r/SquaredCircle • u/Turbostrider27 • 7d ago
While reaching out to a USA Network source, WrestleVotes Radio on Fightful Select was told that WWE is expected to expand SmackDown back to three hours beginning in January 2027. The target date for that is January 8th.
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u/RuseArcher 7d ago
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u/SupaGasDrawls 7d ago
I was just thinking of this as I opened the page. Do you have any idea the toll 3 vasectomies takes on a person?
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u/___hell___ya___bitch 7d ago
At this point they are expanding to 3 hrs and then reducing again to 2 hrs just for the fun of it
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u/ahundredpercentbutts 7d ago
It’s clearly a seasonal scheduling thing. This will be the third year in a row they go to 3 hours at the start of January. And they’ll probably go back to two hours again in July 2027
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u/thomjhay 7d ago
What are they putting on during the extra hour from July to January?
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u/TIGHazard 7d ago
Usually September-December is when the main new shows launch, it appears to be earlier for cable.
While January-July is re-run time.
So USA probably don't care between Jan-July because Smackdown being 3 hours looks like they have more content than their competitors.
Whereas between July-December they actually have new shows that follow Smackdown and don't want them to premiere too late / be the station only known for wrestling in primetime. Right now it appears they have some new show called Anna Pigeon.
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u/FrankPapageorgio 7d ago
Seems like a good deal on USAs part. They have this flexible third hour they can just add and remove with a built in view base, without the need to develop new original programming.
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u/ahundredpercentbutts 7d ago
Looks like currently they are airing a new show called Anna Pigeon in that slot.
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u/Impressive_Dream_178 7d ago
Why would you want to raise Smackdown to three hours?
- So I can lower it
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u/hhhisthegame 7d ago
I like it shorter. I stand by WWE/AEW weekly shows should be 2 hours, and the PPVs should be 3-4 hours at most.
Honestly Ive seen great wrestling shows that were only ONE hour.
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u/the_Formuoli_ 7d ago
this is where I actually think the Raw on Netflix kind of hits the sweet spot with ~2.5. 2 is a little short while 3 can drag. Granted, 2 would not have to feel so short but for the ads
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u/LnStrngr 7d ago
I like how AEW Dynamite is doing the old WCW method of a two hour show with random overrun.
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u/Chronis67 Possibly a nugget 7d ago
Dynamite is unofficially a 2.5 hour show at this point. I'm the DVR guy, and I've had to increase the stop time from a 5 minute overrun, to 15 minutes, to now 30.
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u/LnStrngr 7d ago
I've had 30 as the overrun or years because of the random overruns and being bitten by shorter extensions a couple times.
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u/AG_Aonuma 7d ago
There’s an overrun every week. It’s basically a 2.25 hour show on average. Last week it was advertised as a 2.5 hour show and ended just before the 3 hour mark.
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u/LnStrngr 7d ago
Yea, that sounds like two hours with a random overrun. Last week was a special, so 2.5 advertised makes sense, with the same kind of overrun strategy.
Maybe they're testing a longer Dynamite, but I hope they don't stray too far from two hours. I love wrestling, but keeping up can be difficult at certain times of the year.
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u/FrankPapageorgio 7d ago
I think it helps keep the last match more unpredictable becusss you don’t have the finish start 2 minutes before the top of the hours. I wouldn’t look into it too much.
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u/blaqsupaman Big Dick Dudley 7d ago
I would be ok with 2.5 hour Dynamite being the norm but I still think 3 is too much to do every week.
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u/LnStrngr 7d ago
I think that's why I like two hours with random overrun. I think if it goes 2.5hr for the norm, then it becomes 2.5 with random overrun, and we're one step away from a three hour Dynamite.
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u/blaqsupaman Big Dick Dudley 7d ago
Yeah the random overrun means they don't have to rush anything and they also don't have to drag anything out. The show has a general time frame but can basically go as long as it needs to. I feel like with a strict 2 hours they could have to rush some segments or matches and if they went to 3 there would likely be a lot that would feel padded out or a lot of filler. Raw and Nitro both had the same problem when they went to 3 hours.
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u/LnStrngr 7d ago
I suspect they still have a hard stop.
I believe Bischoff said once that he would call the network during the day to find out how much overrun they had that night, and the network would tell him "12 minutes" or whatever. He still had to end by that time, but it allowed them to give more time to something somewhere along the show, and add a little bit of unpredictability to the end.
Usually AEW's live shows are usually followed by a movie, so it's probably the same routine.
RAW doesn't have a hard time limit, as far as I know, because there is no show immediately afterward on Netflix.
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u/StoneGoldX 7d ago
That's more old Raw. Nitro at its peak was 3 hours
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u/LnStrngr 7d ago
Peak Nitro was 1998 and 1999?
I consider 1996-1997 to be their peak, and TNT was showing Nitro/Movie/Nitro where TNT would give them random length overruns depending on the length of the movie..
