Back when WWE was first becoming popular, the company produced two hours of A-level programming every week. WCW upped the ante in early 1998 with the introduction of a second show, Thunder, but internal reaction in WWE was smug satisfaction. The company's higher-ups felt that with that much weekly programming, WCW would oversaturate the wrestling marketplace with its brand and ultimately lose viewers. Of course, WWE ended up having to follow suit by creating Smackdown!, and 17 years later, the company produces a head-spinning amount of television. There's something to be said for the "less is more" philosophy, and with WWE currently in a popularity pit, a two-hour weekly Raw and no Smackdown! may allow the company to focus more on making the best of TV time and producing a show that attracts viewers. Perhaps Smackdown! could even become an all-NXT show. Granted, given the state of television contracts and revenue from the networks, this is an unlikely proposition. Still, the less TV WWE has, the more important it will seem.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013