When Monday Night Raw started in 1993, it was originally a 2 hour show and it was a 2 hour show for 19 years before in 2012, it was changed to a 3 hour show and ever since some fans have been complaining that Raw should be a 2 hour show but which format is better and makes the most sense. All the aspects have to be looked into because this is one of the most important decisions in WWE if ever it is taken.
So, let’s talk about this issue and look at what will be the ideal way forward.
Raw should ideally be a 2 hour show
Monday Night Raw should ideally be a 2 hour show and not he a long 3 hours because first of all 2 hours is perfect for a weekly wrestling show as all the other shows have 2 hours including SmackDown, NXT, AEW Dynamite etc so Raw should not get the special treatment. Raw was 2 hours for 2 decades and it was going very well and the shows were great on a regular basis and the fans were invested for the duration of the 2 hours and the stars such as The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin etc were the main event. And 2 hours was the time in which the fans would not lose their attention span for the show as well and since 2012 it was changed.
In 2012, WWE decided that Raw should be a 3 hour show and the reason was simple, more money for the extra hour from the network as well as the sponsors of the show. And financial needs are important but not at the cost of the quality of the product. A 3 hour show was very difficult to adjust to at the start for all the fans age the ratings fell for the third hour because fans did not want to watch wrestling till 11 pm in the night in the USA. However as time passed by all WWE fans got used to the idea that Raw will be 3 hours going forward and there is nothing any of them can do anything about it so then started watching the whole show and WWE started adding big moments right in the last hour so that they can get more viewers to watch their product.
In an ideal world Raw should be 2 hours but it will not happen again because WWE will not leave the amount of money they get from the 3rd hour and they will try to get as much money as possible as all good businesses try to do but WWE is in the service business where millions of fans watch them so they have a responsibility to the fans as well and so in the future they should think about going back to 2 hours even if it loses them money because the quality of the shows would be much better and more people will watch it. It will be interesting to see where happens in the future.
