Seth Rollins Thinks 3-Hour WWE Raws Are "Obnoxiously Long"
A company man he may be, but Seth Rollins is no fan of WWE Raw's three-hour runtime...
Seth Rollins thinks three hours is far too long for a weekly professional wrestling show.
Appearing on the SI Media podcast, the current WWE Raw star outlined why he prefers SmackDown to the red brand, calling the three-hour format "obnoxiously long." Three hours forces a "cram", and Seth believes that two hours is the sweet spot (h/t WrestlingNews.co):-
“I think a three hour show is just obnoxiously long every week. Everything gets stretched out, you know, and you’ve got to cram — you got to fill three hours of television, there’s just nothing to be done. You know, that’s just how it is. So I think two hours is a beautiful kind of number for a pro wrestling show. And I think it’s easier to make everything mean a little bit more."
A SmackDown wrestler since being switched to Raw in last October's WWE Draft, Rollins described his experience on Friday night, stating that the shorter timeframe prevents overexposure and keeps things special:-
"You know, on SmackDown when I was there last year, I hardly ever wrestle on television and so it was kind of a big deal. You look at Roman, he hardly ever wrestles on television, I think maybe a handful of times in the last year. So when he has matches at these pay-per-views, they feel like big deals and on Raw I’ve wrestled in like 26 five-star matches in the last two months. It’s just been wild the amount of actual wrestling that I have to do and I’d love to avoid that but it is what it is."
Despite this, Rollins enjoys the extra screentime he gets on Raw as a result of its extended runtime - even if it makes for a demanding viewing experience:-
"I like the fact that I get a lot more screen time on Mondays because you have the extra hour but yeah it’s a apples to oranges type thing. I do think three hours is just a lot to ask every week of a viewer.”
Raw switched from two to a three-hour show in July 2012, starting with the red brand's special 1,000th episode. The extended runtime means more space for advertisements, which, in turn, means greater advertisement revenue, meaning that despite Raw's length being a common complaint amongst wrestling fans, WWE and USA Network are unlikely to ever go back on the move.