo (in Spanish) in the United States, and in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland on Sky Sports 3. It also currently broadcasts on tape delay in Canada on The Score and Global Quebec, in Australia on FOX8, in Portugal on SIC Radical, in Finland on MTV3 MAX, in Malaysia on Astro Super Sport, in New Zealand on SKY 1, in Greece on Supersport 3, in India and Pakistan on Ten Sports, in the Philippines on Jack TV and RPN, in Chile on Chilevisión, in Mexico on 52MX, in Peru on ATV, in Saudi Arabia and Middle east on ART SPORT, in Romania on TV Sport, in Serbia on FOX Televizija, in South Korea on XTM, in Spain on Cuatro TV, in France on NT1 and RTL9 in Argentina on Canal 9 (Argentina) and on AFN Xtra. Raw is also currently being aired on Etv in South Africa. It airs on Canal VTV in El Salvador and on Premiere in Germany. Occasionally, Raw is aired on same-day tape delay when WWE is on an overseas tour.

Show history

Original format

File:Yokozunafujiraw.jpg

Yokozuna (left) and Mr. Fuji on the very first episode of Monday Night RAW.

Beginning as WWF Monday Night RAW, the program first aired on January 11, 1993 on the USA Network for one hour. The original RAW broke new ground in televised professional wrestling. Traditionally, wrestling shows were taped on sound stages with small audiences or at large arena shows. The RAW formula was very different than that of its predecessor, Prime Time Wrestling. Instead of taped matches, with studio voice overs and taped chat, RAW was a show shot to a live audience, with angles as they happened. The first episode featured Yokozuna defeating Koko B. Ware, The Steiner Brothers defeating The Executioners, WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels defeating Max Moon and The Undertaker defeating Damien Demento. The show also featured an interview with Razor Ramon.

RAW originated from the Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center Studios, a small New York City theater and aired live each week. The combination of an intimate venue and live action proved highly successful. However, the weekly live schedule proved to be a financial drain on the WWF, and taped shows began airing every other week. From early 1994 to September 1999, RAW was shown live on one Monday and then the next day (Tuesday) next Monday's RAW was taped. This meant that RAW was live one week and taped the next.

The storylines and characters during the early years of RAW still had a healthy dose of the old Federation "gimmick-heavy" style. For instance, there were moments such as Irwin R. Schyster tearing up Tatanka's headdress, the various "Undertaker sightings" (during the Undertaker vs. Undertaker storyline, leading up to SummerSlam 1994); and characters like Duke "The Dumpster" Droese, Doink the Clown, or Thurman "Sparky" Plugg.

File:WWF Monday Night RAW.jpg

WWF Monday Night Raw logo (January 1993-March 1997)

RAW was also one of a kind, in which they covered the unexpected, exciting moments, a prelude to the "Attitude Era", in which it coined RAW as "Uncut, Uncensored, Uncooked." Some of those moments include Razor Ramon losing a match unexpectedly to Sean "The 1-2-3 Kid" Waltman, who was later known as X-Pac, Marty Jannetty beating Shawn Michaels to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship, and RAW was the first WWF television program of any kind to show footage of Lex Luger bodyslamming Yokozuna at the USS Intrepid.

The original hosts of RAW were Vince McMahon, Rob Bartlett and "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Sean Mooney conducted the interviews and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan also helped contribute. In March 1993, Rob Bartlett was dropped from the broadcasting team and was replaced by Bobby Heenan. Then on December 6, 1993, Gorilla Monsoon kicked Bobby Heenan out of the WWF forever. In reality, this was a storyline between Monsoon and his close friend Heenan, who decided to leave the World Wrestling Federation in order to lighten his travel schedule and because he didn't want to take a 50% paycut. After about a year, RAW moved out of the Manhattan Center and traveled to various regular Federation venues in the United States.

The Monday Night Wars

Main article: Monday Night Wars

In 1995, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) began airing its new wrestling show, Monday Nitro, live each week on TNT. RAW and WCW Monday Nitro went head-to-head for the first time on September 11, 1995. Due to RAW's taping schedule on several occasions, WCW Vice President Eric Bischoff, who was also an on-air personality, would frequently give away the results of WWF's taped RAW shows on the live WCW show. Some fans also looked at RAW taping results on the steadily-growing Internet; as a result, this caused the ratings of the taped RAW episodes to be lower.

WWF RAW had a live broadcast every other week to save costs, until September 1999, when ratings and pay-per-view buy rate increased, allowing them to justify doing a weekly live show.

