On May 23rd, Nick Khan sparked speculation online when he revealed that WWE was open to adding a third hour to SmackDown.
Monday Night Raw permanently became a three-hour show in 2012 and the decision is still criticised by fans over a decade later with many feeling that the show is simply too long.
In fact, Khan made a number of statements about the future of WWE programming including the blue brand potentially moving nights, Raw’s third hour becoming more “adult,” as well as the addition of a new show.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed the chances of SmackDown becoming a three-hour show. Meltzer surmised that the move would be difficult unless SmackDown left FOX which is a possibility.
“He brought up the possibility of SmackDown going to three hours. The deal there is that won’t happen on FOX because FOX has a 10 o’clock out. They only program two hours on primetime. So if they stay with FOX it’s not going to three hours unless they do a third hour on FS1 which has been talked about in the past, but they’ve never done that before.
It would be a really weird deal to do because you go do a two-hour show on FOX, and then you advertise a third-hour on FS1, it has to be main events because people aren’t gonna stick around for the third hour. Even with that, who knows what percentage of your audience you’re gonna lose, but still, even if you lose half your audience or more, the reality is that it’s way bigger than anything FS1 can do at 10-11 on a Friday night.”
WWE Would Ideally Like To Broadcast “Every Night Of The Week”
With regard to a new show, Nick Khan explained that WWE never stops looking for ways that it can increase its output. He added that the company has enjoyed a great deal of success in the Hispanic market in recent months, and this could lead to the launch of a show dedicated to lucha libre.
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