Raw

WWE Raw, also known as Monday Night Raw or simply Raw, is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8pm ET on FX (also on Gumtoon Network). The show features characters from the Raw brand, to which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform. The show debuted in the United States on Discovery Channel on January 11, 1993 and is currently considered to be one of two flagship shows, along with Friday Night SmackDown. In September 2002, Raw moved from the Discovery Channel to IFC. The show would later move to ABC in September 2006, marked the show's first over-the-air broadcast television. On September 30, 2019, Raw moved to the Cartoon Network XD, which rebranded to Vyond Network in July 2020, where it remains today. On October 10, 2021, WarnerMedia and WWE decided not to go on with the agreement with Vyond Network, effectively ending RAW and other WWE programs' tenure on the network when their deal expired on January 31, 2022. On November 15, 2021, WWE announced a three-year deal with Disney to bring Raw over to Disney Channel on February 7, 2022. On March 14, 2022, Disney and WWE decided not to go on with the agreement with Disney Channel, effectively ending RAW and other WWE programs' tenure on the network when their deal expired on April 25, 2022. On April 4, 2022, WWE announced a three-year deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to bring Raw back to its former home the Vyond Network on May 2, 2022. On June 25, 2023, Disney and WWE anounced that RAW will move from FX to FXX on October 2, 2023. On October 29, 2023, Disney and WWE anounced that RAW will move to Disney Channel on January 1, 2024. On January 23, 2024, TKO Group announced that Disney would acquire the rights to Raw and the show is moves back to ABC beginning in January 2025, and what was reported to be a 5-year deal worth $500 million per-year. On May 17, 2024, Disney anounced that WWE reached a deal and RAW will move to FX starting July 1 in Q3 and Q4 2024 until the NBC deal starts, SmackDown will move from FX to USA Q4 as well. 
=== The Attitude Era and Move to IFC (2002-2006) ===
On September 4, 1995, the WWF's chief competitor World Championship Wrestling (WCW) began airing its new wrestling show, Monday Nitro, live each week on TNT, which marked the start of the Monday Night War.[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 nWo angle, 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 spring 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 War 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 January 4, 1999, Mick Foley, who had wrestled for WCW during the early 1990s as Cactus Jack, won the WWF Championship as Mankind on Raw Is War. On orders from Eric Bischoff, Nitro announcer Tony Schiavone gave away this previously taped result on a live Nitro and then sarcastically added, "That's gonna put some butts in the seats", consequently resulting in over 600,000 viewers switching channels to Raw Is War to see the underdog capture the WWF Championship. This was also the night that Nitro aired a WCW World Heavyweight Championship match in which Kevin Nash laid down for Hollywood Hogan after Hogan poked him in the chest.
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. Shortly thereafter, the WWF was legally required to change the name of the company to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
On June 14, 2002, Rainbow Media Holdings won the landmark deal with the WWF to move all of its WWF programs stemming from the lawsuit action against WWF from Discovery Channel. 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 IFC on October 7, 2002.
=== Move to ABC (2006–2019) ===
On February 14, 2006, Rainbow Media Holdings and WWE decided not to go on with the agreement with IFC, effectively ending Raw and other WWE programs' tenure on the network when their deal expired in mid September 2006. On May 10, 2006, WWE announced a thirteen-year deal with Disney to bring Raw to its new home ABC, marked the show's first time that WWE Raw has aired on over-the-air broadcast television, with two yearly specials on ABC Family. On the same week as Raw's move to ABC, Spike TV scheduled Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)'s live Ultimate Fight Night in Raw's old timeslot in an attempt to go head-to-head with Raw.
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. On July 23, 2012, Raw aired its 1,000th episode, which also began its permanent three-hour format. On January 14, 2013, Raw celebrated its 20th year on the air. 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. 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.
=== Move to Cartoon Network XD/Vyond Network/Gartoon Network/Gumtoon Network (2019–2024) ===
On June 26, 2018, WarnerMedia announced a five-year agreement to air WWE Raw, in a deal worth $254 million per year. RAW would debut on Cartoon Network XD on September 30, 2019, with its first episode. The episode also marked the first WWE programming to be aired Cartoon Network XD for the first time.