At the start of the ratings war in 1995 through to mid-1996, RAW and Nitro would exchange victories over each over in a closely contested rivalry. However, beginning in mid-1996, thanks primarily to the nWo angle, Monday Nitro started a ratings win-streak that lasted for 83 continuous weeks, ending on April 13, 1998.

RAW is WAR

File:Rawiswar.jpg

WWF RAW is War logo (March 1997-September 2001)

On February 3, 1997, Monday Night RAW went to a two hour format, as the Attitude Era was starting to come in full stream in the WWF. In an attempt to break the momentum of what had turned into ratings domination by WCW's competing Monday Nitro, Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was brought in as Jerry Lawler "challenged" ECW on February 17, 1997. In an episode where RAW returned to the Manhattan Center, the "challenge" answered on the following week's show with Taz, Mikey Whipwreck, Sabu, Tommy Dreamer, D-Von Dudley, and the Sandman. ECW owner Paul Heyman did a call-in interview on RAW the week after that.

Throughout 1997, there were more and more controversial elements in RAW and WWF programming such as the Nation of Domination, and the D-Generation X "racial graffiti" storyline designed to "implicate Bret Hart's 'Hart Foundation'", and the "XXX Files" series.

On March 10, 1997, Monday Night RAW officially became RAW is War. The March 17, 1997 episode featured a heated Bret Hart/Vince McMahon ringside altercation (that unknowingly foreshadowed events in November) with profanity normally unheard on TV. Brian Pillman did a series of "XXX Files" segments with Terri Runnels, which further "pushed the envelope". These segments ended prematurely with the September 29, 1997 episode of RAW, after the death of Pillman on October 5, 1997 due to hereditary heart problems.

After WrestleMania XIV in March 1998, the WWF regained the lead in the Monday Night Wars with its new "WWF Attitude" brand, led in particular by rising stars Steve Austin, The Rock and Mankind. The classic feud between the villainous WWF Chairman Vince McMahon (who was re-imagined and re-branded from the color commentator into the evil company chairman character Mr. McMahon after the real-life Montreal Screwjob incident) and fan favorite Steve Austin (who had been released by Bischoff in the summer of 1995 for not being marketable) caught the imaginations of fans. The April 13, 1998 episode of RAW, headlined by a match between Austin and McMahon, marked the first time that WCW had lost the head-to-head Monday night ratings battle in the 84 weeks since 1996.

While RAW was taking a new approach to programming, Nitro would start producing lackluster shows with the same storylines. Older stars such as Hogan and Nash frequented the main events, while younger talent such as Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero were not given opportunities to advance, and the only newcomer elevated to main-event status at this time was Bill Goldberg.

Meanwhile, on RAW, fans were immersed in the feud between WWF owner Vince McMahon and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. New talent such as Triple H and his D-Generation X faction, Mankind and The Rock were elevated to main event status on the WWF's program. Superstars such as Kane, Val Venis, Goldust, etc. were coming through the ranks and exposing the WWF as the place where new talent comes through unlike the WCW counterpart. Things were so heated between the two programs that, when both shows were in the same area on the same night (RAW in Hampton, Virginia, Nitro in Norfolk), D-X was sent to film a "war" segment at the Norfolk Scope where they berated WCW and interviewed fans on camera who stated that they received their Nitro tickets for free (presumably in an attempt by WCW to pack the arena as full as possible due to low ticket sales).

On January 4, 1999. Mick Foley, who had wrestled for WCW during the early 1990s as Cactus Jack, won the WWF Title as Mankind on RAW. On orders from Bischoff, Nitro announcer Tony Schiavone gave away this previously taped result on the live Nitro, and then sarcastically added "that'll sure put some butts in the seats"; over 600,000 viewers changed channels to watch RAW. This was also the night that Nitro aired a WCW World Championship match in which Kevin Nash blatantly laid down for Hulk Hogan after Hogan poked him in the chest. The next week, and for months after, many fans in the RAW audience brought signs which read, "Mick Foley put my ass in this seat!"

RAW won the ratings war against Nitro and never suffered a loss after February 8, 1999.

The end of the Wars

File:WWFRAW.JPG

WWF RAW logo (September 17 2001-April 1 2002)

A new television contract with Viacom led to a WWF change in the broadcast. On September 25, 2000, RAW moved network from the USA Network over to TNN (which later became Spike TV).

WCW's sharp decline in revenue and ratings would lead to Time Warner's sale of the company to the WWF in 2001. The final edition of Nitro aired on March 26, 2001. The show began with Vince McMahon making a short statement about his recent purchase of WCW and ended with a simulcast on Raw on TNN with an appearance by Vince's son Shane McMahon on Nitro. Shane would interrupt his father's gloating over the WCW purchase to explain that Shane was the one who actually owned WCW, setting up what would now become the WWF's infamous "The Invasion" storyline.

