Happy Birthday Monday Night Raw

Twenty four years ago today, a show called “Monday Night Raw” debuted on the USA Network. At the time, I don’t think anyone had any real idea what was going to become of this little hour long wrestling show but things changed a good bit. Today we’re going to look at how big a difference this show caused and how much it has meant to wrestling over the years.

Now obviously we don’t have time to go over the show’s whole history as there have been well over twelve hundred episodes and more big matches and moments than can be counted. Instead, we’re going to look at why “Monday Night Raw” is such a big deal and why it’s still the most important wrestling show in the world.

Let’s get that out of the way to start: “Monday Night Raw” is the undisputed biggest and more important wrestling show in the world and it has been for the better part of twenty years and unless you count a few years of “Monday Nitro” winning the ratings war, it’s well over twenty. No matter how bad it gets, “Monday Night Raw” is the flagship program of the biggest wrestling company in the world.

That’s the biggest reason it matters so much: it’s the most important show for the most important company. No matter what “Smackdown Live” does or “Impact Wrestling” (stop laughing) does, they’re not going to live in the same ballpark as “Monday Night Raw”. Try as they might, it’s laughable to suggest that any other show is on the same level. Sure “Smackdown Live” has won a few weeks of ratings but those come off as aberrations instead of a change in the status quo.

So how did we get here? What made “Monday Night Raw” so special? Well to begin with, it was on Mondays. That was the biggest change from what had been the norm in wrestling for so long. What was going to be easier to market: a show airing at 6:05 on Saturday nights or a show airing every Monday night at 8pm? It made the show feel like it mattered instead of just being the niche show that was only geared towards wrestling fans.

On top of that, things happened a bit more frequently than on a lot of the syndicated shows. While “Monday Night Raw” did take some time to get going, eventually we were seeing WWF World Title matches airing on prime time TV. This would occasionally take place elsewhere back in the day but most of the business had been geared towards house shows and pay per views.

Now all over a sudden there’s this sleek, good looking, well produced wrestling show with big name matches and angles taking place week to week. In a word, this was different and that was a good thing. While a lot of those earlier shows were downright boring with way too many squashes, little things started to creep in that would make “Monday Night Raw” into the big show instead of “Superstars”.

The big change took place in early 1997 when “Monday Night Raw” was really feeling the pressure from “Monday Nitro”. It was clear that the show needed to be revamped and that’s exactly what happened. What would become the classic set was brought in and the storylines were almost exclusively taking place on the show instead of partially on the weekend shows.

That’s when the show became what we know it as today. Now EVERYTHING that mattered took place on “Monday Night Raw” and it became must see TV for wrestling fans. By this point it was all about either “Monday Nitro” or “Monday Night Raw” and that by the time the spring of 2001 came around (if you want to be very generous to WCW), there was only one real option.

After “Monday Nitro” went off the air, “Monday Night Raw” was the only game in town, even if you consider the company’s other show its biggest competition. It’s safe to say that nothing has been a real threat to the WWE’s dominance in the cable market since WCW and “Monday Night Raw” is a big reason for that. How much of an inroad can you make against WWE when you’re starting from scratch and fighting against a juggernaut like “Monday Night Raw”?

The fact that the show has made it this far really is remarkable. “Monday Nitro” was only on the air for about five and a half years. “Smackdown Live” isn’t even at twenty yet. Other than the long running Memphis Wrestling TV show and “WCW Saturday Night” (which ran under a variety of names over the years and deserves an asterisk), nothing is even in “Monday Night Raw’s” universe of longevity. There’s no reason to think it won’t reach thirty years, which would make it longer than “WCW Saturday Night”, making it the biggest national (another asterisk) wrestling show of all time.

Finally, just imagine a wrestling world where “Monday Night Raw” didn’t exist. There’s no “Monday Nitro” or “Smackdown Live”. There’s a good chance WCW doesn’t survive as long as it did as “Monday Nitro” caused so much of its success. Without WCW, does the WWF work as hard to fight them off, turning the company into the huge success that it became? Honestly, I don’t think so and there’s a good chance the company would have gone out of business at some point in between.

I know I didn’t tell you anything new here but the importance of “Monday Night Raw” isn’t something that should be glossed over. It’s the biggest wrestling show of all time by a long stretch and nothing has come close to it. Between all the classic moments and matches the show has delivered to us over the years, “Monday Night Raw” has certainly changed the wrestling business for the better and might have even saved WWE in general. That’s hard to fathom and “Monday Night Raw” is really something that we take for granted, likely due to how bad things have been lately.

Happy Birthday “Monday Night Raw”. I hope you’re around for many more.

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com, follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book, KB’s Complete Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume V at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQKDV5O

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