WWE Raw
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- This article is about the television program. You may be looking for the 1994 video game or the 2002 video game.
| WWE Raw | |
|---|---|
| File:WWERawHD.png | |
| Created by | Vince McMahon |
| Starring | Raw Brand |
| Opening theme | "…To Be Loved" by Papa Roach |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 780 (as of May 5, 2008) |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multicamera setup |
| Running time | Approximately 2 hours and 5 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, trademarked as 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.
History
Original format
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.
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.[citation needed]
The Monday Night Wars
In 1995, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) began airing its new wrestling show, Monday Nitro, live each week on TNT. Raw and 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 exchanged victories over each other in a closely contested rivalry. Beginning in mid-1996, however, thanks primarily to the nWo angle, Monday Nitro started a ratings win-streak that lasted for eighty-three continuous weeks, ending on April 13 1998.[citation needed]
Raw is War
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 'the 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 newcomers elevated to main-event status at this time were Bill Goldberg and Diamond Dallas Page.
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 is Owen
On May 24, 1999, the night after professional wrestler Owen Hart died due to a stunt he tried to perform by descending from the ceiling in his super hero gimmick "the blue blazer" during the Over the Edge pay per view event, all of the WWF wrestlers gathered in St. Louis to pay their tribute. Owen was going to descend from the ceiling into the ring, when the cable holding him triggered an early release. Owen fell 78 feet smashing his chest on the turnbuckle, thus throwing him into the ring. Announcer Jim Ross was presented with the bad news and announced to all of the fans watching that Owen had died.
The end of the Wars
A new television contract with Viacom led to a WWF change in the broadcast. On September 25 2000, Raw moved from the USA Network to TNN (which later became Spike TV).
WCW's sharp decline in revenue and ratings led 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 and on TNN with an appearance by Vince's son Shane McMahon on Nitro. Shane interrupted his father's gloating over the WCW purchase to explain that Shane was the one who actually owned WCW, setting up what become the WWF's "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.{{Fact|date=December 2007}
Brand Extension
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.[citation needed]
Return to USA Network
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.[2] 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, the second analyst at the table, took over Ross's duties as play-by-play for two weeks until former ECW announcer Joey Styles was hired.
2006
On the May 1, 2006 edition of Raw, Joey Styles announced he was quitting (kayfabe). 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 did not broadcast Raw live at first, but in 2007, started airing the show live.[citation needed]
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
On June 25, 2007, Raw was scheduled in Corpus Christi, Texas to be a three-hour special memorial show for the (kayfabe) death of the Mr. McMahon character. Two weeks earlier, the show had broadcast an angle in which Mr.McMahon was murdered by a bomb planted within his limosine. The 'Mr. McMahon' tribute was cancelled on the day it was due to air after it was learned that current superstar Chris Benoit and family were found dead as well. The show then became a three-hour tribute to Chris Benoit. What made this tribute different from others (e.g. Eddie Guerrero and Owen Hart) was that the show had no original matches and no live audience. Instead, the three-hour show aired highlights from the WWE DVD 'Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story', and a selection of Benoit's most famous matches. Several wrestlers paid tribute in the form of real interviews about him, and Vince McMahon broke character to address the viewers about what had happened. 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 John Cena's WWE Undisputed championship victories, mainly the ones that had occured over the past year. The episode started with a message from Vince McMahon which originally aired on the June 26 edition of ECW. Some countries that received WWE programing up to three weeks late had all Chris Benoit matches edited out. The WWE even removed all Chris Benoit matches and interviews from the 'WWE 24/7' service.
On December 10 2007 Raw celebrated its 15th anniversary in a three-hour spectacular on the USA Network with the returns of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rob Van Dam, The Godfather, Steve Blackman, Howard Finkel, Ted DiBiase, Eric Bischoff, Marty Jannetty, Gangrel, Trish Stratus, Lita, Sunny, Hulk Hogan and Mick Foley (as Mankind) among others. Along with several reunions of former tag teams and also included a 15-man "15 Years of Raw" battle royal. The Raw 15th Anniversary DVD was also released which featured some of the most memorable moments in Raw history.
2008
WWE began their 2008 year with a new HD set, which consisted of more than 1,000,000 LEDs. The introduction of this new set retired the old set, which was used from April 2002 to January 2008. Raw's first show in HD was held in the Hapmton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. The show kicked off with the on-going feud with Shawn Michaels and Mr. Kennedy (Kennedy). On the May 5, 2008 broadcast of RAW in Toronto, Ontario in the Air Canada Centre, the voice of RAW and head commentator Jim Ross was forced to set aside for one match, only to be replaced by new ECW commentator Mike Adamle. Ross was given his place back after the match had ended, however.
Production
As of 2008, Raw airs live on Monday evenings on the USA Network (in the USA), The Score in Canada and on Sky Sports 3 in Great Britain, 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 October 1 2001, the first hour has been referred to as Raw and the second as Raw Zone by the show's on-screen graphics.
