**MERGED** All July 23rd Raw Changes - Keep it all in here!

[Ferreira]

At a USA Network season premiere event in New York City, John Cena revealed on Twitter that Monday Night Raw will expand to a three-hour show, starting with the 1,000th episode on July 23 at 8/7 CT on USA Network.

"WWE is proud to celebrate this historic milestone with our partners at USA Network," WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon said. “Our new three-hour Raw represents the next generation in interactive television where our fans won’t just watch the show, they will help create it.”

Starting with the historic 1,000th episode of Raw on July 23, The WWE Universe will have new ways to get involved in the show through WWE.com and social media by deciding matches, stipulations, Superstar development and more.

"The WWE Universe is one of the most socially active and passionate fan bases in all of television," Chris McCumber and Jeff Wachtel, co-presidents USA Network, said. "The powerful three-hour block of live TV truly makes USA the year-round destination for young male viewers on Monday nights."

Stay with WWE.com for more on this breaking news surrounding Monday Night Raw.

What do you think about Raw expanding to a three-hour show? Sound off now on Twitter using #3hourRAW.

What are your toughts? Good news for RAW and their superstars?

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

nice! good news for the superstars and for wwe hell even for the fans we will get to see more of the people we wanna see on raw sense there will be more time now,vince will assumably be making more money off this same with usa network and the superstars who might not get tv time much will get more of a chance now pretty happy to hear it.

 

[punchline]

Funny how this comes out around the same time TNA says they are going live starting May 31st.

Except that if you pay attention to the shareholders meetings WWE has (which the highlights are usually posted on here anyway), you'd see that this has been in the works for awhile now, and the plan was centered around the 1000th episode of RAW. I think it's an interesting coincidence, but i'm pretty sure TNA had no bearing on this decision. And i'm not a 100% sure myself as i don't follow twitter, but the consensus seems to be that the 3-Hour Raws were publicly announced before the Live Impacts.

 

[ultramattman]

Sounds like USA, WWE, TNA, and Spike all understand the same thing - the only thing that matters on tv anymore is live programming. Sports, live American Idol and other reality shows, the NFL just signed BILLION dollar tv contracts with every network - in the DVR/social media age, the only way to make sure people sit down and watch their televisions is to make it live.

Personally, I'm not sure I need a full hour of extra Raw every week. There's no way these shows don't get bloated, is there?

Potential upside: Doing this almost demands the return of featured tag division. It's the most logical way to fill the extra time.

 

[akathelaw]

I didn't expect this, that's for sure. If anything it seemed like wrestling was downsizing but with an extra hour of the top show every week we may be headed for a boom period. Here's some quick thoughts on what I feel should happen:

1. Keep the pre-show concept.
3 hours is a lot of time to fill and the 2 hr format had a decent flow to it. Recent 3 hour shows have offered more time for the undercard but too many unknown grapplers filling time on the A show could be a bad thing. The pre-show is a way for WWE to fill in new viewers on recent storylines, air some of those great video packages and allow time for classic backstage promos.

2. Keep the flexible "Supershow" brand split.
I've enjoyed WWE more since the "Supershow" era started because the wrestlers I like are on TV more now. I love seeing Punk and Bryan on both brands, and I can get to know new stars faster when they appear more. The brand split was never fully enforced, and it works against trying to make 2 great shows a week. There is still a place for the Draft and some brand loyalty but I prefer to see the big stars on both shows.

3. Don't unify the titles
Less Championships can make the existing ones feel more important, but I like the current belt set up. 2 Main eventers, 2 midcard singles belts and a tag belt is great. I'm even in support of a 3rd midcard belt for cruiserweights, since the extra hour of Raw will allow time for different divisions.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Not really sure how I feel about this. I guess, just as with everything else, it can be hit or miss. Sometimes, the three hour Raws seem to have flown by and sometimes, they do seem to drag.

I don't really see this as being a means of improving ratings as the first hour has always pulled the overall rating of the three hour shows down. All in all, however, I won't have any major problem with it as long as the three hours are meaningful. What I mean by that is that I'm hoping WWE doesn't devote the first hour to pure nonsense like dance offs and over the top rope challenges and all that shit.

 

[a member of wwe universe]

well this idea might break or make them. 3 hour permanent. i mean its bad that raw is not deliver well on a consistent basis but to have 3 hour its going to make things tougher for wwe.

Raws booking has always been about the opening segments and the ending and maybe something in between. They're gonna have to add more element of excitement and few good matches in between now to make me go through the entire show.

the whole purpose originally for the 3 hour IMO was to milk off a special event (slammy) or a mega star like rock. Without it i see their rating stays stagnant, stale. (2.8 first hour, 3.0 second hour, 3.1 last hour)

 

[punchline]

I'm hoping this move was made partly to showcase the influx of new talent moving to the main roster such as Dean Ambrose, Damien Sandow, Seth Rollins (rumored to be moving up soon), Khassius Ohno, Antonio Cesaro, and a few returning faces in Husky Harris and Ryback.

 

[mrpops]

Im against it. RAW is barely good enough at 2 hours. I have a hard time watching 2 hours and not getting bored. 3 hours is going to really test my patience.

