10 Most Important Episodes Of WWE Raw In History

6. July 23, 2012

One of the biggest complaints about modern-era Raw is its length. At three hours long, wrestling fans have to sit through the sports entertainment equivalent of Lord of the Rings every week just to keep up, and there aren’t even any talking trees to keep you hooked. 

You can thank this episode for that particular development, as the special Raw 1000 edition from 2012 marked the brand’s permanent switch to 180 minutes. 

WWE filled this extra time with an appearance from DX, an Intercontinental Title match where The Miz won the belt from Christian, and John Cena’s scheduled Money in the Bank cash-in match against CM Punk, which he lost via DQ thanks to an interfering Big Show. 

Punk would then turn heel by attacking The Rock, cementing the character change that would dominate the second half of his epic championship reign. 

For better or worse, the move to three hours fundamentally changed how WWE operates, from increased ad revenue and screen time for lesser stars to bloated match cards causing increased fan burnout.