In honor of the 1,000th episode of 'WWE Raw' tonight, a look back at the first

Tonight is something of a television milestone, as WWE Raw will celebrate episode number 1,000. How do you celebrate such an incredible feat? By inviting basically everybody who has ever been on the program and cram in nearly 20 years of wrestling history, of course.
The guest list this evening includes former champions and crossover stars like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Mick Foley, and Brock Lesnar, as well as pro wresting legends from previous generations (Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Mae Young, Sgt. Slaughter, Vader, Bob Backlund, and Road Warrior Animal among them). There’s also a ton of other stuff planned, like a championship match between current top-level guys John Cena and CM Punk, a wedding between Daniel Bryan and a game-changing woman named A.J., and the naming of a new General Manager of the show.
It will also be the launching pad for the program’s new three-hour format. Raw has occasionally expanded to three hours for the sake of some special events but normally clocks in at two hours. But when the show began in January of 1993, it was only an hour long. In fact, quite a bit has changed since the first program, which WWE put up on YouTube in its entirety. Go ahead and check it out below — even if you only tune in for two minutes, you’ll be shocked at how much can change over the course of 999 episodes.