WWE News: Three-Hour Raw Format Is a Disaster in the Making

With word coming out on Thursday that Raw would be switching from two hours to three hours starting with the July 23rd episode, the only thoughts that spring to mind are nothing short of disastrous.  

"

STARTING Monday Night July 23 @USA_NETWORK WILL BE ADDING A 3RD HOUR TO @WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW - PERMANENTLY. #3hourRaw

— John Cena (@JohnCena) May 17, 2012"

From a financial perspective, perhaps this is a good move for WWE. The company will get another hour of licensing fees from USA to produce content for the network, which will look better on the bottom line when Vince McMahon holds another shareholders meeting. 

Unfortunately, that is where the positives end. WWE has seen a downward trend in ratings for years, with Raw regularly sitting in the 2.9 to 3.2 range now. In addition to that, the rating patterns have not been promising. Quarter-hour segments have died for the most part, with the exception of top-of-the-hour spots. 

Factor in that whenever Raw has gone to three hours in the past, the first hour has always done a significantly lower number than the regular 9 to 11 p.m. slot. 

Another problem that you have with expanding Raw to three hours is the effect it will have on the creative team. Things have been bad enough with the booking team with just two hours of Raw and two hours of SmackDown to produce each week. 

When you add another hour into the mix, you are going to get a lot more of those long, talking segments that take forever to get where they are going, and no one is going to maintain any interest because there is a finite amount of time you have before you lose the audience's attention. 

Plus, on weeks when there is a pay-per-view, these writers have to come up with eight hours of original content. They couldn't come up with seven hours of content when Raw was two hours. 

Another factor to consider is overexposure. Upon hearing the news, Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio said that WCW tried this exact same thing with Nitro, and it burned people out because there was so much television each week.

Obviously, a lot of factors went into the death of WCW, but it's not like WWE is on some kind of creative roll where there is a clamoring for more of it right now. The numbers have shown that fans don't like what they are seeing.

Unless WWE is going to dedicate this extra time to making new stars who can eventually be in main events and putting on longer, almost pay-per-view caliber matches—which is doubtful because of the way this creative team has booked for the last seven years—there is no upside to moving the show to three hours.

So, if you are a fan of 25-minute long Triple H promos or John Cena telling someone to "go puck themselves," this is going to be the perfect show for you.

Check back for more on the WWE as it comes, and check out Bleacher Report’s Wrestling Page to get your fill of the WWE. For more WWE talk, check out Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot topics you just can’t miss. 

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