We were all WRONG about RAW being 3 hours

Sportskeeda Wrestling

Backstage Pass is your one-stop subscription to everything pro wrestling. Breaking news from the most reliable insiders, interviews with legends, live Q&As with industry veterans, we have it all. SUBSCRIBE NOW - https://bit.ly/3zbHEH8  WWE’s decision to return to a 2-hour RAW might seem great on paper, but is it really benefiting the talent? With the current roster being bigger than ever, many superstars struggle to get the TV time they deserve. In this video, we explore how the shorter format is leaving out promising wrestlers, cutting down story development, and limiting the variety of matches. Is WWE's massive roster too much for a 2-hour show? We’ll break down why this format may be holding the product back!  You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe  #wweraw #tripleh #vincemcmahon #wwe #wrestling #sportskeedawrestling

Transcript

00:00We hate to say it, but we may have been wrong about hating Raw being 3 hours.

00:10We say this after the first 2 hour Raw in 4,459 days.

00:23On October 7th, WWE started airing 2 hour episodes of Raw again, and boy oh boy was

00:28it not good.

00:30Before we get into why, let's go back 12 years ago.

00:34On Raw 1000 on July 23rd, 2012, Monday Night Raw permanently changed to 3 hours.

00:41The reception wasn't exactly a good one.

00:442012 wasn't even a bad year for WWE, it was actually quite good by the 2010 standards.

00:51Not as good as 2011, not as good as 2016, but most certainly better than the years that

00:57followed like 2017 to 2018.

01:01But the fact was that WWE fans felt overwhelmed with the idea of having to tune into Raw being

01:06an extra hour.

01:08There were a few people, and they were the clear minority, who were prophetic enough

01:12to realize that with the increasing size of the WWE roster, 3 hours made a lot of sense

01:17for WWE's flagship show.

01:20From WWE's point of view, the 3 hour slot meant extra revenue.

01:24This was still before the boom in broadcast revenue they experienced in the late 2010s,

01:29but having an extra hour of programming meant that any broadcast network that aired Raw

01:34had an extra hour of advertisements.

01:36This gave WWE massive leverage when it came to negotiating contracts, and it really culminated

01:41recently with the gargantuan 10 year, 5 billion dollar Netflix deal.

01:46The issue that fans had was the fact that this wasn't a seasonal TV show.

01:51Monday Night Raw happened every single week without a break and was constantly on the

01:54road, so wrestling fatigue was quite easy.

01:58But as we know, the fatigue came from more of lack of quality than anything else.

02:03WWE Raw also turned into an increasingly valuable asset for broadcast networks like the NBC

02:08Universal Media Group, the owners of the USA Network that aired Raw.

02:13With cord cutting happening at a rapid rate and the rise of streaming, networks were desperate

02:18to have programs that had good ratings.

02:21Don't let the record low ratings articles about Raw over the years fool you, even if

02:25Raw had a little over a million viewers, that was still significantly more than almost anything

02:31the USA Network had going on.

02:33The fact that wrestling and WWE in particular had such a hardcore fanbase who would consistently

02:39tune in even after complaining all the time meant that it was a valuable property.

02:44And it is true that there were years like 2015 where there wasn't much to look forward

02:48to at all, with guys like Seth Rollins being the only ones to carry the show on his back.

02:53But once the brand split was reintroduced, things began to change, but not right away.

02:59The brand split in particular served to benefit Smackdown, but Raw was a huge beneficiary

03:04because there was now a defined roster with growing competition amongst talent.

03:08Now here's where we feel the 3 hour format for Raw really works out well.

03:13Think of a show like Game of Thrones.

03:15If you haven't seen Game of Thrones, we'll give you a small rundown on how exactly it

03:19would compare to wrestling.

03:21Although storylines of different characters were interconnected, many were in different

03:25locations doing different things, so there wasn't really filler for any episode until

03:29the last season because there were just that many interesting characters to follow and

03:34that was like 1 hour and 8-10 episodes a season.

03:38For Raw, it's 52 episodes a year with a larger cast ensemble.

03:43And although there aren't any different locations like Game of Thrones, there's

03:46an easy opportunity to have filler by focusing on multiple superstars and multiple storylines.

03:52Not only that, but it also gives time for advertisements to be spaced out while we're

03:56also occasionally treated to an ad-free first hour.

