If you didn’t currently have any Christmas plans and you’re reading this article about pro wrestling on a wrestling website, then boy, have I got good news for you!
You may have noticed that, unlike most years, this year Christmas Day actually falls on a Monday. And also unlike most years, WWE is actually going to do a full, live episode of Raw … one that actually includes the return of none other than John Cena. You know. the guy who was most recently seen on WWE television as part of Team Smackdown. DON’T WORRY ABOUT THAT PART; IT’S JOHN CENA.
NEXT WEEK: @JohnCena RETURNS to Monday Night #RAW LIVE on Christmas night in Chicago! 🎄🎄🎄 pic.twitter.com/aVQWaxYS8N
— WWE (@WWE) December 19, 2017
Anyway, if you had any worries WWE might be mailing in Raw and Smackdown Live next week other than Cena, perhaps THINK AGAIN. WWE and the USA Network announced on Thursday that not only will this be the first-ever live Raw to be broadcast on Christmas Day, but that the first hours of both Raw and Smackdown will air commercial-free. Also for the first time ever! It’s their Christmas present to us, the fans.
The press release, which also hypes the Jan. 22 25th anniversary episode of Raw:
Celebrate the holidays with WWE as USA Network airs the first hour of both Monday Night Raw® and SmackDown Live® commercial-free this Monday, December 25 at 8/7c and Tuesday, December 26 at 8/7c. This also marks the first time that USA Network will air Raw live on Christmas.
Raw and SmackDown Live are the #1 and #2 longest running weekly episodic programs in U.S. primetime TV history and two of the most-watched, regularly scheduled programs on cable, airing live every Monday and Tuesday nights on USA.
Averaging more viewers than any cable network in primetime, WWE programming is among the most socially active shows on TV, trending on Twitter 52 weeks per year. Raw and SmackDown Live have aired more original episodes than some of the most popular television series of all time, including The Simpsons, Gunsmoke, Lassie and Monday Night Football.
The 25th anniversary of Raw will emanate from Barclays Center and Manhattan Center in New York City on Monday, January 22, 2018, and air live on USA Network at 8/7c. WWE Superstars from both Monday Night Raw and SmackDown® Live will be at Barclays Center, while the event at Manhattan Center, the site of the first episode of Raw in 1993, will feature both WWE Superstars competing, and special appearances by WWE Legends Undertaker®, Shawn Michaels® and Kevin Nash®, amongst others.
Boy, that Raw 25th anniversary sort of snuck up on us, didn’t it?
If you were thinking about skipping Raw or Smackdown this week, think again! No commercials! I don’t know how Santa got my wish list this year, but … he apparently did!
