| WWE Raw | |
|---|---|
 WWE Raw logo (2025–present) | |
| Also known as | Raw is War (1997–2001)[1] Raw SuperShow (2011–2012)[2] |
| Genre | Professional wrestling |
| Created by | Vince McMahon |
| Written by |
|
| Presented by |
|
| Starring | Raw roster |
| Opening theme | "4x4" byTravis Scott (from January 6, 2025) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 33 |
| No. of episodes | 1659 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Paul Levesque Lee Fitting |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera setup |
| Running time |
|
| Production company | WWE |
| Original release | |
| Network | USA Network |
| Release | January 11, 1993 (1993-01-11) – September 18, 2000 (2000-09-18) |
| Network | TNN/Spike TV |
| Release | September 25, 2000 (2000-09-25) – September 26, 2005 (2005-09-26) |
| Network | USA Network |
| Release | October 3, 2005 (2005-10-3) – December 30, 2024 (2024-12-30) |
| Network | Netflix |
| Release | January 6, 2025 (2025-01-06) – present |
| Related | |
WWE Raw, also known asMonday Night Raw or simplyRaw, is an Americanprofessional wrestling television program produced byWWE. It currently airslive every Monday at 8 p.m.Eastern Time (ET) onNetflix. The show features characters from theRawbrand, to which WWE wrestlers are assigned to work and perform. It debuted on January 11, 1993, and is considered to be one of WWE's two flagship programs, along withFriday Night SmackDown.[3]
Since its first episode,Raw has been broadcast live from 209 different arenas, 172 cities and towns, and eleven different nations, mostly in the United States;Raw shows have also been broadcast and taped in Canada, Germany,[4] Italy,[5] Japan,[6] Mexico,[7] Saudi Arabia,[8] South Africa,[9] and the United Kingdom, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq as part ofTribute to the Troops.
Debuting on theUSA Networktelevision channel,Raw moved in September 2000 to TNN,[10] which rebranded toSpike TV in August 2003. On October 3, 2005,Raw returned to USA Network, where it remained until January 6, 2025, when it moved to theNetflixstreaming platform, which is scheduled to broadcast the program for a period of at least 10 years.[11][12] The company's ownWWE Network ceased operations in the United States on April 5, 2021, with all content being moved toPeacock, which had most previousRaw episodes until the transition to Netflix in 2025.[13]Raw has also been broadcast globally on other networks since it first began.
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Beginning as WWF'sMonday Night Raw, the program first aired on January 11, 1993, on theUSA Network as a replacement forPrime Time Wrestling, which aired on the network for eight years. The originalRaw was sixty minutes in length and broke new ground in televised professional wrestling. Traditionally, wrestling shows were pre-taped on sound stages with small audiences or at large arena shows. TheRaw formula was considerably different from the pre-taped weekend shows that aired at the time such asSuperstars andWrestling Challenge. Instead of matches taped weeks in advance with studio voice overs and taped discussion,Raw was a show shot and aired to a live audience, with angles and matches playing out as they happened.
Raw originated from theGrand Ballroom at the Manhattan Center, a smallNew York City theater, and aired live each week. The combination of an intimate venue and live action proved to be a successful improvement. However, the weekly live schedule proved to be a financial drain on the WWF. From spring 1993 until spring 1997,Raw would tape several week's worth of episodes after a live episode had aired. The WWF taped several weeks worth ofRaw from theMid-Hudson Civic Center inPoughkeepsie,New York in April 1993, and again in June and October. The first episode produced outside of New York was taped inBushkill,Pennsylvania in November 1993 andRaw left the Manhattan Center permanently as the show would be taken on the road throughout the United States and had in smaller venues.
