WWE’s Monday Night Raw and SmackDown both struck new deals with new networks, but that’s far from the only change being made. Monday Night Raw will move to Netflix starting in January of 2025, airing its last few episodes of 2024 on USA Network. Meanwhile SmackDown has already moved to USA Network, but in 2025 it will also make a major change, as WWE’s where to watch page reveals that at the start of the year, SmackDown will shift to a 3 hour show.
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While WWE Raw has been 3 hours for quite some time, SmackDown has traditionally been 2 hours, and for a long time that was seen as a good thing, with many pointing out how Raw dragged at times due to the length of the show. Over the past year though Raw has become a much better show, and the move to Netflix will keep the 3 hour runtime in tact.
With SmackDown moving to USA Network, it seems that a 3 hour show was part of the discussion, and USA is already used to it as the home of Monday Night Raw for so long. Now both shows will be 3 hours long, so fans will have 6 hours of WWE content each and every week, and that’s not even counting the 2 hours of NXT every week on The CW and special events like Saturday Night’s Main Event.
The WWE where to watch page reveals that the new 3 hour format will start in WWE’s stop in Phoenix, Arizona. The description reads, “SmackDown continues to air on USA Network every Friday night at 8/7 C in the U.S. At the start of 2025, SmackDown will expand to three hours starting with the Jan. 3 episode from Phoenix, Arizona.’
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That will be a huge week for WWE, kicking off 2025 with the premiere on Netflix for Raw, the 3 hour premiere of SmackDown on USA, and the special event episode of NXT New Year’s Evil. WWE is very much treating the Raw Netflix premiere as a blockbuster event, having already booked Roman Reigns vs Solo Sikoa in a match of Tribal Combat. There are also Title matches in the mix, with the big one being Liv Morgan vs Rhea Ripley, and there are surely other additions to come before the big night rolls around.
As for SmackDown, the build to the Royal Rumble will be a major focus, especially in regards to Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens, who have been feuding over the past month and half. Randy Orton will likely figure back into this story at some point, and then there’s the story of Rhodes vs Orton that people will also want to see at some point, so perhaps that is also kicked off in a big way at or after the Rumble.
So WWE fans, what do you think of SmackDown moving to 3 hours? You can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @KnightofOA!