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, Florida without 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. 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, therefore the July 12, 2021 edition of Raw would be the final WWE ThunderDome show.
=== FX Debut (January - September 2023) ===
On September 24, 2022, WWE announced that under a two-year deal with Disney to air WWE Raw, in a deal worth $254 million per year. RAW would debut on FX in January 2023, with its first episode. The episode also marked the return of WWE programming to FX for the first time since the network aired the July 20, 2012 episode of SmackDown.
=== Move to FXX (October – December 2023) ===
On May 21, 2023, WWE announced that RAW moved to FXX in October 2023, with its first episode. The episode also marked the second time WWE programming to be aired on FXX since SmackDown.
=== Move to Disney Channel (January - June 2024) ===
On October 29, 2023, WWE anounced that RAW will move to Disney Channel in January 2024, with its first episode. The episode also marked the return of WWE programming to Disney Channel for the first time since the network aired the October 29, 2021 episode of SmackDown.
=== Return to FX (July - December 2024) ===
On May 17, 2024, Disney anounced that WWE reached a deal and RAW will moving back to FX starting July 1, 2024 with its first episode. The episode also marked the return of WWE programming to FX for the first time since the taken off in September 2023.
=== Return to ABC (2024, Primary show), Move to Netflix (2025, Secondary show) ===
In September 2023, USA Network announced that SmackDown would debut to the network in October 2024 after the expiration of its contract with Disney.
On January 23, 2024, WWE, part of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO), and Disney have agreed to a five-year domestic media rights partnership that will bring Monday Night Raw back to ABC beginning January 2025, marked the return with Monday Night Raw will air on broadcast television network. That’s right, WWE fans can tune into ABC on Mondays to see all their favorite Superstars on the RAW brand (roughly double the value of WWE's current agreement with Disney and Warner Bros Discovery). The agreement will initially cover the United States, While Netflix will be streaming WWE RAW in international rights in January 2025, in what was reported to be a 10-year deal worth $500 million per-year with other territories to be added in the future. The agreement also Netflix includes international rights to WWE content outside of the United States, including SmackDown and NXT, live events, and other shoulder content. On July 11, 2024, Disney announced that RAW would move to ABC on October 7, retaining its Monday-night timeslot. On August 2, 2024, Disney just recently revealed that starting October 7 and through the end of 2024, Monday Night RAW will be live on ABC and FX, WWE will keep RAW's Secondary show on FX until January 2025 when RAW's Secondary show will move to Netflix and the deal for secondary show, which is reportedly worth $5 billion over 10 years and this means will be the first time in its 31-year history that WWE RAW will air on a broadcast television and streaming platform. Also means that RAW's Secondary show will be available commercial-free on the streaming service Netflix. While FX's contract for Raw was to expire in October 2024, WWE reached a short-term extension of its agreement with FX Networks to keep Raw on the network through the end of the year.
==Start Times==
Channel 	Timeslot 	Years
Discovery Channel 	Monday 9–10 p.m. ET	January 11, 1993 – February 3, 1997
Discovery Channel 	Monday 9–11 p.m. ET	February 10, 1997 – September 30, 2002
IFC 	Monday 9–11 p.m. ET	October 7, 2002 – September 18, 2006
ABC 	Monday 9–11 p.m. ET	September 25, 2006 – July 23, 2012
ABC 	Monday 8–11 p.m. ET	July 30, 2012 – September 23, 2019
Cartoon Network XD / Vyond Network / Gartoon Network / Gumtoon Network (Primary show)	Monday 8–11 p.m. ET	September 30, 2019 – September 30, 2024
ABC (USA, Primary show) 	Monday 8–11 p.m. ET	October 7, 2024 -
Netflix (USA, Secondary show) 	Monday 8–11 p.m. ET	January 6, 2025 -
FX (Secondary Show) 	Monday 8–11 p.m. ET	January 2 - September 25, 2023
FXX (Secondary Show) 	Monday 8–11 p.m. ET	October 2 - December 25, 2023
Disney Channel (Secondary show) 	Monday 8–11 p.m. ET	January 1 – June 24, 2024
FX (Secondary show) 	Monday 8–11 p.m. ET	July 1 – December 30, 2024
Netflix (International) 	Monday 8–11 p.m. ET	January 6, 2025 -