On September 4, 1995, the WWF's chief competitorWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) began airing its new wrestling show,Monday Nitro, live each week onTNT, which marked the start of theMonday Night War.[14]Raw andNitro 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 andNitro exchanged victories over each other in a closely contested rivalry. Beginning in mid-1996, however, due to thenWoangle,Nitro started a ratings win-streak that lasted for 84 consecutive weeks, ending on April 13, 1998.[14] On February 3, 1997,Raw went to a two-hour format,[14] to compete with the extra hour onNitro (which had been expanded to two hours in the spring of 1996), and by March 10, it was renamed toRaw Is War. It was also during the timeRaw would be aired live more often. AfterWrestleMania 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 ofRaw Is War, which was headlined by a match betweenStone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon, marked the first time thatNitro had lost the head-to-head Monday nightratings battle in the 84 weeks since 1996.[15]
On January 4, 1999,Mick Foley, who had wrestled for WCW during the early 1990s as Cactus Jack,won the WWF Championship as Mankind onRaw Is War. On orders fromEric Bischoff,Nitro announcerTony Schiavone gave away this previously taped result on a liveNitro and then sarcastically added, "That's gonna put some butts in the seats", consequently resulting in over 600,000 viewers switching channels toRaw Is War to see the underdog capture theWWF Championship. This was also the night thatNitro aired aWCW World Heavyweight Championship match in whichKevin Nash laid down forHollywood Hogan after Hoganpoked him in the chest.
On June 28, 2000,Viacom won the landmark deal with the WWF to move all of its WWF programs stemming from the lawsuit action against WWF from USA Network.[16] The new television contract and the subsequent purchase of competitor WCW led to many changes in WWF's programming content.Raw Is War premiered onTNN on September 25, 2000.
WCW's sharp decline in revenue and ratings led toAOL Time Warner selling selected assets such as the WCW name, tape library, and contracts to the WWF in March 2001 for $3 million.[17] The final episode ofNitro, which aired on March 26, 2001, began with Vince McMahon making a short statement about his recent purchase of WCW and ended with a simulcast withRaw on TNN andNitro on TNT including an appearance by Vince's sonShane.[18] The younger McMahon interrupted his father's gloating over the WCW purchase to explain that Shane was the one who actually owned WCW, setting up what became the WWF's "Invasion" storyline. Following the purchase of WCW and theSeptember 11 attacks, the program was retitled asRaw on October 1, 2001, permanently retiring theRaw Is War moniker in prelude to theupcoming United States invasion of Afghanistan.
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 whichRaw andSmackDown! would be treated as two distinct divisions, each with their own rosters and championships.[19] Shortly thereafter, the WWF waslegally required to change the name of the company to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
On March 10, 2005, Viacom and WWE decided not to go on with the agreement with Spike TV (formerly TNN, nowParamount Network), effectively endingRaw and otherWWE programs' tenure on Spike TV when their deal expired in September 2005. On April 4, 2005, WWE announced a three-year deal withNBCUniversal to bringRaw back to its former home, USA Network, with two yearly specials onNBC and a SpanishRaw onTelemundo.[20] On the same week asRaw's return to USA Network, Spike TV scheduledUltimate Fighting Championship (UFC)'s liveUltimate Fight Night inRaw's old timeslot in an attempt to go head-to-head withRaw.[21]
Since the return to USA Network,Raw has been pre-empted during theU.S. Open, whichaired on USA, resulting inRaw to be moved toSciFi, a sister channel to USA, for three years. Since 2016, the two-hour version of that week'sRaw has aired on Syfy. In February 2022, Raw temporarily moved to Syfy for two episodes due toUSA's coverage (as part ofNBC Sports) of the2022 Winter Olympics.
