Why WWE Raw Must Return to 2-Hour Format

Raw has been struggling since it expanded to three hours, and it's time for WWE to drop the third and return to a two-hour format.

Monday nights used to be when fans would gather around the television and switch between Raw and Nitro. Both shows were two hours and aired at the same time, and since the DVR was nowhere near as prevalent, you had to choose which program to watch.

Nowadays, the only option on Mondays is Raw, and many fans have become bored with the product put on by WWE. Some loyal viewers still tune in for the duration of the show every week, but many have become either casual fans who come and go or they have stopped consuming the product altogether.

Expanding the show to three hours might have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it's no longer sustainable.

Too Much Wrestling

With a three-hour show on Monday, a two-hour SmackDown and one-hour episodes of Main Event, Superstars and NXT each week, WWE is putting out eight hours of original programming every seven days. That's on top of all the content that is made exclusively for the WWE Network.

Add in a three-hour pay-per-view every month and the occasional two-hour NXT live special, and it starts to overwhelm even the most ardent fan.

Some people take in even more wrestling by watching Lucha Underground, Ring of Honor, TNA and New Japan Pro Wrestling.

With that much time to fill, storylines become repetitive and wrestlers start to become stale. By dropping one hour from Raw, WWE could cut out all the things nobody likes and focus on what made the program a must-see show every Monday.

Three hours is fine for a pay-per-view because it usually happens once a month on a Sunday, but setting aside that much time to watch Raw every Monday is too much for most people.

Less Repetitiveness

Having three hours to fill means WWE is forced to repeat the same matches and storylines over and over. Getting rid of the third hour would be a big step toward fixing that problem.

How many times have you seen a match on Raw and the same match a few days later on SmackDown? It happens all the time.

We have seen Kane and Seth Rollins battle Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose three times since the end of May. If you go back further, you will see that same match has happened a few more times.

Having less time means WWE could space out these bouts to where it wouldn't feel like we are seeing the same thing every week.

New Superstars such as Kevin Owens and Neville have helped give us a little more variety, but when it comes to the main event scene, we see the same matchups consistently.

We don't need to see every storyline addressed every week. If NXT has taught us anything, it's that having a week or two between developments in a particular angle will increase its longevity and make fans more interested to see what happens next.

More Depth For SmackDown

These days, SmackDown feels more like a watered down version of Raw than its own show. With three hours to fill every Monday, WWE uses up all its good ideas at the beginning of the week.

If the company drops the third hour, it would allow SmackDown to develop more storylines, and that is very important to making the show more than just Raw lite.

When SmackDown moves to the USA Network, the hope is the show's ratings will increase because it will reach a wider audience since the channel is available in more homes than Syfy.

However, nobody is going to tune in if it's just a weaker version of the show they just watched on Monday. Less time on Raw means there will be more to feature on SmackDown, which is what will bring in the viewers.

The brand split might be an idea to revisit eventually, but for now, we need to see more depth on both shows. Getting rid of that third hour is the first step toward making that happen.

Less Filler

When Raw expanded to three hours, we started seeing a lot more useless segments and recaps. How many times have you seen the same recap video shown more than once on an episode of Raw? It happens every week.

If we are watching Raw, we already know what is happening with our favorite Superstars. We don't need to see the same moment from the previous week two or three times to remind us what happened.

In addition to too many recap videos, we also get pointless interviews and promos that last way too long. Going back to two hours would force WWE to get rid of most of that and focus on what matters: the wrestling.

Video packages and promos are an important part of the product, but having too many of them is boring. We need original content to keep us interested, especially in this day and age, when the average attention span is shorter than Hornswoggle.

Final Thoughts

Other than the loss of advertising revenue that comes with having a three-hour show, there is no downside to WWE Raw going back to two hours.

It was fun to have that much wrestling on Monday nights at first, but it seems excessive at this point. Too many recap videos, pointless interviews and lengthy promos occupy what used to be the most exciting show in wrestling.

When WWE first announced the show would be an hour longer, we all though it meant a lot of underutilized Superstars would get a chance to shine, but that never happened. We still see the same people doing the same things every week.

WWE can occasionally put on a three-hour special like they used to, but having that much wrestling every Monday has made the product worse.

Take a moment and ask yourself if making Raw three hours has helped anyone in any way? You will almost certainly come to the conclusion that it hasn't, and going back to two hours just makes sense.

What do you think? Should Raw return to the two-hour format or are you happy having to sit through three hours of repetitiveness every week?

Thanks for reading, and follow me on Twitter @BR_Doctor.