WWE Raw Cutting Back To Two Hours Starting Next Month
Monday night mainstay dropping third hour starting in October through December.
Fans who have decried how WWE Monday Night Raw's three-hour episodes can be quite a slog received some welcome news Monday night.
The long-running show will drop its third hour beginning with the 7 October episode of Raw, remaining a two-hour program until it concludes its broadcast on USA Network on 30 December. The following week, Raw will begin its tenure on Netflix.
BREAKING: #WWERaw will be on @USANetwork from 8pm ET to 10pm ET starting on Monday, October 7th and through the rest of 2024 culminating with the @USANetwork finale on Monday, December 30!
Advertisement— WWE (@WWE) September 10, 2024
While no reason was given for the change, it's very likely tied to the short-term extension WWE signed with USA earlier this year to bridge the gap between the end of its original deal with USA -- which was slated to conclude at the end of September -- and when the Netflix deal begins in January 2025. USA simply might not have been able to offer WWE that third hour slot due to other programming scheduled for the regular season.
It's also unclear whether Raw will remain a two-hour program once it launches on Netflix next year. Fightful noted that Raw has been a three-hour program since July 2012. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select added that because Raw started at 9pm ET for much of its two-hour run, this will be the first time in decades that no wrestling regularly scheduled for the 10pm hour will air on Mondays.
For now though, it will be interesting to see how the shorter episodes affect the booking and planning for Raw for these last three months on USA.