On the August 29, 2011 episode ofRaw, it was announced that performers fromRaw andSmackDown were no longer exclusive to their respective brand, thus effectively dissolving the brand extension.[22] On July 23, 2012,Raw aired its1,000th episode, which also began its permanent three-hour format.[23][24] On January 14, 2013,Raw celebrated its 20th year on the air.[25] On May 25, 2016, WWE reintroduced thebrand split, and a new set with red ring ropes, a brand new stage, used atSummerSlam. 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 theBarclays Center in Brooklyn and the home of the first Monday Night Raw, the Manhattan Center.[26] On the February 19 episode ofRaw, six days beforeElimination Chamber, seven participants of the men'sElimination Chamber match,Braun Strowman,Elias,Finn Bálor,John Cena,Roman Reigns,Seth Rollins andThe Miz, were involved in aGauntlet 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.[27]
From March 12, 2020, to August 18, 2020, WWE announced that all of its live programs would air from theWWE Performance Center inOrlando, Floridawithout an audience until further notice beginning with the following day's episode ofSmackDown due to theCOVID-19 pandemic that resulted in the suspension of many professional sports leagues. On the May 25 episode ofRaw, NXT trainees were added into live crowds at the Performance Center.[28] In August, all programming was moved to the new, state-of-the-artWWE ThunderDome inside of theAmway Center in Orlando. On May 21, 2021, WWE announced that they will return in front of live fans with a 25 city tour,[29] therefore the July 12, 2021 edition of Raw would be the final WWE ThunderDome show.[30]
In September 2023, USA Network announced thatSmackDown would return to the network in October 2024 after the expiration of its contract withFox; it was concurrently reported that the rights toRaw andNXT were on the market with heavy interest among linear networks and digital properties.[31][32]
On January 23, 2024,TKO Group announced thatNetflix would acquire the rights toRaw beginning in January 2025, in what was reported to be a 10-year deal worth $500 million per-year (roughly double the value of WWE's current agreement with NBCUniversal). The agreement will initially cover the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Latin America, with other territories to be added in the future. The agreement also gives Netflix rights to all WWE programming outside of the United States (replacing WWE Network), including weekly shows, archive content, and live events.[33][34][35] While USA Network's contract forRaw was to expire in October 2024, WWE reached a short-term extension of its agreement with NBCUniversal to keepRaw on the network through the end of the year. From October 7 through December 30,Raw was shortened from three to two hours; wrestling reporterDave Meltzer stated that this was a request made by USA Network.[36][37][38]
With the move to streaming, WWE chief content officerPaul "Triple H" Levesque said that the length of the show on Netflix will be "flexible", and no longer bound to a set runtime as with shows carried on linear television.[39] When asked about the average runtime of each episode, he responded that "for me, the perfect show time is somewhere in the two-and-a-half-hour range. If you had asked me years ago, the two hour shows, you get into them and you don't have the real estate on that program to get everything in there you want to get in, all the stories and characters. Sometimes, it's a good thing because it creates scarcity and opportunity for people to be more over, but sometimes there are things you want to get in there."[39]
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Raw's original set featured red, white, and blue ring-ropes, a blue ring-apron, blue steps, and a small stage made of neon light tubes. In 1995, the entrance way was changed to feature "Raw" in giant letters. Beginning on March 10, 1997, broadcasts ofRaw were split into two hour-long blocks, each given its own name fortelevision ratings purposes. The first hour was referred to asRaw Is War, and the second became known asWar Zone. These changes were reflected in television listings and, beginning with the June 9, 1997 episode, by the show's on-screen graphics.War Zone initially opened with a repeat of the Raw intro, punctuated with the War Zone logo. On November 24, 1997, the hour received its own distinct opening video, a remixed version of the typical Raw opening.
In 1997, the WWF changed the color of the ring-ropes to red and began printingRaw Is War along the ring in reference to theirrivalry withWCW. The stages was updated to feature a 70-foot tall large screen video wall known as the "TitanTron", which consisted of aprojection screen with severalmetal stage trusses and avideo projector. The set also initially featuredcurtains on each side with truss beams and lighting later bearing the "WWF Attitude" banner on the sides. By 1999, the WWF placed a "WWF.com: 'Download This!'" logo on the bottom of the TitanTron and added two vertical sides on the stage along with a USA Network logo on top of the TitanTron.
Raw moved toTNN fromUSA beginning with the September 25, 2000 episode. The TNN network logo was added atop the TitanTron on the December 11, 2000 episode.Chyron graphics were added to the bottom beginning with the July 2, 2001 episode.
