What the Addition of a 3rd Hour to Raw Means for WWE Fans

No weekly episodic television show in history has run longer than WWE's Monday Night Raw. The institution will air its 1,000th episode on July 23. Not only will that night be a celebration, but it will also usher in a new era for the WWE's flagship show as it will expand to three hours permanently.

It was announced last week on WWE.com that Raw's 1,000th episode would mark the beginning of the transition from a two-hour show to a three-hour show on a weekly basis. The change has been met with mixed reactions, but there are plenty of reasons for fans to be optimistic.

There is some concern that the added hour won't amount to much other than more highlight packages and drawn-out promos. Perhaps there is some validity to that since the WWE has been known to do that in the past, but there are several factors that promise to make three-hour Raws a success unlike the failure WCW experienced when it expanded Nitro to three hours so many years ago.

Increased PPV Buildup

One of the biggest complaints heard from the WWE Universe is that the creative team doesn't do a good enough job of building feuds and storylines ahead of pay-per-views. It's tough to argue that point, but the writers are often hamstrung by several factors.

For one, there simply isn't much WWE programming to utilize on a weekly basis. Between Raw and SmackDown, there are only four hours per week. That may seem like a lot, but when you're trying to setup eight or nine matches, it really isn't.

That added hour should do wonders for pay-per-view buildups as a quarter of the company's weekly programming is essentially being added to the fold. There is also often too little time between pay-per-views to create anything substantial.

That was the case with Over the Limit as it was just three weeks after Extreme Rules rather than the customary month that usually goes by between pay-per-views. That led to only five advertised matches, and although the card was solid, it could have been much better.

Adding an hour per week to the fold will essentially add two more full episodes of Raw per regular pay-per-view cycle. During WrestleMania time especially this should come in handy.

With so many high-profile matches this past 'Mania, I craved an extra hour of Raw every week during the lead up since so much could have been done during that time to add to the major storylines. There is no guarantee that the extra time will be used effectively, but it certainly can't hurt in terms of pay-per-view build.

More Opportunities to Push New and Floundering Stars

With the brand split essentially non-existent, we see pretty much the same crop of superstars on Mondays and Fridays every week.

The likes of Randy Orton, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan and Cody Rhodes take up a good amount of time on both Raw and SmackDown while John Cena, CM Punk and John Laurinaitis take up whatever is left every Monday. With an extra hour every week, though, it increases the possibility that deserving talent will finally receive a push.

Solid midcard heels like The Miz, Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger are all lost in the shuffle right now, and while all of them are perfectly capable of being main-event-level performers, there isn't enough time to get them involved. With an added hour every Monday, they should have a much better spot on the card rather than toiling in obscurity and jobbing to inferior talent every week.

Truth be told, adding an hour to Raw is the best thing that could possibly happen to the midcard title scene. The United States, Intercontinental and Tag Team Championships are defended quite infrequently because so much time is invested in the WWE and World Heavyweight Championship feuds as well as whatever Cena is involved in.

That extra hour will provide more time for the midcarders to shine and hopefully it will return some prestige to the titles that were once a gateway to greater success.

Fan Interactivity

There is no doubt that the WWE loves to do whatever it can to get the fans involved, and with the additional hour of Raw every week, it will give the brass a chance to incorporate more fan interaction.

There is usually a Raw on a yearly basis that allows fans to vote on matches and stipulations, and while it isn't always the greatest show, it normally gets a pretty good reaction. Fan voting now figures to be something that is utilized regularly.

According to WrestlingInc.com, Stephanie McMahon believes that Raw will now be "the most interactive show in television history." That is obviously quite a lofty expectation to live up to as popular shows like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars have featured fan voting for the duration of their respective runs, but it seems like the WWE is ready to steal a page out of their book.

Perhaps interactivity isn't something that is going to appeal that much to diehard fans who just want to see a good show, but you had better believe that it will help solidify fringe fans and make them permanent viewers.

If the WWE wasn't ready to make a move like this and wasn't confident that it could pull it off, then it wouldn't be happening. This company doesn't just leap into things like WCW did and TNA does currently, so with increased fan interaction and everything else, three-hour Raws are bound to be a success.

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