WWE Raw: Have They Figured out How to Pace Weekly 3-Hour Shows?

After Monday's edition of Raw, there has now been a month's worth of shows under the new, three-hour format. And although it seems like some progress is being made, I don't believe that the production team has gotten a firm grasp on how to spread things out quite yet.

Most fans would agree that the 1,001st episode was terrible and dragged out far too long. But the WWE managed to rebound with a solid 1,002nd episode. I was hoping that it would be able to build from there, but Monday's 1,003rd episode seemed strange to me. I got the impression that there was a struggle to fill all three hours.

There were actually more matches than usual and a concerted effort to do something with the mid-card, but matches that could have lasted for eight to 10 minutes—such as Sin Cara vs. Tensai or Damien Sandow vs. Christian—were two minutes or less in length, and I got a sense of quantity over quality.

Also, things were timed out quite strangely near the end of the show, as the Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar contract signing went on early. Obviously, that was done so Lesnar's attack on Shawn Michaels could be saved until the end of the show, but there were some clear time-wasting tactics in between, such as showing some Touts and talking about DJ Pauly D for the millionth time.

I won't blame the writers for that too much, since it seems like they are still experimenting with what works and what doesn't. But at some point, they need to hit their stride and find a flow with regards to how to lay things out. Perhaps the looming SummerSlam pay-per-view had the writers scrambling, though, and things will get better once the company reaches a lull in terms of marquee events.

I've never worked in television, so I can't speak to how difficult it is to mold a show and assign time to each segment. But I don't really understand why the WWE can't use ample time on the main-event feuds while still promoting the mid-card titles, incorporating Tout and showing some recaps. Three hours is a ton of programming, and it should work itself out at some point.

I'll give the WWE a lot of credit for having a pay-per-view-quality match in the form of Dolph Ziggler vs. Chris Jericho vs. The Miz. But when the weekly show is the length of a regular pay-per-view, there is room for more than one good match. Having four squash matches in one night, essentially, doesn't do anything as far as getting talent over goes.

With that said, I'd like to see a greater focus on the Intercontinental, United States and Tag Team Championships moving forward, with a defined storyline centering around each of them. Also, it isn't too much to ask for there to be three or so matches that are 10 minutes in length, since wrestling fans want to see wrestling and good matches help both competitors in the long run.

My biggest hope when Raw added an extra hour was that there would be a true focus on mid-card angles, just like there was during the Attitude Era. That has yet to come to fruition, however. Instead, we have gotten a bit more time allocated to the main-event feuds, more social media and more mid-card squash matches with no relation to the titles.

I'm still willing to give the writers some time, since the concept of a three-hour Raw is still new, but if they can't start putting a well-rounded show together, then the fans are going to rebel at some point. Maybe the creative writers are being hamstrung by upper management and advertisers when it comes to producing more content, but the platform is in place to do something great.

There is at least some sort of effort being made when it comes to the mid-card, and the past two shows have been far more bearable than the 1,001st Raw, so progress is being made to some degree. But the WWE needs to come up with a regular formula at some point.

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