Raw Returns To 2 Hours...On Syfy?

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't know if this is going to be a regular or permanent thing but, at least as of tonight, Syfy is showing a 2 hour replay of this past Monday night's episode of Raw. I didn't read any sort of announcement online, they certainly never advertised any sort of replay on WWE television this week, so this seems a little bit strange.

I'm wondering if MAYBE, and I do mean MAYBE. they're doing this as a way of testing the waters as to how fans react to a 2 hour broadcast instead of 3 as part of a POSSIBLE decision to take Raw back to 2 hours on Monday nights. I suppose it could also be a means of increasing TV viewership, though I think it's fairly unlikely since replays for WWE are kind of redundant considering that people can and often do watch Raw online Tuesdays or DVR it on Monday nights.

It's no secret that many people, at least consisting of internet fans and dirt sheet writers, would prefer if WWE took Raw back to 2 hours as 3 hours is often viewed as just too much. It's not something that people have been complaining about only recently, those complaints seem to start up every so often and Raw going back to 2 hours could be a next step in this "new era" that's going on. From a viewership perspective, viewer fatigue usually takes hold in hour 3 with it bringing down the overall viewership of the show by a fairly significant margin and it usually draws significantly less than hours 1 and 2.

 

[BringThePain834]

I honestly am most happy watching a three hour Raw. I remember when Raw was two hours, and all I could do is want more. I was really happy when they switched to three hours and don't see what's wrong with three hours of Raw. Show length isn't the problem here. And one date proved that.

June 17th, 2013.

That was when the best Raw of the entire decade took place, and WWE proved that they can put on a good show and keep people watching for three hours. My verdict here is that it all comes down to creative. If booking is good and the things that people want to happen happen, they'll watch, if it's not good, they'll turn it off. And the last few episodes of Raw haven't been bad at all.

So I say keep Raw at three hours for the USA Network and do the two hours for reruns.

 

[rbv13]

Thanks to this thread I was able to catch the very end. I can't believe this is the first I'm hearing of the Raw Replay. Via WWE or dirt sheets was this even reported? It will be interesting to see the reasoning, in any really, behind running the replay.

I really do wish the original run would return to two hours. It has become such a chore sitting through three hours. I'm not just saying that as a knock against WWE but three hours of anything, on a regular basis, is difficult to sit through.

 

[dsotm5150]

I honestly am most happy watching a three hour Raw. I remember when Raw was two hours, and all I could do is want more. I was really happy when they switched to three hours and don't see what's wrong with three hours of Raw. Show length isn't the problem here. And one date proved that.

June 17th, 2013.

That was when the best Raw of the entire decade took place, and WWE proved that they can put on a good show and keep people watching for three hours. My verdict here is that it all comes down to creative. If booking is good and the things that people want to happen happen, they'll watch, if it's not good, they'll turn it off. And the last few episodes of Raw haven't been bad at all.

So I say keep Raw at three hours for the USA Network and do the two hours for reruns.

I've seen just as many lousy 2 hour episodes of RAW as I have 3 hour episodes, so it definitely comes down to creative, alot of it also comes down to the fact that fans are craving a change in the product.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

How are they going to condense Raw to 2 hours? What are they going to take out?

I'm assuming they're beginning a slow transition back to 2 hours, and this is some sort of test (as Jack-Hammer pointed out).

If that's true I'm definitely proud. 3 hours is just way too long and draining, so hopefully it is.

 

[Rayne]

I'd chalk this up less to some kind of "two hour test", and more of a way to generate extra revenue and boost a flagging channel by using content they already possess.

Remember that three hour RAW has absolutely nothing to do with providing the best possible entertainment in the smallest possible package; it has to do with people having their televisions on and tuned to USA. For all the complaints about how long and boring RAW is, people are still watching it in greater numbers than a Law & Order rerun. So long as people keep watching this crap, USA and the WWE will offer as much of it as they can get away with.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

I doubt there's much more going on here other than what is essentially a Raw recap on another network. Running a two hour cut replay of Raw is a smart move. Personally I don't have the time to sit through three hours of Raw and always wind up DVRing it. I don't get Syfy being in Canada, but I see the appeal of the show.

I doubt this is really their tester for two hours of Raw. I don't think you really need a tester in order to decide if that's the right move. Raw would have to have a significantly dead hour before they'll consider cutting it down.

I wouldn't look to far into this condensed Raw rewind. I think it might be a minor move to attract the people who normally record, and to incentivize those that would stream based on the three hour length.

 

[Messiah]

RAW is boring at 3 hour's.. Way too many filler segments, so many talent they don't know what to do with.. If RAW went back to 2 hour's it would be perfect if they did a brand split, but that's not possible if they continue to do a 3 hour RAW.. It's stale, they consistantly lose viewers in the third hour..

It's not like the fans will be disappointed. Just make the announcement and make everyone happy. Maybe i would watch the entire show if it's 2 hours again.

 

[LODemolition]

Please let this mean they plan on going back to 2 hours like the OP suggested. There's simply too many things that get on the air that could easily be scrapped. There's no competition, so I never got why they made the move to 3 hours in the first place.

 

[nwocongo]

Was it just me or did anyone else notice that there were bits of Smackdown in this recap show also? Correct me if I'm wrong I was fairly toasted but I thought I caught a snippet of Mauro calling a segment hyping the Asylum match the other night. I think this is cool, nice re-run recap show to try and bring in more viewers. What else are they going to give us on SyFy more sharknado and megacrocasaurus vs whatever bullshit?

 

[Aberle4Life]

I don't think there's a good answer to this. I, too, think three-hour Raw's are too much. However, if WWE moves Raw back to two hours, I think the thing that will suffer most is match quality. Not that all matches on Raw are great, but they have mostly been better since moving to three hours because they simply have more time. Do you honestly think today's brain-dead WWE is going to scale back on the talent they use/waste? No, they'd likely try to cram in everything they do on the three-hour show, but make the actual matches shorter.

To avoid that, I think I'd prefer keeping Raw to three hours and watch it on DVR so I can fast-forward through segments I'm not interested in. To me, good wrestling matches should be the most important part of the show. Shortening matches to allow a two-hour program would be detrimental to that.