WWE: Why Raw Will Eventually Go Back to Two Hours

On paper, there are a few benefits to Raw, WWE's flagship show, going to three hours.

For one thing, it means more exposure for the product, which now dominates Monday night on the USA Network. Presumably the USA Network is also paying the company a neat sum for the extra hour too, which means more revenue and profit for the company.

Additionally, it may also mean that struggling lower-card acts—like Tyson Kidd or Jack Swagger—will also garner more airtime as the promotion seeks to fill up the extra screen time.

However, despite the obvious advantages, there reportedly remains a great deal of doubt within the company itself as to whether the expanded three-hour format will even last.

And no wonder: The new, longer Raw has the potential to be an absolute disaster.

Oh sure, ostensibly WWE would want to use the extra time to showcase mid-card talent, but realistically, what are the chances of that happening? Over the past few years WWE has shown a distinct reluctance to get behind their lower mid-card—even with two hours on Raw and SD, the workers are still steadily neglected. Why should things change now?

No, it seems far more likely that the promotion will use the people they feel safest with—John Cena, Triple H, AJ, Daniel Bryan—and plaster them all over the show.

You think John Cena gets too much airtime now? Heck, wait until this three-hour format is up and running and viewers are subjected to extra-long promos about how he will never give up/doesn't care if he's booed or cheered/loves the fans, etc.

If you're looking for evidence, look no further than Monday's Raw, during which numerous recaps of the Lesnar/Triple H feud were played to the point it almost became funny.   

This overexposure will lead to fans growing tired of them and switching off. Frankly, it's inevitable. 

Another thing is that a three-hour Raw may simply be too much work for the folks backstage in WWE. Even before the announcement of the expanded format, people in the company were already churning out several hours of wrestling content (especially with the company's new YouTube channel, which is putting out loads of fresh content a week), and that was before even factoring in a three-hour Raw.

There's also the fact that it may simply be too much time, even for diehard wrestling fans. I mean, seriously, who is going to be able to watch three hours of Raw, in addition to all the other programming, a week?

WCW's doomed flagship show Nitro serves as a cautionary tale for this new Raw format. Like Raw, Nitro was once a thriving wrestling show that garnered huge audiences. And, like Raw, the decision was eventually made (in 1998) that it would expand to three hours.

Soon after, ratings plummeted and the once-mighty show became a shell of itself. Of course, it isn't entirely fair to pin all the blame on the extra hour (shoddy booking and an inability to make new stars played a crucial role too) but undoubtedly it played a significant role. WCW's booking team was under pressure to fill up the three hours, and increasingly found even more absurd ways to do so.

Not to say that Raw is doomed to go down the same path—Vince McMahon and company are far more astute and savvy than WCW management was—but at this point, the chances of the new three-hour Raw being a success don't look good. 

Let's face it: With this new, expanded format, WWE may very well be overreaching and putting their entire product at great risk.