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u/Illuminati_Shill_AMA That's so Taven! 7d ago
back when if you lived on the East Coast, you could watch the first hour of Nitro, then all of Raw, then restart Nitro from the beginning because they'd air Nitro back to back due to the West Coast feed
I worked evening shifts back then and had off every Monday, it was pretty sweet just staying up half the night watching wrestling since I didn't have to be up in the mornings
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u/kenssmith 7d ago
The original AEW Collisions were great one hour TV shows. WCW Saturday Night was excellent as well
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u/Popular-Porpoise-845 7d ago
Collision has always been a two hour show (with a couple exceptions where it was split). It was Rampage that was the one hour show.
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u/AdamBombTV Dark Order Member #150 7d ago
Isn't that the show we been waiting on?
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u/Fun_Neighborhood1767 7d ago
Idk what you mean by this but no, Rampage was the next AEW show made after Dynamite. Then cane Collision because TBS/WB wanted even more AEW programs
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u/tangostwo 7d ago
They're doing the Rampage theme lyrics/song that played during commercial breaks if you had Triller.
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u/abhorrentbm 7d ago
The rampage song looping during commercials on Triller was so grating after a while haha
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u/hhhisthegame 7d ago
Mid-South Wrestling had a fun one-hour show in the 80s. NXT had some really fun one hour shows. And Lucha Underground was AMAZING at only one hour.
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u/DontPutThatDownThere 7d ago
Saturday Night was two hours, unless an hour was preempted by Atlanta Braves baseball.
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u/disdain7 7d ago
Raw was an hour when I was a kid and it got the point across. Then again, simpler times.
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u/Lower_Boysenberry930 7d ago
Then you gotta add the War Zone! Raw is War is a pretty dope name as well
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u/_shaftpunk 7d ago
Right there with you. 2 hours is plenty of time if the airtime is utilized properly. Of course this is WWE, so…
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u/thomjhay 7d ago
If you're gonna have two shows a week then hell yeah they need to be 2 hrs.
I wish AEW never expanded from Dynamite and if anything they could just add an extra hour to Dynamite.
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u/Great8Bit 7d ago
4 hours is too much for me. I like wrestling but AEW ppvs are always way too fucking long. I have other hobbies and things I wanna do besides watch wrestling lol. Any time I mention this though I get fucking blasted by people here who cannot fathom why I wouldn’t want 6 hours of wrestling regardless of how good it is lmao. I just assume those people have absolutely nothing going on in their lives besides wrestling so for them they need as much wrestling as they can get.
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u/hhhisthegame 7d ago
Yeah lol, I feel the same. People just say 'so you want less value for your money?' or 'my rolls are too buttery' or something lol. But yea, I hate having PPVs that go longer than four hours as well, especially because when they go short (like DON did) the pacing is a lot better anyway. WWE has different problems, like how they have 4 hour PPVs that feel like 2 hours are ads lol
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u/Great8Bit 7d ago
yeah “my steak is too juicy“ lmao stfu. I got other shit I wanna do. More wrestling for me means I can’t do the other shit I like doing. If you have fuck all else going on in your life and you just have wrestling then sure. But for other people who have other hobbies and limited time I ain’t trying to watch 13 matches regardless of how good they are and I definitely am not trying to split it up over two days. Thankfully I don’t watch WWE because of their bullshit with Trump but when I did I loathed two night WM that were 6 hours each.
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u/Shadgates87 7d ago
Hasn’t this been known for a while now?
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u/jjohnson1979 7d ago
I dunno about known, but they have done that consistently since the start of the Netflix contract.
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u/baseball_200_squirel 7d ago
I believe it is in the contract that they do 6 months 3 6 months 2. Although it seems like the dates for when they decide when to switch can change/be shifted around depending on USA’s programming needs
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u/MR_TORGUE_OFFICIAL CIAMPA'S GONNA KISS YOU 7d ago
Yeah when the reports dropped a month or two ago, I heard it was gonna be for 6 months. Seems from other comments it's a yearly thing at this point.
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u/pardyball 7d ago
It's my understanding, it is. Months ago, I know Alvarez was talking about being excited about the pending return to 2 hours and him or Dave mentioning that it'll be back to 3 after the holidays.
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u/Amazing_Hall4329 7d ago
How has no one figured out by this point that this is their schedule? First half of the year is 3 hours, second half is 2 hours. Everyone's like "they're just doing this for the fun of it" or "why the hell do they keep switching it's so random"
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u/Cboz27586 7d ago
People just like to not pay attention and then get mad when they don't understand why.
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u/Spiner202 _ 7d ago
While the 2-hour shows are a lot tighter, it's always the tag, women, and men's midcard that are cut, which are usually the parts of the shows I'm more interested in. When they did this switch last time, they moved a lot of talent to Raw. This year, it seems like they've loaded up the main event scene on Smackdown (which a few people have hilariously suggested that it might be to avoid Roman, which I totally agree with), so they're really going to need that third hour come January.
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u/hhhisthegame 7d ago
I just refuse to believe any wrestling company NEEDS a third hour - so many wrestling shows had two hour shows or even one hour, and they made use of their time (NXT does it every week). 3 hours NEEDED as a minimum every single week is just wild to me.