On January 7 2008, WWE announced that all 3 brands (Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW) would be broadcast in HD, codenamed "WWE HD" starting with Raw on January 21. WWE invested about $20 million dollars on new recording and broadcasting equipment to prepare for the move, as well as new pyrotechnics and lighting. The move replaced the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW sets with a new state of the art set shared by all brands.[3][4]
Special episodes
| Episode Title | Date | Rating | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| WWF Raw Bowl | January 1 1996 | 2.6[5] | |
| WWF Raw Championship Friday | September 6 1996 | 2.4[5] | |
| WWF Royal Rumble Raw | February 3 1997 | 2.6[5] | The first two-hour broadcast of Raw. Included recap clips of the 1997 Royal Rumble match. |
| WWF Raw is Owen | May 24 1999 | 7.2[5] | |
| WWE Raw X (10th) Anniversary | January 13 2003 | 3.9[5] | |
| WWE Raw Homecoming | October 3 2005 | 4.4[5] | This was the first three-hour broadcast of the series. |
| Eddie Guerrero Tribute Show | November 14 2005 | 4.5[5] | |
| WWE Tribute to the Troops | December 19 2005 | 3.7[5] | |
| WWE Raw Family Reunion | October 9 2006 | 3.8[5] | |
| WWE 3-Hour Spectacular | December 18 2006 | 3.5[5] | |
| WWE Tribute to the Troops | December 25 2006 | 2.7[5] | |
| WWE Draft 3-Hour Special | June 11 2007 | 3.8[5] | |
| Chris Benoit 3-Hour Memorial | June 25 2007 | 3.8[5] | Live telecast only. 2007 clip show aired in other markets. |
| WWE Raw 15th Anniversary Spectacular |
December 10 2007 | 4.4[6] | This was a three hour broadcast. |
| WWE Tribute to the Troops | December 24 2007 | 2.5[5] | |
| WWE WrestleMania Rewind Night | March 10 2008 | 3.6[5] | A three-hour program, where superstars are involved in WrestleMania rematches. |
| WWE King of the Ring | April 21 2008 | 3.0 [7] | A single-night King of the Ring tournament held on Raw featuring competitors from all three brands [8]. |
On-air personalities
Champions
| Championship | Current champion(s) | Date won | Date aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| WWE Champion | Triple H | April 27 2008 | April 27 2008 |
| WWE Intercontinental Champion | Chris Jericho | March 10 2008 | March 10 2008 |
| WWE Women's Champion | Mickie James | April 14 2008 | April 14 2008 |
| 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.[9]
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 - January 4, 2008)
Commentators
| Commentators | Year(s) |
|---|---|
| Vince McMahon, Randy Savage 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-May 1994, August 1994 - October 1994 |
| Gorilla Monsoon and Randy Savage | June 1994 - July 1994 |
| Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler | October 1994-November 1994 |
| Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels | November 1994-February 1995 |
| Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler | February 1995-November 1997 |
| Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler | September 1996-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 |
| Jim Ross, Jonathan Coachman, and Jerry Lawler | August 2005-October 2005 |
| 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 | Type | Host | Years active | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raw Girls | Promotion | N/A | 1993 | Between matches, women otherwise uninvolved in the wrestling product carried signs bearing slogans around the Raw ring. |
| 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[10] |
| The Brother Love Show | Interview | Brother Love | 1995 | Returned for a brief stint. |
| The Love Shack | Interview | Dude Love | 1997–1998 | Short-lived interview segment hosted by Dude Love |
| Highlight Reel | Interview | Chris Jericho | 2003–2005 2007–present |
Made regular appearances until Jericho's sabbatical from professional wrestling. Recurred in late 2007 after Jericho returned to professional wrestling. |
| 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.[11] |
| 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 seen on SmackDown! and ECW 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. |
| Kiss Cam | Other | Maria | 2005–present | This segment involves the host trying to persuade random people in the audience to kiss when they see their faces on the titantron within a heart shaped graphic. The most frequent host of Kiss Cam is Maria, although others on the Raw brand have hosted the popular segment. |
A.M. Raw
| WWE Raw | |
|---|---|
| File:AMRAW.JPG | |
| 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.[citation needed]
Current Airings
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.[12] It also currently broadcasts on tape delay in Canada on The Score and Global Quebec, in Australia on FOX8,[13] in Portugal on SIC Radical,in Italy on Sky Italia in Finland on MTV3 MAX, in Malaysia on Astro Super Sport, in New Zealand on The Box, in Greece on Supersport 3, in India and Pakistan on Ten Sports, in the Philippines on Jack TV and ABC, in Chile on Chilevisión, in Mexico on 52MX, in Bulgaria on GTV, in Panama on RPC Canal 4, 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, in France on NT1 and RTL9, in Brazil on SBT, 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 and in Honduras on Canal 5. Occasionally, Raw is aired on same-day tape delay when WWE is on an overseas tours.
See also
- World Wrestling Entertainment roster (Raw Brand)
- WWE Heat
- WWE Friday Night SmackDown!
- Extreme Championship Wrestling (WWE)
References
- ^ "USA Network FAQ's". USA Network. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
- ^ msnbc.msn.com
- ^ "WWE Goes HD". WWE. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
- ^ WWE: Mediaplayer > WWE goes high-definition with an all new set
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "WWE Raw rating history". Wrestling Information Archive. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
- ^ "Raw XV heats up ratings". WWE.
- ^ "Raw is War ratings history". unknown.
- ^ http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/preview/
- ^ "Coachman's interim Raw deal". Retrieved 2007-06-18.
- ^ Michaels, Shawn (November 2005). Heartbreak & Triumph: The Shawn Michaels Story. WWE Books. pp. 189–190. ISBN 978-1-4165-2645-2.
- ^ "The Next WWE Diva Ultimately to be Chosen by the Millions of WWE fans Worldwide On September 13". WWE Corporate. July 12, 2004. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
- ^ Sky Sports | TV Guide
- ^ FOX8