The RAW is WAR logo and name were retired in September 2001, following the September 11, 2001 attacks and sensitivity over the word war. It also symbolized that professional wrestling's "Monday Night Wars" were over.

Brand Extension

Main article: WWE Brand Extension

File:MNrawlogo.jpg

WWE RAW logo (April 8 2002-October 2 2006)

In early to mid-2002, WWE underwent a process they called the "Brand Extension". WWE divided itself into two "de facto" wrestling promotions with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures. RAW and SmackDown! would host each division, give its name to the division and essentially compete against each other. The split was a result of WWF purchasing their two biggest competitors, WCW and ECW. The brand extension was publicly announced during a telecast of WWF RAW on March 25 2002, and became official the next day.

Wrestlers now would become show-exclusive, wrestling for their specific show only. At the time this excluded the WWE Undisputed Championship and WWE Women's Championship, as those WWE titles would be defended on both shows. In August 2002, WWE Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar refused to defend the title on 'RAW, in effect causing his title to become exclusive to SmackDown! The following week on RAW, General Manager Eric Bischoff awarded a newly instated World Heavyweight Championship to RAW's designated #1 contender, Triple H. Due to the fact that since the WWE Undisputed Championship was now SmackDown! exclusive it was no longer seen as "undisputed". Following this, the WWE Women's Championship soon became RAW-exclusive as well. As a result of the Brand Extension, an annual "draft lottery" was instituted to exchange members of each roster and generally refresh the lineups.

WWE RAW claimed to have earned the distinction of having the most original episodes of any fictional weekly program on August 2, 2005 when it broadcasted the 636th episode. It was said to have took the place of Gunsmoke, which held that distinction. However, under the criteria WWE used to make this claim, the actual record would be held by the show Georgia Championship Wrestling, which ran continuously on Saturday evenings on TBS between 1972 and 1984.

Return to USA Network

File:RAW7251.JPG

The RAW set used from October 2005-present.

On March 10 2005, Viacom and WWE decided not to go on with the agreement with Spike TV, making it so RAW and other WWE programs on the network would cease when their deal expired in September 2005. On April 4, 2005, WWE announced a 3-year deal with NBC Universal to bring RAW back to its former home, the USA Network, with 2 yearly specials on NBC and a Spanish RAW on Telemundo. On the same week as RAW's re-debut on USA, 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.

The show's first night back on USA was billed as the "WWE Homecoming" and featured the return of former WWE Champions such as Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Triple H and Vince McMahon along with cameos from legends such as Roddy Piper, Jimmy Hart, Jimmy Snuka and Harley Race. WWE Homecoming was three hours long — the longest an episode of RAW has ever run in its 12-year history. USA also showed RAW Exposed, an hour of the best moments of RAW during its previous run on USA. WWE announced that RAW received its highest ratings in three years, gaining close to six million viewers.

The following week, Vince McMahon fired Jim Ross for not helping after Steve Austin gave him and his entire family the Stone Cold Stunner. Jonathan Coachman was named as Ross's replacement, but after two weeks, he was replaced by former ECW announcer Joey Styles.

2006

On the May 1, 2006 edition of RAW, Joey Styles announced he was quitting. His vacating of the announcer position set the stage for Jim Ross to return to RAW's commentary booth, thus ending the storyline where Ross got fired by Linda McMahon. This freed Styles to become a commentator for the ECW brand when it launched in June.

In Canada, after an 11 year run on TSN, RAW moved to rival sports broadcaster The Score after it was announced that TSN would be carrying Monday Night Football' for the 2006 season. This also meant that Canadian viewers would be watching via tape-delay, as The Score does not broadcast RAW live.

During the September 25, 2006 episode of RAW in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the opening of RAW suffered a blackout. Spotlights were the only lights running in the house. Power in the presentation was later restored. Another similar moment happened back on May 26 1996 in Florence, South Carolina for WWF In Your House 8: Beware of Dog, when a major thunderstorm hit the Florence Civic Center causing major chaos for the PPV. That Tuesday, Beware of Dog, returned to North Charleston, South Carolina to finish out three matches that were not shown because of the lost power feed.

On October 9, 2006, RAW held a three hour season premiere called the "RAW Family Reunion", where the RAW brand debuted a new logo and theme song, Papa Roach's "...To Be Loved". The episode also featured talent from the SmackDown! and ECW brands. Later that month, on October 23 RAW aired its 700th episode, making it the longest running weekly entertainment show, without a hiatus, in television history.

