WWE Wrestling concert tickets 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.
The show's first night back on USA was billed as the "WWE Homecoming" and featured the return of former WWE Wrestling 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 Wrestling Homecoming was three hours long - the 2nd 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 Wrestling announced that Raw received its highest ratings in three years, gaining close to six million viewers. 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. Following the 2009 WWE Wrestling Draft, Michael Cole became the new play-by-play announcer for Raw, while Jim Ross moved to SmackDown. The WWE Wrestling Champion Triple H was also drafted to SmackDown, which gave SmackDown two world championships to be featured on the brand. A week later, CM Punk cashed in WWE Wrestling's Money in the Bank contract and defeated the World Heavyweight Champion Edge, bringing the World Heavyweight Championship back to Raw.
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