What's the story?
Mike Johnson of PWInsider has reported that the WWE is planning a big celebration this January for the 25th anniversary of Monday Night Raw. There will be several ways that the company celebrates the milestone.
In case you didn't know...
The very first episode of Monday Night Raw occurred on January 11, 1993, from the Manhattan Center in New York City, New York. The following was the card for that night:
Yokozuna d. Koko B. Ware
The Steiner Brothers d. The Executioners
Shawn Michaels d. Max Moon to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Undertaker d. Damien Demento
The heart of the matter
There will be a celebration on January 22, 2018, edition of Monday Night Raw live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York (just a few minutes away from the Manhattan Center). This is the same arena that has hosted SummerSlam weekend the past three years.
At the time of this writing, there are no other details for the show, but one can expect many of the WWE's past Superstars who had historic moments on Raw to join the show, much like shows such as Raw 1000 and Old School Raw.
The WWE is also planning on a DVD set for the 25th anniversary of Raw. You can expect the set to be similar to past releases for the 15th and 20th anniversary.
What's next?
For the Raw brand, they will try to pick up the pieces next week after the SmackDown Live roster held them under siege.
Expect a response to the surprise attack from General Manager Kurt Angle on the next episode of Raw as well as a reveal of the team of five who will fight for the men in the traditional Survivor Series match.
Author's take
25 years is a tremendous milestone, not just in professional wrestling, but television history. Monday Night Raw has endured the ups and downs to provide us with a total of 1274 episodes to date.
I always love these type of editions of Monday Night Raw because of the nostalgia and appearances of WWE Superstars we haven't seen in a while.