WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker is seemingly not a fan of WWE Raw being a three-hour show.
WWE’s weekly flagship show has been three hour long since the 1,000th episode which aired in July 2012. But, the Undertaker feels it’s too much TV time for Monday nights.
The Undertaker wants WWE Raw to become two-hour show after moving to Netflix
During his Six Feet Under podcast, The Undertaker recalled when he was sitting in the guerilla position with Triple H and Bruce Prichard during a Raw show and he made a joke about the show being too long and wanted it switched to a two-hour format. Here is what The Undertaker said:
“The whole time I sat up at Gorilla Position with Paul and Bruce Prichard, and then myself, we’re sitting up there. I was like, ‘This show’s really three hours long?’ I know it is, but I was just like, when you guys go to Netflix, is this show gonna cut back down to two hours? Three hours, why three hours? [Laughs] It’s been three hours forever now, but I was just kind of trying to stress the point of three hours is a lot of wrestling on a Monday night.”
The third hour of Raw certainly provide more time for the talents to showcase themselves but the show has also garnered criticism due to its long format. Well, the show has remained for three hours due to the revenue it generates.
More hours of programming means more television money for WWE. USA paid a whopping sum of $265 million per year on a five-year contract to retain Raw in 2018, nearly doubling the previous annual price of $150 million.
WWE’s flagship weekly show Raw will join Netflix in January next year and a WWE legend is also excited. They are moving on a deal that could be worth $5 billion over 10 years. This will make the show longer for television viewers subscribed to the streamer’s ad-free tier because they won’t get commercial breaks.
The exclusive hosting of Raw on Netflix will start in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Latin America, with additional territories to be added gradually. As per the reports, a part of this agreement noted that Netflix will become the home for all WWE shows and specials outside the U.S., including Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and Premium Live Events such as WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble. In addition to his, WWE’s documentaries, original series, and forthcoming projects will be made available on Netflix internationally starting in 2025.