Beginning October 1, 2001, in direct response to theSeptember 11 attacks, the first hour was referred to asRaw instead ofRaw Is War, and the second hour was rebranded from theWar Zone to theRaw Zone within the show's on-screen graphics. The Monday Night War had ended months earlier with the WWF's purchase of the competing WCW brand.Monday Nitro, which had once gone head-to-head withRaw, aired its final show in March. WWF announcers began generally referring to the entire two-hour block asRaw on-air.Raw updated to a new, industrial-inspired,parallelogram-shaped TitanTron in 2002. Ring apron lettering that had once bornRaw Is War slogan was replaced with an advertisement for the WWF website. Around this time, black ring-ropes were occasionally used. Like the previous set, the TNN logo was relocated to the bottom side of the TitanTron. It was subsequently replaced by theSpike TV logo on August 11, 2003, upon network relaunch. During the July 25, 2005 broadcast ofRaw inCleveland,Ohio, a special stage design was built for theJohn Cena-Chris Jericho Battle of the Bands concert.
The 2002 set was designed by Production Designer Jason Robinson. It featured a larger TitanTron with dimensions of 55 feet wide by 25 feet tall. The expanded structure weighed about 4,000 pounds and requiring three 18,000-watt projector screens to power itself. According toEric Bischoff on a 2003 episode ofWWE Confidential, the show utilized 13 cameras at the time at a cost of $85,000.
On October 3, 2005, asRaw returned to USA Network, the 2002 set was retained but the beams and lighting on the sides were modified. The Spike TV logo was removed from the bottom side of the TitanTron. On October 9, 2006, the show debuted a new logo and opening intro featuring "...To Be Loved" byPapa Roach as its theme song. This logo and intro were retained until November 9, 2009, a period that also saw the changeover to broadcastingRaw inhigh-definition, which occurred on January 21, 2008.
From November 16, 2009, to July 16, 2012, the theme song for theRaw brand was "Burn It to the Ground" byNickelback.[40] Prior to this, the theme song forRaw was "...To Be Loved" byPapa Roach, which had been used since October 9, 2006 and "Across The Nation" byThe Union Underground which was used from April 1, 2002, to October 2, 2006. The rock and roll outro of "Thorn In Your Eye" featuringScott Ian ofAnthrax was the theme song from March 31, 1997, to March 25, 2002.
On May 17, 2012, WWE and USA Network announced thatRaw would switch to a permanent three-hour format beginning with the 1,000th episode on July 23, 2012.[41] Since then, all three hours of the broadcast have been known solely asRaw, though they are still considered three separate programs for Nielsen ratings purposes (as indicated by the on-screen copyright notice shown near the end of each hour). In 2010, WWE retired the red ropes forRaw after thirteen years for an all white scheme, which in 2012 became standard for all WWE programming. In 2012,Raw updated their HD set.[42]
Beginning in mid-2014, this set would also be featured inpay-per-views. From late September through the end of October 2012, the middle rope at all WWE programming was changed to pink due to WWE's alliance with theSusan G. Komen organization forBreast Cancer Awareness Month.[43] This was repeated in 2013, from late September to early November, and it was repeated in 2014 from September 29. WWE is one of many organizations who provide financial contributions to the organization in addition to raising awareness among its staff and consumers.[44]
On August 18, 2014,Raw switched to a full 16:9 letterbox widescreen presentation, with a down-scaled version of the native HD feed on a 4:3 SD feed. In conjunction with this,Raw updated its graphics package, with the new WWE logo (first used with the WWE Network's launch in February) now on the lower-right corner of the screen, right next to the word, "Live". At this time, the new WWE logo began appearing on the ring's turnbuckle covers, and USA Network logo moved to the lower-left hand corner of the screen. Additionally,Raw's theme song ("The Night") was modified.
