Bruce Prichard Reveals Original Plans For WWE Raw Concept

In an alternate universe, "Monday Night Raw" could have looked a lot different, according to WWE executive Bruce Prichard. On the latest episode of the "Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard" podcast, Prichard was answering fan questions gathered by guest co-host Paul Bromwell when he was asked whether former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon had ever considered hosting the weekly show in one permanent location.

"Was there ever a time when Vince McMahon ever thought about purchasing or building a home arena as a home base for shows?" Bromwell asked. Infamously, McMahon impulsively bought a casino up for sale at an auction in 1998, hoping to turn it into the WWF Hotel & Arena in Las Vegas. That idea didn't pan out, and apparently neither did Prichard's previous pitch to buy a homebase arena for "Raw," he explained on the podcast.

"As a matter of fact, that was the foundation of Raw, was to build an arena," Prichard answered. "I wanted to do it at the studio, right adjacent to the studio where our warehouse was and [the idea was] to build that out and essentially build a TV studio arena where we could have roughly 1,500-to-2,000 audience members, put the ring in, light it specifically for television and run everything through the Northeast, bring talent in, and do it live every Monday night."

Prichard explained that it was "a cost-saving" idea, "because of the way we were doing primetime wrestling at the time," and that McMahon had previously owned the Cape Cod Coliseum, which was used by the WWF at the time. "He'd been in the arena business, so I think there was a big part of him that didn't want to be in the arena business again," Prichard said.