During 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 making 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 in 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!""
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 decrease in revenue and ratings led to Time Warner's sale of the company to the WWF in 2001. The last version of "Nitro" was shown 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 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.
In early to mid-2002, WWE had 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 did not want 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" said they have earned the distinction of having the most original episodes of any fictional weekly program on August 2, 2005 when it broadcast 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.
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 old home, the USA Network, with 2 yearly specials on NBC and a Spanish "Raw" on Telemundo. On the same week as "Raw"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s restart on USA, Spike TV scheduled Ultimate Fighting Championship's live "Ultimate Fight Night" in "Raw"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s old timeslot in a try 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" got 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.