Here's When SmackDown Will Return To Two Hours (WWE News)
Latest on Triple H's plan to eventually ditch SmackDown's current three hour format.
WWE announced they'd be beefing SmackDown up from two to three hours right before 2024 turned into 2025, but that won't be a permanent thing. In fact, the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter says Triple H will revert blue brand business back to its traditional two hour runtime shortly after WrestleMania 41.
The May/June window is currently pencilled in for that shift back. This, of course, means anyone enjoying the extra hour currently on offer will get more SmackDown right through until after April's hefty weekender. So, in other words, there are at least another four months of three hour Friday night episodes to go before anything changes again.
Word from Dave Meltzer's sources is that Hunter believes he and his creative team have more than enough content to keep the show busy until then. WWE's writers will keep juggling three hours of Raw, three of SmackDown and two hours for NXT weekly - further, they'll also tackle upcoming specials like Saturday Night's Main Event and huge PLE tentpoles like Royal Rumble.
Busy, busy.
Recent Three Hour Episodes Have Nailed The Format
The first three hour SmackDown on 3 January was a fine enough broadcast, but it was met with some formatting challenges that seemed out of character for WWE. One would think they'd slot seamlessly into three hour SmackDowns after running the same format on Raw for many years, but parts of the night came across as slightly clumsy and uncoordinated.
Trips and his team had corrected that starting with the 10 January edition. There, things ran smoothly. The third attempt that aired live on 17 January was borderline PLE quality at times. Matches like Rey Mysterio vs. Kevin Owens, Tiffany Stratton vs. Bayley and even tag bouts like Los Garza vs. Motor City Machine Guns served up delicious in-ring action without feeling stretched out or like they were stalling for time.
That's remarkable considering some of the stall tactics WWE deployed on 3 January. There are only so many superstar vignettes or WWE Shop ads one viewer can take!
This efficient, wrestle-heavy approach bodes well for the coming months. It's nice to know that Trips understands the importance of serving top storylines and angles whilst also shining some spotlight on previously overlooked acts like those in the tag-team or women's divisions.
If you've been eating up all this bonus SmackDown content and begging for more, then rest assured you're getting another quarter of it. WWE won't be changing a thing until WrestleMania is in the rearview mirror.