Reporting emerged today suggesting that WWE SmackDown is set to become a three-hour show at the start of 2025.
With that major change could come some knock-on effects throughout many different aspects of the brand and the show.
Here are five adjustments that could be coming to WWE SmackDown considering the extra hour of programming.
5. Bigger roster
SmackDown is going to need to expand its roster with an extra hour of time to fill each week.
Yes, there are a couple of people who might not get as much TV time as we’d like on SmackDown right now, but nowhere near enough for a whole extra hour of TV every week.
There may be some kind of draft before the start of the year – or AT the start of the year – hopefully a completely revamped version, not the same old boring stuff we got a few months ago.
Whether it be that, or NXT call-ups, or just some quiet brand switches that happen over time, SmackDown is going to need more bodies.
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4. WWE Raw To Two Hours Permanently?
As well as changes to SmackDown, the show becoming three hours may mean a permanent change for Raw too.
We know that Raw is going to be two hours from October 7 to the end of the year while it’s still on USA Network, but we don’t yet know what’ll be happening on Netflix in 2025.
One rumor is that it could actually have flexible run times that vary each week – after all, being on Netflix, it’s not like there’s a need to finish at a certain time for a show coming on afterwards.
But again, roster size and other factors come into it, and we may see a permanently shorter version of Raw to facilitate having a longer SmackDown.
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3. More Variety
If you look at the SmackDown roster, there’s arguably less ‘variety’ in terms of gimmicks on the show compared to WWE Raw.
Raw has the likes of the Final Testament, the Wyatt Sicks, even Alpha Academy as a comedy act you could class as a more out-there gimmick than we see on SmackDown.
There’s less of the wacky stuff on SmackDown, basically.
With an extra hour to fill, we might see some of that variety move over to the blue brand – 1) to make the roster bigger, but 2) to just keep things fresh and dare we say ‘less boring’ throughout a whole three hours of programming,
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2. Longer Matches
One way to fill time on a longer wrestling show?
Longer wrestling matches.
One of the most immediately noticeable changes when Triple H took over WWE creative from Vince McMahon was the amount of time on the shows dedicated to the actual matches.
You could argue there’s kind of a middle ground that’s been met since then, but this could be an opportunity to go back to longer matches where appropriate.
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1. More Time For WWE’s Women’s Division
For all the praise Triple H has received for the job he’s done running WWE creative, one consistent source of scrutiny is the women’s division.
Too often, the women get one short match on SmackDown and that’s it. Sure, there may be a talking segment or a couple of extra bits, but in terms of actual wrestling, it’s rarely more than that.
The last episode of SmackDown – the USA Network premiere no less – had a whole 2:20 of women’s wrestling, so that illustrates the point.
Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell haven’t had a TV match since the start of July, and Tegan Nox hasn’t even been on the show since the draft in May. Hopefully at least some of the extra time can be dedicated to the women’s division.
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