THOUSANDS of New York wresting fans nearly had the WWF’s “Raw is War” – the most popular show on cable TV – smacked off their screens next week.

But after two days of desperate scrambling, Time Warner Cable was able to shake up its channel alignment just in time to save wrestling for its 200,000 customers in northern Manhattan.

Getting a new channel on to TW is a big feat since capacity is limited – at least for the time being.

But all of a sudden, TNN – formerly The Nashville Network but redubbed this week The National Network – has been added to the cable channels in northern Manhattan.

Why?

Starting Monday, “Raw” jumps from its longtime home on the USA Network to TNN.

“We found out late [Tuesday] that the World Wrestling Federation programming was going to begin earlier than expected,” Time Warner Cable programming director Bob Watson told The Post.

“So we determined that we needed to accelerate our plans for TNN,” he said.

Starting next Monday around 9 a.m., Ch. 30 – an empty channel cable inhomes north of 79th St. on the West Side and 86th Street on the East Side – will begin airing TNN.

Time Warner had not been scheduled to add TNN to those neighborhoods until Nov. 1.

“When has one program ever made such a difference?” WWF spokesman Jim Byrne joked yesterday.

In southern Manhattan TNN has been available for several years on Ch. 72.

“Raw as War,” the WWF’s Monday night showcase, has traditionally been the No. 1-rated show on cable TV.

Last year, when the WWF’s contract with USA expired, it signed up with Viacom, which immediately switched “Raw” to TNN. The cable channel reachesmore than 78 million homes.

USA tried to block the WWF-Viacom deal last summer – claiming it had not been allowed to make a matching offer. But a Delaware court last Monday ruled against USA.