WWE Raw 30 Years

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**WWE Raw 30 Years** is a special episode of Monday Night Raw. It is the 30th anniversary edition of the programme. It premiered on the USA Network on January 20, 2023. It took place at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York to an attendance of 11,700 people. The episode was a commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the program's debut in January 1993.

## Background

The card consisted of nine matches, including four dark, untelevised matches, that resulted from scripted storylines and had results predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands. Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, *Monday Night Raw*, and *SmackDown Live*. *Raw* first aired on January 11, 1993 on USA Network and since became the longest-running weekly episodic program in television history with no reruns albeit from its brief run on TNN (renamed to Spike TV in 2003 and now known as the Paramount Network) from 2000 to 2005. On November 16, 2022, USA announced that Monday Night Raw would be hosting a 30th anniversary special edition episode on January 23, 2023. The event was further announced on the November 18, 2022 edition of Friday Night SmackDown and a commercial was shown during the middle of the show.

## Event

### Untelevised Dark Matches

Much like Raw's 25th anniversary, before and during the event, there were a series of untelevised dark matches for the live crowds in attendance. The first match was AJ Styles vs. Bobby Lashley, to which the winner was Bobby, and later, Cedric Alexander and Edge teamed up to defeat the newly debuted Gable Stevenson (who debuted during the episode) and his partner Matt Riddle. Later on in the night, there were two more untelevised matches, consisting of MVP defeating the returned Randy Orton, and Candice LeRae defeating Bianca Belair for the RAW Womens Championship.

### Preliminary matches

The event opened in the KeyBank Center with Stephanie McMahon and Triple H celebrating the 30th anniversary of RAW. Later in the segment, The Judgement Day pulled a surprise attack on Stephanie and Triple H.

The Bloodline made a speech afterwards, saying that while they had ups and downs over their career, the biggest target on their back will always be for the next 30 years anyone who challenges the Tribal Chief or anyone else within the Bloodline, and if they lose, they will be forced to acknowledge Roman Reigns.

In the first televised match at the KeyBank Center, Alexa Bliss, Asuka, and Bianca Belair teamed up against Charlotte Flair (who made her return), Shotzi, and Raquel Rodriguez, in a Six-Woman Tag Team Match. Alexa Bliss performed the *Twister Bliss* on Raquel, which ultimately got Alexa and her team the win. After their win, the team threw the other girls over the top rope and proclaimed they were the bosses of Monday Nights before Damage CTRL, with Carmella and Doudrop, beat them up from behind, and then, Bayley challenged Charlotte to a match at Elimination Chamber, to which Charlotte accepted. Later a segment occurred in which D-Generation X interacted with The Street Profits about each of their time in WWE before D-Generation X started cussing (though it was censored). The Street Profits were kind of concerned about their language, however.

WWE then honoured the 30 greatest hall of famers in RAW's history. These names included Hulk Hogan, Edge, and Jesse Ventura.

In the second match, Seth Rollins defended his United States Championship against Chad Gable. Before Chad could even win the title, Austin Theory came out and beat Chad up. After Seth retained his title, Austin beat him up, setting up for a future feud and match at WrestleMania 39.

In the segment following that match, Steve Austin appeared, and then it was followed by WWE honouring the 30 best female wrestlers in the history of RAW. In the third match, Drew McIntyre defeated Bray Wyatt after a successful Claymore. All of a sudden, Bo Dallas came out to attack Drew and make him "feel the pain". In a backstage interview following that, Drew wanted to get his hands on Bo, and demanded for a match at WrestleMania. After the match, in a non-televised segment shown in the arena, Hulk Hogan appeared, claiming that Dallas is "not gonna have a chance to step up to the Hulk level, no sir".

Edge and Mick Foley made an appearance, with the two of them remembering the old days until Mick mentions one of Edge's worst matches, which causes them to erupt in a brawl. Shortly after, Mick Foley was interrupted by John Cena during his speech.

### Main events

The first of three main events were The Usos going up against Ashante "Thee" Adonis and Top Dolla of Hit Row for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship in the Steel Cage. B-Fab, Solo Sikoa, and *Honorary Uce* Sami Zayn were not allowed to interfere otherwise their team would lose that match and the other one would win, so they went ahead and beat each other up. In the ring, Jimmy pulls off the wrestling atomic move on Top Dolla, but then he leaps back up, causing them to then punch each other. As Jey is called, he climbs up the ring, but Ashanti follows him, only for Jey to do a super kick in front of him. Back outside, Solo Sikoa picks up B-Fab and slams her on the Commentators table, causing her to black out. Top Dolla then gets up and then goes up the ring, only for Jey to jump down to flip Top Dolla over for the submission. Jey fails to do so and calls on Jimmy (and Ashante). Jimmy quickly rushes to the ring, bounces off, and slams Ashante. Ashante gets up as Jey prepares to slam him down again, but Ashante chooses to take him to "Suplex City" instead. Jimmy then grabs a chair from underneath the ring, then rushes in and slams Ashante with it 5 times. Top Dolla comes in to check on Ashante and is dumbfounded when he sees Jimmy and Jey climbing up the fence. He grabs the chair and climbs up from the other side. Once all three man reached the top, both Jimmy and Jey perform a drop kick from the platform, making Top Dolla in a lot of pain. Ashante gets up slowly, but it is too late, as Jimmy and Jey perform a high in the air moonsault, which gets The Usos the win.