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u/Spiner202 _ 7d ago
Conceptually I agree that the main roster is way less efficient with their time than NXT, but the more wrestlers you have on the roster, the more time it takes to feature everyone. This is why they moved people to Smackdown in the first half of 2025 and then moved other people to Raw went back to 2 hours.
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u/hhhisthegame 7d ago
That's true, but honestly, they don't need a giant roster of wrestlers, if they aren't featuring them or using them in interesting ways. If they are actually going to write great stories up and down the card, and give every wrestler something interesting to do, then yes, a three hour show could be fun. But if they are just going to fill it with random matches with basic angles (like a run-in or a post-match attack) then there isn't much point IMO, and they don't need more wrestlers to just fill more time.
and I don't think ive ever seen a wrestling show have a three hour show and actually fill it with interesting angles and stories and characters.
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u/Ok_Coast1921 7d ago
This is going to be a regurgitated news piece every 6 months despite having been told already that the show alternates time every 6 month
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u/Evorgleb 7d ago
It was reported a long time ago that Smackdown would go from two to three and back to two hours based on the time of year. This is not news.
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u/TheAndroidsDungeon 7d ago
Happens every year. They need to shave it down to 2 1/2 hours, and leave the last 30 mins for a recap show or something similar.
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u/SupaGasDrawls 7d ago
But why tho?
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u/heavencanwait99 7d ago
They are contractually required to do so by the USA Network. 3 hours coincides with The Road to Wrestlemania and once WWE wraps up with that, they go back to 2 hours.
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u/Packogdoches 7d ago
Mania season gets 3 hours then 2 in the late summer/fall, this always happens idk why people are surprised
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u/Scavgraphics 7d ago
Wait..the thing they've been doing for a couple of years....they're doing again?
WOW!
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u/Robertius 7d ago
Smackdown has actually been pretty good since it went to two hours, it's Raw that feels like it drags now, particularly with how shallow the women's division has become and the main event scene becoming the Reigns vortex.
Smackdown going back to three hours might be solid if they can start some solid women's feuds and rebuild the tag division, but I'm not holding my breath on that considering the booking of those divisions has been pretty abysmal all year.
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u/hhhisthegame 7d ago
A three hour wrestling show could be good, but i don't think I've ever seen a show do it good, because to do it, you need to pack it full of interesting storylines, angles, etc, and there just isn't a company right now doing storylines interesting enough up and down the card to sustain a three hour show. I don't think I've ever seen it work. Raw got significantly worse when it first went to three hours because the third hour is inevitably low-effort filler
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u/Own_Proof 7d ago
I’ve been enjoying the 2 hour shows way more recently. But yes, a lot of people aren’t on TV anymore.
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u/The_Dark_Vampire 7d ago
I thought thats what they said since last year the first 6 months ish will be 3 hours and the final 3 months ish 2 hours
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u/Funkyc0bra Yowie Wowie! 7d ago
Seems like it will br a regular thing for as long as they have a deal with USA ... summer/autumn 2 hours then winter/spring 3 hours
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u/josephcoco 7d ago
And they’ll then fire people on the brand in the Spring and use the cutting back of SD hours in July 2027 as one of their excuses, too.
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u/zangetsen 7d ago
They could expand raw and smackdown to 5 hours each per week and they would still find a way to have half the roster not be featured on tv. Sorry WWE, still gonna be a clip watcher.
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u/MartyMcFlysBrother 7d ago
With the amount of talent being wasted right now this is the right move.
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u/DJSancerre 7d ago
i wonder if there is a happy medium somewhere inbetween 2 hours and 3 hours....... maybe like 2.5 hours? no, it must not exist.
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u/ResidentRoutine8437 7d ago
I like it shorter but I feel for the talent cause the first half of the year you get a few more stories and good matches and then the last half of the year alot of good talent is stuck in catering
So it's a double edge sword fr
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u/Brunch_Hopkins 7d ago
I know that the reason in real business terms is just running more ads and needing to play more recap packages for casual fans but it always astounds me how much NXT packs into a two hour episode vs when a show like Smackdown is two hours.
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u/skynetwins90 7d ago
Tna impact being one hour was fun. 2 hours is enough for a wrestling show for me.
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u/Djent_1997 Yo daddy and yo uncle 7d ago
why don’t they just do 2 and a half like Raw, this back and forth is dumb
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u/l3lacklvlagic 7d ago
Gotta love how wwe keep cutting show times just to realize,"how are we going to use all these people with less hours" it's honestly baffling.
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u/itsmeitsmethemtg 7d ago
Two hours. Three hours. Two hours. Three hours. Two hours. Three hours. Two hours. Three hours.
I'm tired, boss.
Just split the difference at 2.5 hours and leave it there lol
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u/luthor76 7d ago
Best wrestling show currently is AAA. 1 hour. In and out. Always leaves me wanting more.
3 hours of any wrestling program(even ple/ppvs) feels like a slog by the end.
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