On March 23, 2015, WWE added a smallLED board to the left side of the ring onRaw. This LED board was also used atWrestleMania 31. The LED board has since been featured on a sporadic basis, appearing in some weeks and being absent in others. On the1,000th episode ofRaw, "The Night" by Kromestatik debuted as the theme forRaw. "Energy" byShinedown served as the secondary theme-song until August 18, 2014, when it was replaced with "Denial" byWe Are Harlot.[45]
On the September 14, 2015 season premiere ofRaw, the middle rope was colored gold. Throughout the month of October 2015, the program once again partnered withSusan G. Komen for the Cure to promoteBreast Cancer Awareness Month, with various stage elements being made pink.[46] On the November 16, 2015, episode ofRaw, WWE had a moment of silence for the victims of theterrorist attack inParis, France, on November 13, 2015.[47] Another moment of silence was held months later in June for the victims of theOrlando nightclub shooting.
On July 25, 2016, the ropes returned to red, the announce table moved back to the top of the stage for the first time since 2005, and a new HD set and graphics were debuted. The new set was almost identical to the set used forSummerSlam2012 and2013. After some fans responded negatively to the redesign, the set was revamped four weeks later with a more elaborate and distinctive arrangement. The new set featured the absence of a traditional TitanTron, which had been part of theRaw staging since 1997. In its place was a curved LED banner with several rows of rectangle LED lights behind it. The new set also introduced LED floor panels on the entrance ramp along with LED ring posts. On the January 29, 2018 episode of Raw, new graphics and an updated logo were introduced, which lasted until September 23, 2019.[48]
In September 2021, the ring-ropes changed color from red to white, which was also reflected onSmackDown. On November 22 of that year, an updated version of the 2019 logo was introduced, alongside new graphics. The theme song was changed to "Greatness" by Vo Williams, which remained its theme song until November 20, 2023, when it was changed to "Born to Be" by def rebel, the artist behind WWE's music input for its programming, which is performed by Supreme Madness. Bumper themes included "Survival", "Eye of an Warrior" and "Legacy".
In February 2022,Raw andNXT temporarily moved toSyfy in the United States due to USA Network broadcasting coverage of the2022 Winter Olympics. A similar arrangement occurred in August 2024 for the2024 Summer Olympics.
To differentiate the presentation fromSmackDown, since January 6, 2025,Raw introduced a black mat featuring the logos ofNetflix,Fortnite,Snickers,Cricket Wireless,Hulk Hogan's Real American Beer, andRiyadh Season. The Fortnite logo was removed the following week. It also introduced a new announce table featuring sets of a LED lights with the WWE logo on a centre, which is a major change to the announce table design since the first brand extension of 2002.[49]
| Song title | Written and/or performed by | Dates used | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Monday Night Raw" | Roger H. Tallman | January 11, 1993 – March 3, 1997 | [50][51] |
| "Raw" | Roger H. Tallman &Jim Johnston | 1993–1995 | [50][52] |
| "The Beautiful People" | Marilyn Manson | March 10, 1997 – March 24, 1997 | [50][53] |
| "Thorn in Your Eye" | WWE Superstars & Slam Jam | March 31, 1997 – March 25, 2002 | [50][54][55] |
| "We're All Together Now" | WWE Superstars & Slam Jam | March 31, 1997 – March 25, 2002 | [50][56] |
| "Across the Nation" | The Union Underground | April 1, 2002 – October 2, 2006 | [50][57] |
| "...To Be Loved" | Papa Roach | October 9, 2006 – November 9, 2009 | [50][58][59] |
| "Burn It to the Ground" | Nickelback | November 16, 2009 – July 16, 2012 | [50][60][61] |
| "Tonight Is the Night" | Outasight | July 23, 2012 (only used forRaw 1000) | [50][62][63] |
| "The Night"1 | CFO$ (Kromestatik) | July 23, 2012 – July 18, 2016 | [50][64][65] |
| "Enemies" | Shinedown | July 25, 2016 – January 22, 2018 | [66] |
| "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)" | Fall Out Boy | January 22, 2018 (only used forRaw 25 Years) | [67] |
| "Born for Greatness" | Papa Roach | January 29, 2018 – September 23, 2019 | [68] |
| "Legendary" | Skillet | September 30, 2019 – October 12, 2020 | [69] |
| "The Search" | NF | October 19, 2020 – November 15, 2021 | [70] |
| "Greatness" | Vo Williams | November 22, 2021 – November 13, 2023 | [71] |
| "I'm Good (Blue)" | David Guetta &Bebe Rexha | January 23, 2023 (only used forRaw is XXX) | [72] |
| "Born to Be" | def rebel | November 20, 2023 – December 30, 2024 | [73] |
| "4x4"2 | Travis Scott | January 6, 2025 – present | [74][75] |