RAW starts at 9:15 in canada(where i live anyway) and usually ends somewhere in between 11:15-11:30pm. Most mondays im praying at 11:15 that the show would just end already so i can get ready for bed or whatever.

Theres no way im staying up past midnight to watch wrestling. Even if they change it to 9pm-12am ill be angry. Looks like ill end up watching the first 2 hours and youtube the rest during the week. Or maybe ill just stop watching.

 

[SavageTaker]

Horrible move. Look at what happened with WCW Nitro when they shifted to 3-Hour shows. I really can't see this going very well. The WWE is already over saturated and overexposed, they're just going to get more saturated. As far as exposure, it's good but to a certain extent. I think they are going well beyond that extent and it might end up hurting them later on.

It may be a good business move for them, but from a fan's standpoint I can't see this turning out to be good move from them. Sometimes I can't make it through an entire episode of Raw without flipping channels because of the terrible writing that plagues the show. Hopefully I'm wrong but I'm not crossing my fingers that this will turn out to be a great move and will help the product they are putting out right now.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Personally, I think it's too much wrestling. Sure, you're free to turn the program off after two hours, but when you enjoy following storylines, that's a hard thing to do.

Remember, when Monday Night Raw first started, it was a one-hour program originating from the Manhattan Center in New York City. Going to two hours was a welcome change, but three is sort of overkill.

On the other hand, there will hopefully be a lot more people used and perhaps some folks who never got a chance before will do so now. I've wondered why the company seems to be bringing in several new characters lately (Sandow, Cesaro, Ryback, and even Brodus Clay). Maybe the company is gearing up for the switch to three hours, getting the new talent ready to come into their own at that point rather than first starting them out in July.

Of course, my hope is that since WWE will have more time to devote to more performers, it will finally mean a push for Drew McIntyre. Other rarely-used folks on the roster may see their time come, too.

But man, three hours is a long time to spend in one night.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Anybody remember 3 hour Nitro's? Fun, weren't they!

If WWE were putting on consistently good television then it would still be a mistake. It's a bit like Hollyoaks as it is, you can skip it for weeks, even months, and easily catch up with what's going down after about 10 minutes. Oh well, at least Bottom Line will have more variety.

 

[TLK]

I'm hoping this move was made partly to showcase the influx of new talent moving to the main roster such as Dean Ambrose, Damien Sandow, Seth Rollins (rumored to be moving up soon), Khassius Ohno, Antonio Cesaro, and a few returning faces in Husky Harris and Ryback.

This was my first thought when I read the news. I'm really hoping that WWE has opened their eyes a bit and realized that their biggest names are either part time or on the brink of retirement. This will be a great opportunity to usher in a new era of stars and highlight new talent by giving them ample time and not just showcasing a move or two in a weekly squash match. I'm excited about the potential of this news, but I am a little wary that the WWE will correctly caplitalize.

 

[BLeonard]

Im against it. RAW is barely good enough at 2 hours. I have a hard time watching 2 hours and not getting bored. 3 hours is going to really test my patience.

RAW starts at 9:15 in canada(where i live anyway) and usually ends somewhere in between 11:15-11:30pm. Most mondays im praying at 11:15 that the show would just end already so i can get ready for bed or whatever.

Theres no way im staying up past midnight to watch wrestling. Even if they change it to 9pm-12am ill be angry. Looks like ill end up watching the first 2 hours and youtube the rest during the week. Or maybe ill just stop watching.

If I had to guess, I'd be willing to bet that the timeslot will be 8-11PM and not 9-Midnight, as all of the 3 hour shows in the past have been.

-Bill

 

[ECW Sandman]

I like the idea of having 3 hours every week it will remind me of when WCW had the three hour Nitro's back in the day hey it worked for WCW for a long time til they went back the the 2 hour time block.

My only concern about having 3 hours every week starting in July is will there be more wrestling on the three hour block and less filter interviews backstage and in the ring like there are now It says 2 hours and 5 minutes of wrestling right now but actually it like 1 hour and 45 minutes of wrestling ACTUAL wrestling not interviews.

 

[Danielson_Gr]

I guess i am the only one who thinks as a wrestling fan and not as a member of WWE Shareholders...


Why in the blue hell and extra hour of free programming is bad?
I want to see the whole roster,people from FCW and more storylines and i don't care if the numbers are low and i also don't care how the 3 hour Nitro was.

I just want more wrestling.And yes that is a brilliant desicion.

 

[Radical]

This is NOT a great idea IMO.

They should have worked on making the 2 hour show more quality but now they are going to try and keep our attention for 3 hours?

It is already hard enough to sit through the 2 full hours because of all the commercials and a lot of useless segments and matches.

WWE is too big to have any one decision destroy them but I really don't see this 3 hour Raw working very well for very long. Permanent is a long time. I think they should have just said "for the forseeable future" regarding a 3 hour Raw, at least then after 4 or 5 months they can re-evalutae it and change it if they need.

Well, they'll still change it back to 2 hours if they realize it isn't working but it just means they don't know what permanent means.