The second main event started with SmackDown Womens Champion Ronda Rousey issuing an open challenge to anyone of the SmackDown brand who has not entered the arena yet and is in the locker room for her championship. Xia Li comes out and accepts. The match begins with Ronda running towards Xia with the powerbomb, and pins Xia, but she kicks out. Then, Xia decides to take a page out of Ronda's playbook and do a crossbody on her, which works. Ronda then gets up to the top of the ring and slams Xia. Xia gets up quickly, bouncing off the ropes and making Ronda fly out of the ring. Ronda proceeds to go back in the ring, only for Xia to do a super kick. Xia climbs up the rope, and then Ronda does a suplex. Xia then turns her around but Ronda still kicks out. Triple H then came out and makes their match upgraded to a ladder match.

The third (and final) main event featured Roman Reigns defending the Undisputed Universal Championship against Kevin Owens in an Over the Top Rope challenge.

## Results

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.
(c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.
* Alexa Bliss, Asuka, & Bianca Belair defeated Charlotte Flair, Shotzi, & Raquel Rodriguez by submission (12:05)
* Seth Rollins (c) defeated Chad Gable (w/Otis) to retain the WWE United States Championship (12:25)
* Drew McIntyre defeated Bray Wyatt by pinfall (12:01)
* The Usos (c) defeated Hit Row in a steel cage match to retain the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship (12:27)
* Xia Li defeated Ronda Rousey (c) in a ladder match to win the WWE SmackDown Womens Championship (12:07)
* Roman Reigns (c) defeated Kevin Owens in an Over the Top Rope Challenge to retain the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship (12:17)

### Dark matches

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.
(c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.
* Dark Match: Bobby Lashley defeated AJ Styles (w/Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) (4:13)
* Dark Match: Cedric Alexander & Edge defeated Gable Stevenson & Matt Riddle (5:36)
* Dark Match: MVP (w/Omos) defeated Randy Orton (5:30)
* Dark Match: Candice LeRae defeated Bianca Belair (c) to win the WWE RAW Womens Chapmionship (4:02)

## On-Air Personnel

* Corey Graves

Interviewers* Byron Saxton
* Cathy Kelley
* Kayla Braxton
* Megan Morant

Pre-show panel* Kevin Patrick
* Booker T
* Jerry Lawler
* Peter Rosenberg

SmackDown superstars* The Usos
* Charlotte Flair (return)
* Bray Wyatt
* Drew McIntyre
* Top Dolla
* Ashante "Thee" Adonis
* B-Fab
* Roman Reigns
* Sami Zayn
* Solo Sikoa
* Shotzi
* Raquel Rodriguez
* Ronda Rousey
* Xia Li

Hall of Famers* Ivan Putski
* Don Muraco
* Greg Valentine
* Jesse Ventura
* Sgt. Slaughter
* Superstar Billy Graham
* Tito Santana
* Hulk Hogan
* Bob Orton Jr.
* Jimmy Hart
* The Iron Sheik
* Bret Hart
* Tony Atlas
* Jerry Lawler
* Jim Ross
* Ric Flair
* Steve Austin
* Ricky Steamboat
* Bill Watts
* Koko B. Ware
* Ted DiBiase
* The Undertaker
* Shawn Micheals
* Jim Duggan
* 1–2–3 Kid
* Edge
* Mil Máscaras
* Ron Simmons
* Mick Foley
* Wendi Richter
* Trish Stratus
* Lita
* Madusa
* Jacqueline Moore
* Torrie Wilson
* Molly Holly
* Sharmell
* The Bella Twins
* Alicia Fox
* Melina Perez
* Candice Michelle
* Kelly Kelly
* Eve Torres
* Lilian Garcia
* Kaitlyn
* Stacy Keibler
* Victoria
* Eva Marie
* Christy Hemme
* Maria Kanellis
* Michelle McCool
* Kristal Marshall
* Layla El
* Rosa Mendes
* Maryse Mizanin
* Charlotte Flair
* Nidia Guenard
* Beth Phoenix
* Natalya Neidhart
* Awesome Kong

Referees* Chad Patton
* Dan Engler
* Danilo Anfibio
* Jason Ayers
* Jessika Carr