WWE has made a few attempts in recent years to shake things up with Monday Night Raw‘s third hour. That includes changing up the lighting and presentation once the third hour starts and introducing segments like Raw Underground. None of the ideas have lasted for more than a few months and the complaint of the Red Brand’s weekly product often feeling too long and drawn out has continued to linger.
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In a recent interview with LightShed Partners, WWE CEO Nick Khan said WWE has spoken with NBCUniversal about changing things up for the third hour again. Raw has been three hours long since July 2012.
“When we’re specifically talking about the 10 to 11 (p.m. EST) hour on Raw, we’re specifically talking to NBCU and ourselves about what we do with that moving forward,” Khan said. “We ask, what do we do if we tweak this, that 10 to 11 hour, it is basic cable, it’s not broadcast, as you know. We think that NBCU would be supportive, but we’re not on a final conclusion on that.”
One WWE official who has openly talked about his dislike for Raw’s third hour is Paul “Triple H” Levesque. Shortly after he took over as WWE’s Chief Creative Officer, an interview clip between him and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin from 2015 resurfaced.
“If I could change anything I would love it to be two hours. The third hour of television is so exponentially harder to write, I can’t even begin to describe it to you. It just is really difficult,” Levesque said at the time.
What do you think should be done with Raw’s third hour? Does making it “edgier” sound more interesting or should they take a different approach or feature different kinds of talent? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
WWE returns to pay-per-view with Backlash on May 6 at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jose Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico. While no matches have been officially announced, two are heavily rumored — Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Bad Bunny & Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio and Damian Preist. Bunny has already been confirmed to host the show, as it’ll be the first WWE pay-per-view to take place in his home country since 2005. Stay tuned for full coverage of the event next month!
