WWE: Why 3 Hours Is Way Too Long for Monday Night Raw

The three-hour era of WWE Monday Night Raw officially began a few weeks ago, and although I was initially optimistic about how the company would fill that extra hour of programming, I can't help but feel like the WWE may have bitten off more than it can chew.

There is no doubt that the WWE has the talent necessary to fill a three-hour show with great content, but there is no commitment, whether it be from the creative team or higher-ups. Rather than building intriguing feuds throughout the card, the WWE continually shows highlight recaps and promotes Tout.

Aside from a few top-of-the-card feuds, the creative team puts very little effort into developing storylines. It has been that way for the past couple years at least, but it wasn't as apparent over the course of two hours. That extra hour has made it blatantly obvious that there is a lot of dead time that is filled with video packages instead of matches.

I'm not totally against showing highlights and promoting outside ventures, but those things shouldn't be done in lieu of building proper angles. The formula should be to have relevant matches and storylines playing out over the course of the three hours, but usually happens is that a lot of time is spent on one or two main-event-level feuds, while the mid-card is thrown on the back burner.

I try not to live in the past and long for the Attitude Era, but if there is one thing that was done exceptionally well during that period of wrestling, it was the focus that was put on the overall card rather than just a couple select feuds.

The WWE currently has a ton of talented performers with nothing much to do, and if it wanted to, it could have a great Intercontinental, United States and Tag Team Championship scene. Nearly every superstar could have a purpose of some sort, but there is a great deal of wasted airtime instead.

After Raw 1,000, I was extremely excited by the prospect of three-hour Raws, but things quickly went downhill. The week after Raw 1,000 seemed to drag on forever, and I became very cognizant of the fact that Raw was on for three hours. That wasn't an issue with Raw 1,000 since there was a ton of content to fill the time, but the well has dried up in that regard.

As most fans anticipated, adding the extra hour was more about additional advertising and viewership than making a concerted effort to improve the product. There are low-to-mid-card wrestlers like Tyson Kidd and Zack Ryder putting on great matches on Superstars every week, but rather than translating that to live television, they're left to rot in no man's land.

With the emergence of social media and importance of ratings, I fully realize that things have changed in the wrestling business, but the foundation of every great wrestling company is putting forth a great product. The WWE proves that it is capable of doing so during WrestleMania season and during other various times of the year, but it doesn't put forth the effort necessary to do it on a consistent basis.

The WWE's time-filling tactics were apparent when Raw was two hours long, and they elicited a negative response from the fans. There was hope that they wouldn't be so excessive with the extra hour, but it's fair to say that things have actually gotten worse due to the company's investment in Tout.

Social media isn't all bad since the new Raw interactive segment allows fans to vote on matches and stipulations, but that makes up a very small part of the show. If the WWE got fans more involved throughout the three hours rather than patronizing them and reminding them of events that they just saw, then things would be infinitely better.

It's fair to say that poor time management is more of an issue than the fact that Raw is three hours, but it's all intertwined. Either the creative team isn't coming up with enough good storylines, or it is being stifled from doing so by the higher-ups.

Whatever the case, some big changes need to be made, or else three-hour Raws will lose the interest of the fans in the near future.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter and listen to him on Ring Rust Radio.