 

[IHW]

I don't think it will be much different at all. I expect some kind of 30 minute Pre-Show each week, that goes within the 3 hours. Plus, RAW already goes over about 15 minutes every week. That leaves 15 minutes for Commercials and a few extra minutes of wrestling. Not much different then what we get.

 

[vampirek]

I guess i am the only one who thinks as a wrestling fan and not as a member of WWE Shareholders...


Why in the blue hell and extra hour of free programming is bad?
I want to see the whole roster,people from FCW and more storylines and i don't care if the numbers are low and i also don't care how the 3 hour Nitro was.

I just want more wrestling.And yes that is a brilliant desicion.

People from FCW and the whole roster could appear on Raw now. They don't need an extra hour, they could just rid of all the filler rubbish they already have in place.... the increase in commercials, the same repetitive promos and the 30 seconds diva matches (which have dropped somewhat recently). Its bad because it doesn't solve anything, the 2 hours Raw has had over the years has never been a problem and has been less of a problem since they've had Smackdown as a single brand (which has so little wrestlers on the roster.... that there is tons of room there to put another 10 wrestlers in there).

I really doubt the amount of wrestling on Raw will increase, it may do slightly but I can't see it significantly. The extra hour will likely include a good number of commercials, promos and telling us what we either saw last week, last month or just ten minutes ago in case we weren't intelligent enough to remember. Nevermind the Did You Know parts which will also increase to make reference to things we didn't know because we simply do not care to know.

I could understand the move if they actually had the talent to do this many hours across the broad and keep things fresh, but they don't. Whats the idea put Smackdown and NxT rosters on to Raw so that when it comes to Smackdown and NxT we can skip over it because it'll be the same as it was on Raw minus the Raw wrestlers for the best part.

 

[Danielson_Gr]

People from FCW and the whole roster could appear on Raw now. They don't need an extra hour, they could just rid of all the filler rubbish they already have in place.... the increase in commercials, the same repetitive promos and the 30 seconds diva matches (which have dropped somewhat recently). Its bad because it doesn't solve anything, the 2 hours Raw has had over the years has never been a problem and has been less of a problem since they've had Smackdown as a single brand (which has so little wrestlers on the roster.... that there is tons of room there to put another 10 wrestlers in there).

I really doubt the amount of wrestling on Raw will increase, it may do slightly but I can't see it significantly. The extra hour will likely include a good number of commercials, promos and telling us what we either saw last week, last month or just ten minutes ago in case we weren't intelligent enough to remember. Nevermind the Did You Know parts which will also increase to make reference to things we didn't know because we simply do not care to know.

I could understand the move if they actually had the talent to do this many hours across the broad and keep things fresh, but they don't. Whats the idea put Smackdown and NxT rosters on to Raw so that when it comes to Smackdown and NxT we can skip over it because it'll be the same as it was on Raw minus the Raw wrestlers for the best part.

You are working in WWE or something?If not how do you know that they will not change anything.Wait until then and if they don't change anything come and tell that to me.

I really don't understand why all of you are negative all the time...It is like you don't want to change something in wrestling and become better for the fans,just only to have something to complain about .

 

[H33LTurn]

Horrible move imo. 3 hour RAWs ALWAYS drag on. I hope the first hour is just a pre show or something.

 

[Greg4WWE]

the only thing that sucks about it is here in Canada it's still going to come on at 9:15 (they lag 15 mins for censor purposes i guess).. so it will last from 9:15 till 12:15a.. on work nights that is going to be a pain.. but more wrestling is always a good thing!

 

[akrassikauda]

This is not WCW.

1) WWE does not have Hogan and Bischoff running the show

2) There is no NWO so there are no guys with creative control over every match one guy calls the shots VKM. Don't have ten run ins every night and one faction getting all the air time because Hogan,Nash and Bischoff said so.

3) Is there another major wrestling promotion WWE is up against.


I'm fine with this move because I know come september the WWE will have a head start on their real Monday night rival MNF. We all know if a game is advertised for 8pm it really doesn't kick-off until 8:30 so that's an opening segment/match before the game really starts plenty of time to get the male fans interested to switching back and forth. If the game is not good good news for WWE and USA because if you have them interested at the beginning the veiwer is more likely to tune in longer. Plus the biggest thing about this move is it starts in July well before the season starts so the male audience will have plenty off time to know about it not like the typical 3 hour specials anounced the week before

 

[xGotTheEdgex]

I guess after reading through this, I'm one of the few that really like this move. I want more wrestling. Honestly, WWE hasn't been that bad since WrestleMania. So anything that gives me more wrestling, I'm a fan of.

 

[Slowdude]

The writers better start working their asses off for this. Currently they find it hard to fill the time between the opening segment, the first hour main event and the last 20 minutes. With an extra 30 minutes (because that is all they are really adding) how are they going to fill that when they can barely will the current hour that they rarely do anything with.

WWE please if you truly are doing this start working on actual storylines for more of your wrestlers, not in the big show - laurinitis way (we don't need to see shit like that dragged on for 15 minutes), it was a step in the right direction but it was executed horribly.