2007

See also: Chris Benoit double murder and suicide

On June 25, 2007, RAW was scheduled in Corpus Christi, Texas to be a three-hour special memorial show for the death of the Mr. McMahon character after he had been presumed dead in a limo explosion. The event was cancelled due to the death of Chris Benoit and his family earlier that day, with a three-hour Chris Benoit memorial show being aired instead. This was the first time that RAW had aired with no audience and had Vince McMahon breaking kayfabe to address the viewers at home. The show consisted of extracts from the DVD Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story, showing some of Benoit's most memorable matches, along with comments from some of Benoit's colleagues. However, when the facts of Benoit's death came to light, WWE pulled this episode from international markets which aired RAW on a tape delay basis. Several channels announced the episode was being withheld for legal reasons. A substitute RAW, hosted by Todd Grisham from WWE Studios, was created featuring recaps of big-time championship changes of the past year. The episode started with a message from Vince McMahon which originally aired on the June 26 edition of ECW.

On December 10 2007 RAW celebrated its 15th anniversary in a three-hour spectacular on the USA Network with the returns of Rob Van Dam, The Godfather, Steve Blackman, Howard Finkel, Ted DiBiase, Eric Bischoff, Trish Stratus, Lita, Sunny, Hulk Hogan and Mick Foley (as Mankind) among others. Along with several reunions of former tag teams, it also included a 15-man "15 Years of RAW" battle royal.

Production

RAW airs live on Monday evenings on the USA Network, though it is occasionally taped and placed on a broadcast delay depending on what circumstances dictate. The theme song for the RAW brand is "...To Be Loved" by Papa Roach, which has been used for the RAW brand since October 9 2006.

Since March 10 1997, broadcasts of RAW were split into two hours and given hourly names for television ratings purposes, with the first hour being referred to as RAW is War and the second as War Zone by the show's on-screen graphics. However, as of September 17 2001, the first hour has been referred to as RAW and the second as RAW Zone by the show's on-screen graphics.

Special episodes

• WWF RAW Bowl (January 1 1996)
• WWF RAW Championship Friday (September 6 1996)
• WWF Thursday RAW Thursday (February 13 1997)
• WWF RAW is Owen (May 24 1999)
• WWE RAW X Anniversary Show (January 14 2003)
• WWE RAW Homecoming (October 3 2005)
• Eddie Guerrero Tribute Show (November 14 2005)
• WWE Tribute to the Troops (December 19 2005)
• WWE RAW Family Reunion (October 9 2006)
• WWE 3-Hour Spectacular (December 18 2006)
• WWE Tribute to the Troops (December 25 2006)
• WWE Draft 3-Hour Show (June 11 2007)
• Chris Benoit Memorial (live telecast only) / Champions Edition (international and Telemundo/Mun2 airings only) (June 25 2007)
• WWE RAW 15th Anniversary Spectacular (December 10 2007)
• WWE Tribute to the Troops (December 24 2007)

On-air personalities

Champions

Championship	Current champion(s)	Date won	Date aired
WWE Champion	Randy Orton	October 7 2007	October 7 2007
WWE Intercontinental Champion	Jeff Hardy	September 1 2007	September 3 2007
WWE Women's Champion	Beth Phoenix	October 7 2007	October 7 2007
World Tag Team Champions	Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes	December 10 2007	December 10 2007

General Managers

General Manager	Date started	Date finished
Eric Bischoff	July 15 2002/November 6 20061	December 5 2005
Steve Austin (Co-GM)	April 28 2003	November 16 2003
Mick Foley (Co-GM)	December 1 2003	December 11 2003
Vince McMahon2	December 12 2005	June 11 2007
Jonathan Coachman (Interim GM)	June 18 2007	August 6 2007
William Regal3	August 6 2007	Present

¹ ^ This was a reward from Mr. McMahon to Bischoff for his refereeing job at Cyber Sunday.

² ^ On May 29 2006, Mr. McMahon made Jonathan Coachman his Executive Assistant. Upon doing so McMahon stated "No one could replace me as GM", in essence giving Coachman GM powers under a new title. Was officially named Interim GM by the McMahon family following Vince McMahon's limo incident.

³ ^ On August 6 2007, Mr. McMahon announced that an over the top rope battle royal featuring other participants from the RAW roster would determine a new GM for RAW. William Regal won the battle royal. becoming the new GM, and Jonathan Coachman became his assistant.