The name forRaw was disputed in June 2009 when Muscle Flex Inc., aLos Angeles-based fitness company, had taken legal action against the WWE after a court ruled that some of WWE's trademarks related toRaw were similar enough to theIn the Raw trademark that they caused confusion amongCanadians.[76] On June 18, 2008, theCanadian Intellectual Property Office then issued a final decision that found certain wares listed in the trademark application from WWE (No. 1,153,018) were confusingly similar and thus lacked distinctiveness from the Muscle Flex trademark, which Muscle Flex is in the process of acquiring. The WWE appealed the CIPO's ruling to theFederal Court of Canada, but failed to file the required documents by the deadline.[77]
In August 2009, the court ruled in favor of Muscle Flex, Inc. that it was successful in defending itsIn the Raw trademark against the WWE. In a press release date issued on July 20, 2009, Muscle Flex Inc. disclosed that it was in possession of WWERaw-labeled items that it believes directly infringe on itsIn the Raw trademark such as various CDs,VHS tapes, and a number of apparel items. According to the WWE's most recent reported financial quarter in 2009, combined sales of WWE's consumer products and digital media business segments produced $40 million in global revenues. In previous quarters, these numbers were even higher.[78]
Similarly, in June 2017, the WWE issued a legal order to Raw Motors, an automobile repair company inColwick, UK, over a logo that it claims infringes on one of its logos forRaw that was used from 2006 to 2012.[79][80]
Throughout its broadcast history, the show has aired episodes that have different themes. Some of them are yearly events such as theSlammy Awards. Others include tributes to various professional wrestlers who have recently died or retired from actively performing, as well as episodes commemorating various show milestones or anniversaries such asRaw 1000, which celebrated the 1000th broadcast. Raw also celebrated its thirtieth anniversary on RAW IS XXX on January 23, 2023.
The wrestlers featured on WWE take part in scriptedfeuds andstorylines. Wrestlers are portrayed asheroes,villains, orless distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match.
The primary commentators forRaw areMichael Cole andPat McAfee. Additional commentary has been provided byJim Ross,Jerry Lawler,Jonathan Coachman,Joey Styles,Tom Phillips,Kevin Patrick,Joe Tessitore and others since its creation.
Since January 2025,Alicia Taylor is WWE Raw's lead ring announcer.
In the United States, the show airslive every Monday at 8 p.m.ET on Netflix. Occasionally,Raw is aired on same-day tape delay when WWE is on an overseas tour.Raw is also shownlive onTNT Sports in theUnited Kingdom andIreland,[81] in a deal which began January 2020.[82][83]Raw airs live in India at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesdays onSony Ten 1.[84][85][86] Since October 6, 2014,Raw has been airing live throughoutLatin America onFox Sports.[87] Currently, Raw is broadcast live on ESPN 4 for Central America and on Fox Sports 2 in South America, in Mexico it is broadcast on Fox Sports, in Argentina on Fox Sports 3, in Chile on Fox Sports 1 and in Brazil on Fox Sports 2 and ESPN Extra, (also available onStar+ for Central and South America).[88] The show also airs live on Supersport in South Africa on Tuesdays at 02:00 am CAT.Raw had aired in Australia onFox8 since 2003, usually on a 27-hour tape delay, but has started airing live as of February 4, 2014.[89]Syfy in the United States started airing a 2-hour replay ofRaw on May 20, 2016. On June 26, 2018, WWE and USA Network announced a five-year contract extension forRaw. The new agreement for the live, weekly three-hour block commenced in October 2019.[90] Clips from some WWE shows have also been shown on Fox Sports.com.[91]
On September 24, 2012,Hulu signed a multi-year deal with WWE to stream all of the company's TV shows and some of its web series which includesRaw. Episodes ofRaw are available for viewing the following day as a condensed 90-minute version is available, not the full version as shown the previous night on USA Network.[92]
As of December 9, 2016, all episodes ofRaw are available on demand on the WWE Network. Recent episodes are available for on-demand viewing 30 days after their original air date.[93][94]
AfterWrestleMania 32 in 2016, WWE began with airing the newest episodes of Raw andSmackDown onYouTube for countries that do not air WWE programming on traditional TV for free in less than 24 hours after the original broadcast (The links are blocked in countries where the shows are traditionally available). The 90-minute Hulu version gets put on YouTube for international audiences.
