Will three hours hurt or help WWE SmackDown in the long run?
The three hour runtime of WWE SmackDown is back in full effect, with Drew McIntyre and Jade Cargill leading it as the Undisputed WWE Champion and WWE Women’s Champion, respectively. Elsewhere, stars as such as Trick Williams and Jordynne Grace have joined the brand as fresh call-ups. Regardless of the stacked roster and hype, though, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff isn’t confident that they will offset the potential long-term risks of SmackDown’s corresponding three-hour format.
“I tell you what’s not going to be fun is three hours,” Bischoff said on the 83 Weeks podcast. “My god. Why? Does anybody know why…Long-term, you don’t want to bore your audience to death…And you said it, leave them wanting more. It’s hard to leave people wanting more when you’ve planted them like a f***ing tree on the couch for three hours. And you want to leave them wanting more? It’s a little challenging folks. Not a long-term strategy I would sign off on. I get the revenue part, I was forced into that. Brad Siegel, Ted Turner. ‘Two hours? Now we’re doing three hours.’ ‘I don’t want to do three hours.’ ‘Doesn’t matter, do three hours, because the revenue can support it.’ But man, creatively it kills you.” (H/T to Wrestling Inc.)
SmackDown’s return to the 8pm to 11pm ET timeslot began on January 2, when Damian Priest and Aleister Black headlined the broadcast with an Ambulance Match. The subsequent episode ended with Jacob Fatu returning and McIntyre defeating Cody Rhodes in a 3 Stages of Hell Match for the Undisputed WWE Championship.
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