WWE has a long history with the City That Never Sleeps, going back to when Vince McMahon, Sr. ran the company as the northeast territory with an extra ‘W’ and a different final letter in its name.
Noteworthy for today (Jan 22), of course, is that the first episode of Raw emanated from The Manhattan Center. That will be one of two venues where 25 years of WWE’s Monday night flagship will be celebrated tonight, along with Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
But the company’s stars have been all over New York this morning, as the promotional push for Raw 25 - and a big week which will culminate with Royal Rumble and the start of the road to WrestleMania 34 this weekend - is in full swing.
Free Agent John Cena hosted a portion of Today for NBC before returning to fellow Universal channel USA this evening...
Whaaaaat?! @JennaBushHager and @JohnCena are co-hosting today! pic.twitter.com/98PhmcDoFS
— Kathie Lee and Hoda (@klgandhoda) January 22, 2018
And champions from both Raw and SmackDown hit the Stock Exchange for the opening bell (Universal champ Brock Lesnar doesn’t have public appearances, or smiling, in his contract):
Kicking off #RAW25thanniversary at the #NYSE ringing the bell with the champs! pic.twitter.com/F7s7weLl81
— Charlotte Flair (@MsCharlotteWWE) January 22, 2018
And the iconic Empire State Building will honor the red brand by, well, you guessed it...
Honored that one of the most iconic buildings in the world, the @EmpireStateBldg, will be lit up in #Raw RED tonight. Thank you to our friend Abel for officially flipping the switch! @MakeAWish #raw25 pic.twitter.com/wMulTYskx1
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) January 22, 2018
You know what they say about New York, New York, so I guess WWE has made... IT.