03:59We're not going to claim that Raw hasn't had filler because even in the new regime,

04:04there have been episodes with filler, but at this point, most fans who have been watching

04:08Raw for a while have gotten accustomed to watching 3 hours.

04:12After Triple H, the time has been utilized significantly better with more superstars

04:16getting TV time and an opportunity to shine.

04:19When the 2-hour format returned on October 7th, 2024, it was a clear sign that WWE was

04:25in an era where the 3-hour format was needed.

04:29The 3-hour format would have been horrible in the Attitude Era, and it isn't exactly

04:33a bold take to say that it would have flopped in the Ruthless Aggression Era.

04:37It's a product of its time, and in a way, it's quite unique that any type of broadcast

04:42entertainment can consistently have a 3-hour show that works.

04:46It comes down to a few different factors.

04:48As we mentioned before, the roster size and quality of talent are on a much higher level

04:53than years before, even if there aren't as much megastars.

04:57If you think about top stars on the current roster, you have Gunther, Liv Morgan, Rhea

05:02Ripley, Damian Priest, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Io Sky, and many more.

05:10We bet you could think of multiple stars on both the men's and women's side who could

05:14take their spot if they weren't around.

05:16Another major reason is just the way we consume content has changed and wrestling is quite

05:21similar while also having major differences.

05:24The fact that WWE fans are quite a dedicated bunch doesn't get talked about enough, and

05:29if they aren't happy with how certain superstars are being treated, they will let their voices

05:33be heard.

05:34But when you look at the October 7th episode of Raw, it's quite clear that it was a crammed

05:39in mess.

05:40We essentially saw 3 hours worth of advertisements in 2 hours.

05:44We're glad that Sami Zayn didn't win the World Heavyweight Championship from Gunther.

05:49Can you imagine if Sami Zayn's first ever WWE World Championship win came on an episode

05:54of Raw where half the match was filled with advertisements and 1 minute of celebration?

05:59And then there was the elephant in the room, the women being the first ones to face the

06:03cuts.

06:04Women in WWE have stated before that time constraints are quite common, forcing segments

06:09and even matches to be cut down or cut out altogether.

06:12Rhea Ripley, the biggest women's wrestler in the world in 2024, got a whopping 1 minute

06:18of promo time in a pre-recorded segment, while Liv Morgan, the top woman in WWE right now,

06:23appeared and disappeared within 1 minute.

06:26And then there was the 10-woman tag team match featuring stars like Lyra Valkyria, Natalya,

06:31the Pure Fusion Collective, and others.

06:34It felt like they were all stuffed into one match to give fans a token women's match,

06:38but what's the point when it means nothing?

06:40It's hard to deny the women of the past who have said that they are usually the first

06:44ones to get cut when the numerical evidence quite clearly suggests that they were the

06:48most negatively affected by it.

06:50When Triple H was asked about the two-hour RAW format they'd have to go through for

06:54the rest of 2024, he gave an interesting insight.

06:58He said that it's a wild spot to be in and that the difference between two and three

07:01hours is night and day.

07:03He even said he has to approach the show from a whole different perspective and said that

07:07he felt less is more and that it would be a good thing.

07:11But was it a good thing?

07:12We're going to give Triple H and WWE the benefit of the doubt and argue that perhaps

07:16this is a trial and error period where they have to figure out how to go about the pacing

07:21of the show.

07:22But if the new norm, until the Netflix deal kicks off, is to have three hours worth of

07:27ads in two hours, less is not going to be more at all.

07:31Apart from Sheamus vs Pete Dunne and Jey Uso vs Xavier Woods, the show was one of the weakest

07:37we've seen in the last two years.

07:39Again, we're going to give WWE the benefit of the doubt here because even Triple H doesn't

07:44have any experience whatsoever running a two hour episode of Raw.

07:48Sure he runs two hour Smackdown episodes every week, but there's quite a difference in

07:52the overall roster size.

07:54We have to say that we are looking forward to WWE moving to Netflix because not only

07:58can they have more flexibility on runtime, but we're unlikely to see the abrupt endings

08:03that have plagued Raw quite a bit this year.

08:06What do you think?

08:07Do you want to see the three hour format return or are you comfortable and prefer two hours

08:12of Raw every Monday night?

08:14Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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