WWE Monday Night Raw: How to Make the Most of the New 3 Hour Time Slot

The WWE is pulling a page out of the WCW playbook, and come July 23, Monday Night Raw will be a three-hour show each and every week. 

Exactly how long that will last, no one knows. But even though the three-hour Raw format hasn’t even started, there is already internal fear in the WWE that it’s going to fail. 

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via WrestlingInc.com), “Almost all of the feedback coming from within the company has been negative regarding the change. There is a feeling that two hours drags by each week and adding a third hour won't benefit them.”  

Like those within the WWE, I’m leaning toward the three-hour Raw shows being a failure as well, but there are plenty of ways to actually capitalize on the extra hour. 

Here are five ways that the WWE can make the most of its new three-hour Raw shows.

5. Limit the Filler 

The typical two-hour Raw show has a boatload of filler, and by filler, I mean all of the pointless backstage segments, in-ring skits, replays and so on and so forth that add virtually no value to the actual show. 

Given that we already see so much of this on Raw, I could see it being an even bigger problem now that Raw will be three hours long. 

The solution to that problem is very simple and easy, though. As Joey Gladstone might say, CUT IT OUT. 

If there is a two-minute backstage segment or a four-minute replay that really isn’t necessary, then get rid of it and replace it with something that will be much more meaningful. 

Filler is one of the WWE’s biggest problems, but the expansion of Raw might actually provide the company with an opportunity to correct it. 

If I’m a WWE official, my logic is this: “Maybe we should cut all this nonsense out. The fans may be able to put up with it for two hours, but they won’t be able to do it for three.” 

4. Use the Interactive Part of the Show the Right Way 

In an interview with IGN (via SEScoops.com) last month, Stephanie McMahon revealed that Raw would be going interactive with its switch to the three-hour format:

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“This is going to be the most interactive show in television history,” she said. “Our audience is going to have the chance to affect something in the show every week.” 

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Here’s the thing, though: Every time we get an interactive Raw show, like those “Viewer’s Choice” episodes, they generally suck. 

Why? Because the interactive part of the show is a sham. 

We fans get the option to vote for matches, sure. But the choices are always really bad and/or obvious. 

Who the hell wants to pick between Big Show facing The Great Khali in an arm-wrestling match, a body-slam challenge or a dance-off? No one, that’s who. 

But those are the type of crappy options we get when we should be getting something more like this: “Do you want to see John Cena face Dolph Ziggler in a submission match, a no DQ match or a steel cage match?” 

As long as the WWE doesn’t water down these match concepts too much, the goal with the new interactive portion of Raw should be to make it actually matter. 

Clearly, the WWE likes to give obvious choices to its questions so it can be prepared for them, but that’s something that is extremely detrimental to what should be a great part of Raw. 

If Raw is going to be interactive, then it should be legitimately interactive. 

3. Build Up the Tag-Team Division 

You want a tag-team revival? The three-hour Raw format should make that much more likely. 

One of the problems with the tag-team division in its current state is the creative team just can’t find time for it on a two-hour show. 

Generally speaking, tag teams either only get a few minutes of TV time, or they’re the first segment to get cut if other segments are running low on time. 

This, of course, has a ripple effect that sends the tag-team division straight into irrelevancy. 

But when you add an extra hour to Raw, that’s about 40 minutes or so (taking 20 out because of commercials), at least 10 of which—but ideally more—should be set aside for the tag-team division. 

The WWE has the makings of a formidable tag-team division with Kofi Kingston and R-Truth, Epico and Primo, the Usos and the Primetime Players, and if everything worked out right, all of those guys would benefit greatly from an additional hour of TV time. 

2. More Feuds and Storylines (Especially in the Mid-Card)

It doesn’t seem like the creative team can book more than four or five feuds at a time these days, which doesn’t make any sense to me. 

There are tons of guys and gals on the WWE roster, and with two major shows, there should always be at least seven or eight (but more like 10 feuds) going on at a given point in time. 

You have three or four main event and World title feuds, one for each mid-card card title, one for the tag titles, one for the Divas Championship and a couple of mid-card, upper mid-card or even lower-card rivalries that are title-less feuds. 

With two hours for Raw, it is indeed very difficult for the creative team to put on that many feuds, which is why so many mid-carders—Zack Ryder, The Miz, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, etc—often get completely lost in the shuffle. 

Add another hour to Raw, though, and that opens up the opportunity for two, three or perhaps even four more feuds to get some precious TV time every week. It also gives some deserving mid-carders more of a chance to get involved in a storyline in some way, even if it isn’t a feud per se. 

You get the point. 

Here’s the magic formula: More TV time = more stars on TV = more feuds/storylines.

1.    Longer Matches 

I can be incredibly critical of the WWE at times, but one thing that I will give the company credit for is for putting on lengthy TV matches on a much more consistent basis recently. 

We’ve seen a ton of memorable TV bouts in 2012 and in recent months, including Sheamus vs. Randy Orton on SmackDown and Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk on Raw last month. 

But that doesn’t mean that the WWE should stop there. 

As a wrestling fan first and foremost, I tune in to Raw each week in hopes of seeing three or four good matches, and though that does happen at times, it doesn’t happen nearly enough. 

That’s where the extra hour of Raw comes in. 

With that additional hour, the WWE can extend matches that typically would have gotten only a few minutes on a two-hour show, and it can also add another couple of eight- to 10-minute matches. 

Longer matches don’t always translate to better matches, but what would you rather see—a two-minute squash or a 10-minute back-and-forth match? 

Exactly.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him onTwitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions on Formspring.