Here's Why There Was No Wrestling During Commercials on WWE Raw This Week

If you were watching Monday Night Raw this week, you might have noticed something different about the show's format. While televised matches typically go through at least one commercial break, every match on the show either ended or was restarted in some form or fashion in-between the commercials, meaning people watching at home didn't miss any of the in-ring action.

A few examples included an elimination tag match that restarted with just The Usos and The Revival, Kofi Kingston pulling double duty in back to back (albeit short) matches against Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens and AJ Styles stopping the main event match against Ricochet until Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows left ringside.

It turns out this change was deliberate. According to the Wrestling Observer, Vince McMahon held a meeting last week declaring that no matches would be broken up by commercial breaks. Post Wrestling followed up that report by stating the reason behind the format change is because legitimate sports like football and basketball don't allow the game to continue during commercial breaks.

Based on the reaction on social media, wrestling fans didn't care for the change.

"It's weird seeing the WWE trying to figure out how to implement their new "no matches during commercials" rule when once upon a time that was the standard," one fan wrote.

"In the annals of dumb decisions made by WWE, the whole no wrestling during commercials/restarting a match after a commercial break is among the worst," wrote another. "I don't think that I've seen one person say 'that's a fantastic idea!' Hopefully they abandon it quickly."

Some of the results from Raw this week included Styles beating Ricochet in a non-title match, The Viking Raiders beating The Club and The Undertaker making a shocking return during Roman Reigns' handicap match against Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon. Shortly after "The Deadman's" arrival a tag match between the four men was announced for Extreme Rules.

The other Extreme Rules announced for the show was Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch vs. Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans. The bout has two stipulations — it's a Winner Take All match for Rollins and Lynch's two titles and if Corbin and Evans lose they can never challenge either of the faces for their titles again.