The September 25 2000 Raw was one of the most significant in history, with Vince McMahon leaving USA to take his booming product to TNN. The main event was The Rock retaining his WWF title over Chris Benoit. It was the WWF at the height of their power, and the move marked a real shift in the company. They were now the flagship programme for TNN, in the process killing off ECW which also featured on that network. The industry implications were severe. TNN later re-branded as Spike in 2003, with the WWE still a key part of the platform. However, the move also saw the decline of WWE in pop culture. In retrospect, it was a bad move. McMahon always got along well with the people at USA. He chanced a change, but that first episode on TNN ended up 6% down from the last two weeks of Raw on USA. It was an important change, but ultimately a bad move. Raw ratings were never quite the same, with that first episode setting the tone for a continued dip in WWF viewership.