As of January 6, 2025,Raw is exclusively streaming on Netflix in most countries.
From 1995 to 2006,Raw was shown onThe Sports Network (TSN) until it moved to rival sports broadcaster The Score (now renamedSportsnet 360) after it was announced that TSN would be carryingMonday Night Football for the 2006 season. This meant that Canadian viewers would have to watch via tape-delay, as The Score did not broadcastRaw live at that time. Around that time, The Score airedCountdown to Raw until May 2013 whenRaw is shown live to match the United States airtime.[95][96] It was also shown onCKVR-TV in Barrie andCKMI-TV in Quebec until 2009.
During its run on TSN, which airedlive, Raw occasionally had been censored live for extremely violent scenes, or when female wrestlers orcharacters were assaulted by male wrestlers (particularly one segment that featured the3-Minute Warning assaulting Kitana Baker). These actions are supposed to be in order to meet Canadian broadcast standards, withrepeat broadcasts often moreheavily edited. This move had disappointed many wrestling fans over the years, and is unusual since the violence of wrestling scenes are not significantly different from other television programs aired on regular Canadian networks.[97][98]
Due to Rogers holding the rights to theNational Hockey League broadcasts,Raw also aired on itsOLN channel (now Bravo).[99]
All archived broadcasts ofRaw were available on theWWE Network until its closure in December 2024. Since January 1, 2025, WWE’s Canadian broadcast rights are held byNetflix. Select archived episodes are available for streaming on Netflix under the titleRaw Vault, with live broadcasts beginning on January 6.
Raw airs live in theMENA region onShahid streaming platform Tuesday mornings, and later on the same day, a one-hour version airs onMBC Action at 8 PMEgypt Standard Time.[100] It also airs on FM1 in Iran and[101][102] onSport 1 andSport 1 HD in Israel.[103][104] In 2017, Raw began airing on S Sport and S Sport Plus in Turkey, continuing until 2023.[105]
In Germany,Raw airs live and is on-demand on the Website ofBild, only for Bild+ Subscribers and with German commentary onProSieben MAXX every Wednesday at 10pm.[106] In Belgium,Raw airs onABXplore (in French) and onPlay6.[107][108]
In Czech Republic,Raw airs onNova Sport.[109]
In France,Raw airs onAB1 every Wednesday with French commentary.[110][111]
In Italy,Raw airs live on Discovery Plus and with the Italian commentary 7 days after on DMAX.
In Lithuania,Raw airs onBTV.[112] In Poland,Raw airs onExtreme Sports Channel.[113][114]
In Portugal,Raw airs live onSport TV[115] with Portuguese commentary. In Romania,Raw airs onTelekom Sport.[116]
In Russia, there is currently no broadcaster of the programme.[117]Raw previously aired onMatch! Fighter with Russian commentary until 2022, when WWE ceased broadcasting their programs and Premium Live Events in Russia in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[118] In Serbia,Raw was airs onPrva Srpska Televizija.,[119] like it was airs onOBN inBosnia and Herzegovina and onRTL 2 in Croatia.
In Spain,Raw aired onMega every Saturday at 1pm with Spanish commentary.[120]
In the United Kingdom and Ireland,Raw airs live onNetflix as well asSmackdown andNXT.[121]
Raw airs live onSony Ten 1 and Sony Ten 1 HD in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal.[102][122][123][124] It airs on Ten Sports in Pakistan.[102][125] Raw airs on Mola TV On-Demand in Indonesia.[126] In India Raw is aired Live and Replays are available via theOver-The-Top Service inSonyLiv which also provides its own section ofWWE Network as a Separate Subscription.
