I found this amusing...

[TheRealDC]

As it pertains to this little bit of news...

Vince McMahon has recently been very vocal about his opinion that his TV shows should be 90 minutes long. He feels that two hours is too long, but one hour is too short. USA and CW Network have no intentions on changing WWE’s timeslots.

Now... you may be wondering what the significants in this is... well... after a brief history run up, I found this little bit of news...

However, in order to continue broadcasting XFL games, UPN demanded that WWF SmackDown! broadcasts be cut from two hours to one and a half hours. McMahon found these terms unacceptable and he announced the XFL's closure on May 10, 2001.

Now... after combining the two, for the reader... we find that in 2001... Vince actually DENIED UPN to cut his shows to a hour and a half... mind you in 2001 the ratings for WWE would have been very high. So he backed out of making another season of XFL to maintain his two hour show...

So, I guess, it is safe to say, Vince no longer has faith in his own companies ratings. If he would be smart enough to cancel XFL to keep a two hour show... then what reason does he now have to cut it down? Thoughts?

 

[Dj Martyn]

Vince needs to cut it down now because, he has 5 hours main TV to cover a week and with all the current injurys he has very few guys that are worthy of headlining or carrying the shows on there backs.

When the superstars currently on the bench return from there time off, he will be a better posistion to fill the shows.

 

[Moon Knight]

You are talking about a man who is pushing Cena as another Hogan and giving title shots to Khali and Snitsky while holding back Benoit. I am not sure what he is thinking anymore, maybe he doesn't want 2 hours so he can compact the show in hopes of better ratings? I am not sure, Vince has flipped his lid and needs to step down.

 

[TheRealDC]

The matches on either Raw or Smackdown mainly consist sometimes of squash matches, those tend to run well under a three minute mark. Therefore, after extending the matches, and minimizing the promo BS that he subjects us to, a two hour show is very very doable. They have an entire roster, that spands three brand shows. Plus a sub roster to Raw(Heat). They have more then enough people. They have more then enough wrestling talent to perform some decent matches. Being plagued by injuries should wake Vince up, and start using some of the smaller guys that need some camera time. Instead of just firing these guys, why not put em on Raw in a decent match to showcase their skills. Build some character around a wrestler. Rather then having the wrestler develop the character through pointless matches that are only going to be used to propel another "Big Man" to stardom. I may not be a huge fan of Val Venis... but as soon as I see him on Raw, I know its a squash match.

 

[Dj Martyn]

The problem is if Vince steps down... Steph will step up, i think Stephanie and triple hhh would end up at the helm, i don't think Shane would be given as much creative direction as Steph at all.

Which would be awful, if anyone has noticed she has been the one pushing for people like Khali and snitsky and all the Big built no talent guys to get contracts and be pushed.

 

[Kasey]

Vince's insanity knows no bounds at this point. He's gotten too old and out of touch with the standard American populace to have a proper bull$hit filter for his TV programming. He's not only forgot the recipe for increased success...but he's forgot the basics that make a wrestling program even passable to sit through. Maybe it's because the beast that is the WWE is too big for one guy to lord over? Whatever the case is, his trimming from two hours down to ninety minutes is a definite admission of f*ck-up. It used to be that he and Uncle Eric were at each other's throats and had to fight to survive. They also never had trouble filling the timeslots in those days...but were rather having to bust ass just to make it work without a constant bout of overruns.

Vince is just out of gas. Creatively and intellectually. With no one else to overrule some of the dumb $hit that he approves or comes up with, it is just the worst possible scenario because it's not going to get any better. I was saying this for a couple of years now (and ever since I began posting here) and some people thought I was just over-critical and off my rocker. Well, looking back at the last three or four years of programming, I've watched bad go to worse with no signs of slowing down. It's a sad day when Raw has so few moments worth pissing on in the last five years that they kept re-using Foley's cage fall from KOTR 1998 for the intro package. They need to be worrying about making new highlights, not stirring up nostalgia for the old days and basically admitting that it sucks balls in the WWE at present. If you have to keep replaying highlights in any form from your last heyday...you are sucking.

