WWE RAW and WWE SMACKDOWN Shedule
Every week, Raw was broadcast live from the Grand Ballroom at the Manhattan Center, a little theatre in New York City. Live action in a small setting turned out to be a successful upgrade. The weekly live schedule, however, ended up costing the WWF money. After a live episode aired, Raw would record several weeks' worth of shows until Spring 1997. In April 1993, as well as again in June and October, the WWF taped several weeks' worth of Raw from the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York. In November 1993, the first episode to be produced outside of New York was recorded in Bushkill, Pennsylvania.Both Raw and SmackDown debuted new sets during their "premiere week" after the network switched to Fox. It was also announced that WWE would resume using pyrotechnics on both shows (after temporarily discontinuing their use in 2017 due to budgetary concerns), and that the two programmes would now be run by separate writing teams. Large TitanTron screens with semi-arches that resembled the original SmackDown stag were present on the new set.
When their contract with Spike TV expired in September 2005, Viacom and WWE chose not to renew it, thereby ending the run of Raw and other WWE shows on the network. WWE revealed a three-year contract with NBCUniversal on April 4, 2005, to bring Raw back to its original home, the USA Network, with two yearly specials on NBC and a Spanish Raw on Telemundo. Spike TV planned Ultimate Fighting Championship's live Ultimate Fight Night in Raw's old timeslot the same week that Raw returned to the USA Network in an effort to compete with Raw.
Raw changed to a full 16:9 letterbox widescreen presentation on August 18, 2014, with a scaled-down replica of the native HD feed on a 4:3 SD feed. As a result, Raw modified its visual presentation. The new WWE logo, which debuted with the introduction of the WWE Network in February, is now visible in the lower-right corner of the screen, directly beneath the word "Live." Additionally, the turnbuckle covers in the ring bear the new WWE logo. Additionally, the USA Network logo has been shifted to the screen's lower-left corner. The Night," the theme music for Raw, was also changed. Raw is altered to remove the phrase "LIVE" and the hashtag on reruns on the WWE Network and on delayed broadcasts for the majority of international markets.
WWE recorded SmackDown on Tuesday nights so that it would air the following week on Thursday nights on UPN. SmackDown had, however, occasionally broadcast live specials on Tuesday nights (which are then replayed in its usual Thursday night timeslot). With the January 25, 2008 episode of SmackDown, a new set (which would later become standard for all WWE weekly programming) premiered, the show started airing in high definition. After the inaugural HD broadcast, the exclamation mark that had been on all "SmackDown" references had vanished. This included the official logo, which resembles the 2001-2008 logo but uses a darker blue colour scheme.
The SmackDown set was decorated with pink ribbons, and there was a special pink middle rope in the ring as part of WWE's collaboration with Susan G. Komen for the Cure to promote awareness for breast cancer. From 1999 through 2012, SmackDown's ring ropes were typically blue (although they were black for a period between 2001 and 2002). Up until December 2012, when they were officially changed to white and used in all WWE programmes, they were still blue. SmackDown made the changeover to a complete 16:9 letterbox presentation on August 22, 2014, featuring a scaled-down version of the native HD broadcast on a 4:3 SD stream. The new WWE logo is visible, similar to Raw (which also made the changeover to a full 16:9 letterbox presentation four days earlier on August 18.
SmackDown moved to Syfy as part of a new broadcast agreement with NBC Universal, keeping its Friday night timeslot. Michael Cole conducted a "pre-game" show before this SmackDown launch. In contrast to MyNetworkTV's $20 million purchase price, Syfy paid close to $30 million for the programme. WWE dismantled the brand extension at the August 29, 2011 broadcast of Raw, allowing performers to freely appear on both Raw and SmackDown at any moment. SmackDown became the second-longest-running weekly episodic television series in American television history with the episode on October 14, 2011. (behind Raw, which surpassed that mark on August 1, 2005). SmackDown celebrated their 700th episode on January 18, 2013.
The first WWWF World Heavyweight Championship, which was first given in 1963, was symbolised by a United States championship belt that Buddy Rogers had previously worn when holding another title. This belt had two shield-shaped side plates with grapplers on them and a middle plate with an outline of the continental United States. The plates were attached to a red leather strap. The circle on the centre plate, which was surrounded by grapplers, was intended to house a picture of the titleholder. A shield with an eagle perched above it and stars on either side was located above the circle. Below the circle, the words "World's Champion" were placed. The initial champion wore this title belt.
Due to its size and the colour of its strap, a new style known as the "Big Green Belt" was unveiled in January 1983. It had eight (and subsequently ten) side plates honouring former champions. With a globe behind him, the wrestler in the centre plate was holding up a championship belt. The "Hogan '84" design, worn by Hulk Hogan, The Iron Sheik, and Bob Backlund, initially appeared at WrestleMania 1 in the spring of 1984. The almost identical "Hogan '85" design soon took its place. Both belts were referred to as "Hogan" belts because only Hulk Hogan wore them. Both championship belts resembled the NWA Television Championship at the time in terms of design.
Custom championship belts have been made in recognition of particular reigning champions or to reflect their personalities. In 1986, when Hogan was in power, he had a customised version of the Hogan '86 created with a portrait of himself in the centre. As he quickly switched back to the Hogan '86 version, this unique design was only temporary. Before WrestleMania III, a considerably larger version of the Hogan '86 title belt was made for André the Giant, even though he never wore it as champion.
