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With the 25th Anniversary of Raw coming, I have a few questions.
1 - What city held the most Raw tapings? What State?
Based on my research, New York City would have had the most, specifically because WWE ran the Manhattan Center so many times early in the Raw run, then you add Madison Square Garden and The Barclays Center into the mix and its far and away more than any other market.
New York would also be the State that's held the most tapings as WWE ran Nassau Coliseum as well as markets like Albany and Poughkeepsie, among others for Raw tapings over the years.
2 - What venue had the most Raw tapings?
Easily the Manhattan Center, which had Raw at least 27 times. The Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL comes in second with 26 tapings, based on my research.
3 - What was the first match ever held on a Raw taping? What was the first main event?
This one was easy for me, as I was there at the first taping. Bob Backlund pinned Damien Damento on 1/11/93.
If you mean the first main event broadcast on a Raw, it was Undertaker defeating Damien Damento at the same taping. So that gives Damento a pretty unique stat in WWE history.
The dark match main event of the first taping saw Crush beating Bam Bam Bigelow by DQ disqualification when Doink the Clown interfered.
4 - Is there any major country that hasn't hosted Raw that should, in your opinon?
The one that really always stood out to me that seemed like it should have happened, but never did, was Australia. I never understood why WWE never tried to tape an episode there. There are obviously lots of other countries that have never broadcast Raw, but Australia really seems like they deserve a Raw taping to me.
5 - What was the first WWE and Intercontinental championship matches on Raw?
The first episode of Raw featured Shawn Michaels defeating Max Moon to retain the Intercontinental championship on 1/11/93.
Bret Hart defended the title against Fatu of the Headshrinkers on 3/1/93. That would have been the first WWF title match on Raw. Bret appeared on Raw before that, but usually for interviews and had not wrestled on the series until then.
6 - What was the first title change on Raw?
The first one would be Marty Jannetty defeating Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental championship followed by the Quebecers defeating The Steiners for the WWF Tag Team championship, both in 1993.
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