 

[Shocky]

Hmm shocking isn't it. What a difference a decade makes. You go from having too much talent trying to fill up one hour, so you expand to two to survive, and now that's just way too much. Poor poor vince McMahon.

Here's a hint, perhaps in those two hours of TV for Raw and Smackdown, you might actually want to have a wrestling match, wow what a foreign concept, especially on Raw. Maybe if you had a world champion that could carry a match longer then it take the time to pump up his shoes, you wouldn't worry about filling 1:55 every week. Maybe if you had respectable heels that could put on an hour long match instead of one minute squashes, Khali, the soon to be returning monster Snitsky, you might fill up two hours.

It's what I've said for a long time, Raw is horrible. Smackdown is at least watchable. The basic format of Raw has been the same for the last two years since Vanilla Ice showed up, cut a promo to start the show, 2 minute match, backroom segments, diva, promo, backroom, 4 minute match, promo, diva, 5 minute main event, yay Raw was wonderful.

Vince is out of touch with reality. Shaving his head at WM seems to have made him lose his mind even more and suddenly transport us all back in time to 1985-1990 where Warriors and Immortal ones no sell and squash. It's fine, because as long as Vince keeps taking his eye off the ball, like he did in 95, there is going to be another company come along and challenge him.

 

[A.J.]

I think everyone here has basically has put all this into perspective as Vinnie Mac is at a crossroads and the future looks bleak especially if Stephanie and Paul get to run show as Shane seems more the old wrestling concepts sad to think that actual wrestling is a strange old concept in todays WWE product.

The truth is the product is down right crap to watch and moving the time slot downs just proves that creative wise they have nothing i mean they could actually wrestler but thats like option z. Anyway you look at it the shows are hard to watch and actually get pulled in to. McMahon has no interest in WWE anymore i think and if Steph and Paul get to run the show it will be even worse hell think we could have at Vengeance a Triple Threat match for the WWE title as Snitsky vs Khali vs Cena. Show how much McMahon doesnt care anymore.

 

[emceelokey]

I think the success of December to Dismember sparked the thoughts of how much more successful a shorter show would be.

It's not really how much time they have that makes the product better it's how they use what they have. They try to build every thing up with some BS storyline while they can have a few matches that are just a wrestling match and regain that sport aspect of wrestling again. Plus everytime they put Lashley on RAW to cut a horrible promo for 12 minutes they could have a match. I don't care who's wrestling as long as they're wrestling. I would much rather watch a bad match than a bad promo.

Plus they're wearing these guys out by having them work all 3 shows and such.

Oh, they could just put on longer matches. Seeing a 10 minute match is such a treat now and 10 minutes isin't really much.

Give some of the mid card belts the main event spot on t.v. too. This was people don't get burnt out on seeing John Cena do the same shit every week and the mid card belts become something worth watching.

 

[Colamania]

The matches do need to be longer, not the shows shorter in my opinion. I can't believe i'm about to say this, but about a month and a half back, i actually... enjoyed a John Cena match. *Washes mouth out with soap* The Michaels/Cena match was great watching, i'd even go as far as to say it surpassed their WM match. If they continue putting on great shows like this, there's no need for 1 & 1/2 hours, keep it on 2. Edge's move should really help SD! IMO as they were a bit low on competition.

 

[Uncle Sam]

This is definitely a "I f*cked up" admission by Vinnie Mac. I'd savour it though because it could be years until this happens again, knowing how full of himself he can get. I often do find myself yawning loudly during Raw broadcasts, particularly when John "longest two years ever, let's have a third" Cena appears. Teaming him with Khali (who's actually one of the funnier guys on the roster) did little to me but make me laugh uncontrollably on the floor. Lest this become anither Cena-bashing post, I'd just like point out that I always thought one and a half hours was a good length for a wrestling show, be it TNA iMPACT or EC... OW! My fingers just refused to type that.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

I think that having a show go two hours is a good thing. That is if they utilize there tlent like they should and not spend too much time pushing wrestlers who dont need to be pushed. I also find it amusing that Vinnie Mac put his foot in his mouth again. I respect the hell outa him for what he has done but he can really be stupid in his decisions sometimes. An hour and A half of wrestling would not fill my wrestling buzz that I need so i think they should ust keep it at Two hours.