Raw streams live in the Philippines on Blast TV (formerly TapGO) with a live and encore telecast onTAP Sports & Blast Sports on the same day.[127]
Raw airs live on Starhub's Hub Sports 2 in Singapore.[128]
Raw airs on Astro's Sport Plus in Malaysia.[129]
Raw airs both live and delayed onFox8 and Thursday nights on9Go! as a one-hour version in Australia.[130][131]
Raw airs onAbema in Japan.[132]
Raw airs live onSky 5 and Friday nights onSky Open as a one-hour version in New Zealand.[133]
Raw airs inChina on various local networks within China[134] andVideoland Television Network in Taiwan in both English andThai.[135]
Raw airs onViuTVsix inHong Kong, onTen Sports in Pakistan, and on IB Sports inSouth Korea.
Raw airs live onFox Sports in Mexico[87][136][137] and acrossCentral andSouth America.[87][138][139] It also airs onLa Red in Chile,[140][141] Unitel in Bolivia,[142]Canal Uno in Colombia,[140][143][144]Teleamazonas in Ecuador,[145]Andina de Televisión in Peru,[146][147]Repretel: Canal 11 in Costa Rica, Canal VTV in El Salvador,[87][148]Canal 5 in Honduras,[87][149] RPC Canal 4 in Panama[87][150][151] andImagen Televisión in Mexico.[152] It is assumed that all of these channels will lose their rights in their respective countries in January 2025 asNetflix acquired the rights toRaw in Latin America.
Previously the rights to broadcast Raw, along with other WWE shows, were held by free-to-air broadcastere.tv.[153] Raw would play on Sundays in the evening, with a 7-day delay, edited to one hour and was the most watched program on the channel. However, in 2017 e.tv decided not to renew its broadcasting deal with WWE.[154] The rights were later resold toSuperSport (the initial broadcasters of WWE programming).[155][156][failed verification]
In 2019 SuperSport, along with its parent companyMultiChoice, signed a deal to broadcast the 24-hour WWE channel as a pop-up channel for five months on theirDStv platform.[157] It is now a permanent channel on DStv under the channel number 128
| Channel | Timeslot | Years |
|---|---|---|
| USA | Monday 9–10 p.m.ET | January 11, 1993 – February 3, 1997 |
| Monday 9–11 p.m.ET | February 10, 1997 – September 18, 2000 | |
| TNN/Spike TV | September 25, 2000 – September 26, 2005 | |
| USA | October 3, 2005 – July 16, 2012 | |
| Monday 8–11 p.m.ET | July 23, 2012 – September 30, 2024 | |
| Monday 8–10 p.m.ET | October 7, 2024 – December 30, 2024 | |
| Netflix | Flexible | January 6, 2025 – present |
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 45th People's Choice Awards | TV show of 2019 | WWE Raw | Nominated | [158] |
WWE Entertainment's (NYSE: WWE) RAW IS WAR, already the highest rated regularly scheduled program on cable television, achieved its highest rating of the season this past Monday night on The National Network (TNN).
Not only did WWE's Chief Operating Officer figure prominently throughout the first ever Raw SuperShow, combining Superstars from both Raw and SmackDown, he also informed one Superstar that he'll be hanging up the suit and tie to square off in three weeks at Night of Champions.
NXT and NXT UK join Raw and SmackDown on BT Sport, the exclusive live broadcaster of the WWE's flagship programming in the UK and Ireland from Wednesday 1 January 2020.
WWE® (NYSE: WWE) and BT Sport today announced a new multi-year exclusive pay TV agreement that will make WWE's weekly flagship programming available live in the U.K. and Ireland on BT Sport beginning January 2020.
BT Sport have landed the exclusive rights to show the WWE in the United Kingdom and Ireland, meaning that every pay-per-view event will be shown on BT Sport Box Office from 1 January 2020 along with Raw and Smackdown Live.
