when did monday night raw go to 2 hours
WWE Raw On September 4, 1995, the WWF's chief competitor World Championship Wrestling (WCW) began airing its new wrestling show, Monday Nitro, live each week on TNT, which marked the start of the Monday Night Wars.[9] Raw and Nitro went head-to-head for the first time on September 11, 1995. At the start of the ratings war in 1995 through to mid-1996, Raw and Nitro exchanged victories over each other in a closely contested rivalry. Beginning in mid-1996, however, due to the nWo angle, Nitro started a ratings win-streak that lasted for 84 consecutive weeks, ending on April 13, 1998.[9] On February 3, 1997, Raw went to a two-hour format,[9] to compete with the extra hour on Nitro, and by March 10, it was renamed to Raw Is War. After WrestleMania XIV in March 1998, the WWF regained the lead in the Monday Night Wars with its new "WWF Attitude" brand. The April 13, 1998 episode of Raw Is War, which was headlined by a match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon, marked the first time that WCW had lost the head-to-head Monday night ratings battle in the 84 weeks since 1996.[10]
The Undertaker Undertaker would return on the March 6 episode of Raw after Braun Strowman called out Reigns, who came out to confront Undertaker after Strowman left the ring following a brief staredown with Undertaker, who performed a chokeslam on Reigns.[166] This led to a No Holds Barred match between Undertaker and Reigns at WrestleMania 33 on April 2,[167] where Undertaker lost to Reigns after five spears in his fourth WrestleMania main event.[168] After the match, Undertaker left his gloves, coat and hat in the center of the ring before slowly making his exit, walking over to his wife Michelle McCool and kissing her, then walking up the ramp and performing his signature arm-raised pose as smoke surrounded him and he descended down into the ramp to the sound of his music.[169] After he disappeared, the lights went out and his signature gong sounded off three times to end the show.[170]