Monday Night Raw. The flagship show of sports entertainment, the victor of the Monday night wars and the star studded platform that professional wrestlers have dreamed of showing their talents on, hearing their entrance song hit at some point during the three hours of air time. Wait, three hours of air time?

Yes it has been the subject of much debate since it was announced that Raw would become a three hour show back in May 2012, many people believe that the change in timing is a huge contributing factor behind the downfall in ratings and popularity of the show, and that returning to a two hour schedule would help bring popularity back. Here are the reasons why:

Filler and repetition

Each episode of Raw kicks off with an excessively long promo, that if it was on a two hour show would need to be cut down in order to open up more time for the matches. It’s a simple equation, less talk equals more wrestling, and everyone would want that.

Dolph Ziggler has fought with Kevin Owens far too often recently, including a match at Fast Lane and a number of matches in the weekly episodes of both Raw and Smackdown. There is building momentum for a rivalry and then there is filling time with matches that promise to be entertaining because there is nothing else to put on, this instance was the latter.

Owens facing Ziggler on Raw (Dailywrestlingnews.com)
Photo:Dailywrestlingnews.com

If Raw is cut down it would force the creative team to spread out matches, the audience would see different things every week giving us something fresh that we haven’t seen.

Make Smackdown more relevant

As previously mentioned, Raw is the flagship show, a statement that has never had as much meaning as it does today, Smackdown is well and truly treated as a second rate show, with many fans actually choosing not to tune into the Thursday night show.

Gone are the days of the split brands, where Smackdown had free reign to create its own storylines with its own roster in order to attract viewers, the main event roster is just not big enough for that anymore. But with Raw being three hours long, there is pressure to put the main announcements and matches on the Monday show in order to keep interest.

Cutting Raw down will make it possible to give more important segments to Smackdown, improving its relevance in the eyes of the audience, and therefore helping improve the blue brands ratings.

It’s simply too much

There is simply too much to watch, three hours of Raw, two hours of Smackdown and occasionally a four hour PPV, that is simply too much television time a week for viewers to consume and it becomes difficult to keep up with.

Cutting it down by one hour a week may not seem like a lot but looking at a two hour show is a lot less daunting than a three hour one, which is a long time to watch wrestling, every single week.

WWE may believe that a fans feel a sense of excitement when looking at a three hour Raw, but more often than not the viewing seems more like a task than something that is enjoyed. Watching it week in and week out because of the fear that they may miss something important, Vince McMahon and co need to put the fun back into viewing and a good start would be to cut the viewing time back to two hours.

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About the author
Ryan Caffrey
I am a sports journalist studying at Huddersfield University. Taking a keen interest in football and fighting sports.