• Jonathan Coachman - Executive Assistant (May 29 2006 - June 18 2007; August 6 2007 - Present)

Commentators

Commentators	Year(s)
Vince McMahon and Rob Bartlett	January 1993-March 1993
Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan	March 1993-December 1993
Vince McMahon and Johnny Polo	December 1993-March 1994
Vince McMahon and Randy Savage	March 1994-October 1994
Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler	March 1994-November 1994
Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels	November 1994-February 1995
Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler	February 1995-November 1997
Kevin Kelly and Jerry Lawler	December 1997-March 1998
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler	September 1996–February 2001
Jim Ross and Paul Heyman	February 2001-November 2001
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler	November 2001-October 2005
Jonathan Coachman and Jerry Lawler	August 2005-May 2006
Joey Styles and Jerry Lawler	November 2005-May 2006
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler	May 2006–Present

Ring announcers

Ring announcer	Year(s)
Howard Finkel	January 1993-August 1999
Tony Chimel	April 1997-August 1999
Justin Roberts	March 2007-June 2007
Lilian Garcia	August 1999-Present

Recurring segments

Segment	Segment Type	Host	Years Active	Notes	Source
RAW Girls	Promotion	N/A	1993	Non-wrestling women would carry sign around the RAW ring, in a way of promoting the show. The segment was eventually phased out, but was emulated in a way by WCW, as the Nitro Girls.
The King's Court	Interview	Jerry "The King" Lawler	1993-1995	Inspired by Piper's Pit; also appeared on WWF Superstars
The Heartbreak Hotel	Interview	Shawn Michaels	1994	Inspired by Piper's Pit; also appeared on WWF Superstars
The Brother Love Show	Interview	Brother Love	1995	Returned for a brief stint.
The Love Shack	Interview	Dude Love	1997-1998	Short-lived interview segement hosted by Dude Love
Highlight Reel	Interview	Chris Jericho	2003-2005	Made regular appearances until Jericho's sabbatical from professional wrestling in 2005.
White Boy Challenge	Wrestling Challenge	Rodney Mack	2003	Challenge to Caucasian wrestlers to defeat Rodney Mack in under five-minute stipulation. Ended in the same year by Goldberg
WWE Diva Search	Competition	Jonathan Coachman (2004-2005) The Miz (2006) Todd Grisham (2007)	2004-2007	Segments were featured weekly on RAW.
Masterlock Challenge	Submission Challenge	Chris Masters	2005-2007	A challenge to any wrestler (local or active superstar on WWE roster) to break the Masterlock. Ended after it was broken by Bobby Lashley in March 2007, however it re-debuted on SmackDown!, when Masters was drafted to that brand.
Kurt Angle Invitational	Wrestling Challenge	Kurt Angle	2005	Introduced to RAW, when Kurt Angle was drafted from SmackDown!. Ended on RAW, when Eugene won the invitational; Angle would end the challenge after winning his gold medals back at SummerSlam 2005.
Carlito's Cabana	Interview	Carlito	2005-present	Introduced to RAW after being brought from SmackDown! by Carlito
Piper's Pit	Interview	Roddy Piper	2005	Appeared on two separate occasions, with Piper interviewing Shawn Michaels and Mick Foley in that same year.
The Cutting Edge	Interview	Edge	2005-2007	Launched by Edge; used only for special occasions. Occasionally is seen on SmackDown after Edge was moved there.
Matt Striker's Classroom	Interview/Other	Matt Striker	2005-2006	In this segment, Striker acts as a teacher (his former real-life profession) and insults the audience's intellectual capacity. The segment transferred to ECW when Striker was moved to that brand.

A.M. RAW

WWE Raw
File:AMRAW.JPG WWE A.M. RAW logo, 2006-Current
Starring	RAW brand
Opening theme	"...To Be Loved" by Papa Roach
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	1 hour (42 minutes plus commercials)
Original release
Network	USA Network
Release	October 8 2005 – present

WWE A.M. RAW is a Saturday night (Sunday morning) show that airs on the USA Network at 2 a.m. ET. It features segments from the latest episode of RAW with a ticker along the bottom section of the screen that provides information about WWE, including trivia and live event news.

A.M. RAW debuted at its current time of 9 a.m. on Saturday morning. For a short period, however, it was moved to Sunday mornings at 2 a.m., until November 11 2006. It was returned to its current Saturday morning timeslot while also continuing to air at 2 a.m.. However, it did gather higher ratings in the Sunday morning timeslot than it had with its previous Saturday 9 a.m. timeslot.

See also

• World Wrestling Entertainment roster (RAW Brand)
• WWE Heat
• WWE Friday Night SmackDown!
• Extreme Championship Wrestling (WWE)

External links

• WWE RAW at USANetwork.com