10 Reasons WWE Raw Is Lucky To Still Be On The Air
2. Welcome Home
A bloated, overwrought star-laden gabfest, 2005's Raw Homecoming was a gross 'special edition' that foreshadowed much of the modern era's weekly vintage. Then a rarity, the 180 minute extravaganza became an increasingly familiar occurrence over the years before USA Network made the permanent switch in 2012.
Internally, those tasked with crafting such a sizeable amount of content perhaps wish for a simpler time, with Vince McMahon himself once even going on record during an old America Online interview as saying his perfect show length was 90 minutes. They're more indebted to USA than they'd perhaps care to admit, though.
Controversially departing to TNN (later rebranded as Spike TV) in 2000, the company were in a substantially less favourable position years later when the rights renewal offers came in. At a commercial and critical peak in September 2000, the company were in a state of flux midway through the decade after a rather deflating post-war period from 2001 onwards.
Showing loyalty to McMahon as they had in the 1990s (and he hadn't after chasing TNN's big-dollar deal), USA fortunately welcomed Raw back in 2005 as other networks browsed elsewhere, and would eventually take on SmackDown in 2016 in a unique showing of brand solidarity.