How Would You Set Up Future 3 Hour Raws?

[Jack-Hammer]

There's been a large influx of 3 hour Raw specials over the past month and a half or so and, for the most part, I think they've been extremely good. I do believe that having them bunched together has sort of taken some of the shine away from them and I think that there's a good chance that they'll return next year.

Old School Raw was just plain fun in my view and I was surprised at how seriously the WWE took it. When the WWE treats its own lineage & history with respect, it's always a good thing. Given the positive feedback and the almost universal praise for this show, I fully expect it to return next year. I think it'd be an interesting idea to have the first Raw after WrestleMania be a 3 hour Old School Raw special. WrestleMania is the biggest WWE ppv, it's the one that put WWE on the map and it'd be a great excuse to have the HOF Class of 2011 make appearances on the show. With all the rumors going about that there'll be tons of WCW stars inducted this year, I think it'd make the Old School Raw feel pretty special. Also, I think it'd be fun to make all these 3 hour specials commercial free.

I also enjoyed the King of the Ring Raw. To me, it did have a special feel about it because the WWE almost never holds tournaments of any kind. Tourneys are supposed to be occassional happenings that feel special and I think KOTR worked. It was a tad predictable I grant and I'd personally like them to mix it up a bit next year. I'd set this one up somewhere around SummerSlam perhaps, maybe the second Raw after the show as the follow up to SS would include the fall out and the qualifying matches for the tourney.

As for the Slammys, I thought last night's show was pretty solid but I'm not overly wild about the concept of the Slammy Awards. There's been complaints that the WWE has too many ppvs and, while I know this will probably never happen, I'd like to see the Slammy Awards scrapped next year, have the WWE do away with a ppv and feature the ppv show itself on television as a 3 hour Raw. For instance, Bragging Rights was probably the overall worse WWE ppv of the year and the concept of a brand rivalry just doesn't feel remotely tangible. However, having a 3 hour commercial free Raw featuring nothing but ppv quality matches, at least in my view, is a novelty that puts me in mind of the old Clash of the Champions broadcasts.

How would you work out the basics of future 3 hour Raws? Would you spread them out? Do away with them altogether? Discuss.

 

[MOExecution]

If I had to set up the three hour RAW shows I would probably set up atleast FOUR shows. A Three Hour RAW before SummerSlam, A Three Hour RAW before Survivor Series, A Three Hour RAW before Royal Rumble, and a Three Hour RAW before WrestleMania. That gives WWE THREE HOURS to really milk the feuds and stories between the upcoming combatants. This would hopefully bring some anticipation for the up coming events since Pay-Per-Views like Survivor Series have been duds for the past few years.

And I would also add in SPECIAL RAW SHOWS for example; WWE Draft, WWE Slammy's, WWE Old Skool, King of the Ring, and WWE Tribute to the Troops. I don't know about anybody else, but the Tribute to the Troops show is one of my favorites because it is so patriotic and it really gets me into the holiday mood so I would give these guys three hours to escape all of their fears and worries and enjoy some good ol wrasslin.

EDIT: Also, it really irritates me when WWE advertise a three hour show, but in the middle of it they seem like they run out of material. I would have special sets and some BIG matches with both SmackDown and RAW on the shows.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

I would actually spread them out a little more but have them all in the same ball park still. I wouldn't have them evenly spaced because that would detract from the novelty far more than just having a few in close proximity to each other, and also because the shows are at this stage for very good combination of reasons.

E.g., Towards end of the year - Slammys.
Old school raw - WWE likes to have legends around leading up to mania.
KOTR - Leads to a push, also used as momentum for a superastar going into mania.

I do agree these shows having been TOO close to each other with a mere 1 normal show between KOTR and the slammys, and the same gap between KOTR and old school. But luckily enough, the 900th episode of raw filled a slot in August whereas the 1000th show won't be until the year after so that leaves a very nice gap old school raw could go into if it happens again, which I think is still in the works.

Other than that I would keep KOTR round-about where it is and move the slammys back to the last week of raw so it is an accurate and up-to-date show gathering moments from the ENTIRE year. If I had to move KOTR, I would move it to the second week after the PPV that preceeded summerslam because it would hype a match of a guy going into the second biggest PPV of the year which is also helpful.

Raw has been clogged this year with the 900th show and old school raw, not to mention KOTR, but it is almost certain that there will be less oppertunity for there to be as many 3-hr raw shows next year leaving less to worry about. And if there are as many, well lets just hope they plan it well and put them a little more evenly spaced.

 

[pessimism101]

First and foremost, I would limit the amount of three-hour shows per year to no more than 3. I would also space them out at least 3 or 4 months apart so they seem more special than they would one every two weeks.

As for concepts, I would make KOTR a pay-per-view again, possibly replacing Over the Limit or Bragging Rights. As the posters above have mentioned WWE Old School should become an annual tradition because that was one of the best Raws I've seen since WWE went PG and nostalgia is always a cool thing once in a while. Hopefully, the WWE does a 3-hour Nitro close to WrestleMania (due to the plan to have a WCW class of Hall of Fame inductees). The Slammy Awards SHOULD be an hour special that could air between Christmas and New Year's, and I would, instead, make the Slammy 3-hour special into a 3-hour Tribute to the Troops show. As for the final 3-hour show, the Draft would be a good choice.

I do NOT agree with a 3-hour, commercial-free Raw mainly because PPV buyrates are low enough without WWE airing basically a free PPV one Monday a year.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

I have loved the 3 hours of Raw lately. It allows for less time constraints. That raw roulette was one of the best raws I have ever seen bar none. I was on the edge of my seat that entire show. I want something similar to that not in the sense of having every 3 hour raw a roulette type of show, but more diversity with the matches and promo segments. 3 hours allows more rivalries to be driven and gives the guys who wouldn't normally have much tv time more time to shine. I would also have some longer matches, I know they save the long matches for ppvs but it would be awesome having a mid card match or something along the lines around at least 15 minutes every now again.

One thing I really love is the endings to not just the 3 hour raws, but a lot of the raws lately where when it's over it leaves you wanting MORE. I have not had that feeling of "cancel my date next week I gotta see RAW" feeling in...geez I am not sure how long, probably the attitude era days