WWE Raw is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States. The show's name, which is sometimes stylized as RAW, is also used to refer to the Raw brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program; the other programs and brands are SmackDown and ECW. It is the only television broadcast for the Raw brand. The show originally debuted in the United States on the USA Network on January 11, 1993. It remained there until 2000, when Raw was moved to TNN, later known as Spike TV. In 2005, the show was moved back to the USA Network. Since its launch in 1993, Raw continues to air on Monday nights. Raw is generally seen as the company's flagship program due to its longer history, higher ratings, and emphasis on pay-per-views. It is the longest weekly episodic television show in history.(more)
WWE SmackDown is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) that is currently airing on MyNetworkTV in the United States as WWE Friday Night SmackDown. The show's name is also used to refer to the SmackDown brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program; the other programs and brands are Raw and ECW. It is currently the only television broadcast for the SmackDown brand, though at one point WWE Velocity also featured SmackDown branded wrestling. From its launch in 1999, SmackDown was shown on Thursday nights, but as of September 9, 2005, the show moved to Friday nights. The show originally debuted in the United States on the UPN television network on August 26, 1999, but after the merger of UPN and the WB, SmackDown began airing on The CW in 2006. The show remained on the CW network for two years until it was announced that it would move to MyNetworkTV in October 2008. The show is shown in Mexico on TV Azteca and in the United Kingdom on Friday nights on Sky Sports 3 and Sky Sports HD; due to the time difference, SmackDown premieres a few hours earlier in the United Kingdom and a day earlier in Australia than the United States.(more)
ECW is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), based on the independent Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion that lasted from 1992 to 2001, that airs on Syfy in the United States as ECW on Syfy. It debuted on June 13, 2006. The show's name also refers to the ECW brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program; the other programs and brands are Raw and SmackDown. As of February 16, 2010 ECW closed its doors, And the new NXT Show came into place the week after. (more)
