WWE Monday Night Raw Anticipates Ability to "Vary Runtimes" on Netflix

WWE Raw returns to a two-hour broadcast next week through the end of 2024.

By Liam Crowley

WWE Monday Night Raw has answered a decade-long fan demand. During this past Monday's broadcast, WWE announced that the remainder of WWE Monday Night Raw episodes in 2024 will run for two hours, from 8-10 PM ET every Monday night on USA Network. This marks the first time since July 2012 that WWE Monday Night Raw will be a two-hour broadcast, as WWE expanded WWE Monday Night Raw to three hours on the show's 1,000th episode 12 years ago. Fans have long clamored for the red brand to return to 120 minutes, exclaiming that the three-hour show can drag and can feel padded, pointing to the success of the two-hour WWE SmackDown broadcast on Fridays as evidence for the "less is more" structure.

WWE Raw on Netflix: Will Streamer Keep New Two-Hour Runtime?

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(Photo: WWE, Netflix)

Every week of the red brand on the red streaming service may be a director's cut.

As reported by insider account @WrestleVotes, WWE is "eagerly anticipating" the "freedom to vary runtimes" when WWE Monday Night Raw moves to Netflix. Whether that means 2025's episodes of WWE's flagship show will lean closer to two or three hours, it is said that "no firm decision" has been reached.

Runtime freedom is the latest luxury that WWE Monday Night Raw will knowingly be playing with when it moves to Netflix. Up until now, the biggest newfound ability that WWE has discussed for the show is the potential to be unrated. On broadcast television, WWE Monday Night Raw has had to adhere to a TV-PG rating in order to comply with commercial advertisers. Come the Netflix era, WWE will not be constrained by commercial parameters, meaning WWE Monday Night Raw will be able to push the envelope with adult themes. Similar to this runtime report, many in WWE are "anticipating the freedom" but are operating on a "just because we can, doesn't mean we should" mentality.

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"I feel like we're pushing the envelope now, and I don't want people to use Netflix as a crutch to say the f-word," WWE Monday Night Raw star CM Punk said earlier this summer. "I feel that's immediately where everybody goes, 'We're going to get to swear.' No. If everybody swears, it doesn't mean anything. If everybody is throwing the bird, it doesn't mean anything. If every show, someone is bleeding and they fall off a building, it doesn't mean anything."

WWE Monday Night Raw makes its Netflix premiere in January 2025.

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