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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