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2-Hour Format For WWE SmackDown Reportedly Will Return Next Month

The Blue Brand may be heading back to two-hours sooner than expected.
Rick Ucchino|
WWE SmackDown
WWE SmackDown | WWE

As we wrote about on Tuesday, WWE appears ready to drop its third hour of programming on Friday nights.

The USA Network will soon be launching a new series that will air every Friday at 10pm ET (9pm CT), which will force SmackDown to be off the air by that time.

Variety is reporting that the new series called 'Rainmaker' will debut on Friday, August 15, but Mike Johnson of PWInsider says that episodes of the Blue Brand will return to the old two-hour format long before then.

Johnson is reporting that the target for WWE to drop the third hour is the upcoming Independence Day show on July 4.

There has still been no confirmation from either reps for TKO or WWE on the impending shift, but it was confirmed to be happening at some point this year by WWE Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple' Levesque back in January.

SmackDown was bumped up to three hours as part of a deal worked out between WWE and the USA Network during the transition phase of moving Raw to Netflix, but the extension was designed to be temporary. We'll continue to keep you updated with the latest information on the SmackDown runtime, as it becomes available.

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Rick Ucchino
RICK UCCHINO

Rick Ucchino is the Assistant Editor & Content Coordinator for The Takedown on SI. He also works full-time for 700WLW Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio as a local news and sports anchor, in addition to his time covering the Cincinnati Bengals for Sirius XM. Rick has been on the professional wrestling beat since 2019, having provided coverage for a number of outlets, including Fightful, SB Nation’s Cageside Seats and the Bleav Podcast Network. With an educational background in theater, creative writing and journalism, Rick focuses primarily on the storytelling aspect of pro wrestling, but he’s no stranger to the squared circle himself. He had the privilege of training with former WWE & WCW cruiserweight Jimmy Wang Yang for nearly two years and retired early due to back issues with a perfect 1-0 record in singles competition. Rick is a married father of two incredibly adorable children, who are budding pro wrestling fans themselves. Much to the chagrin of their mother. You can reach Rick at rwucchino@gmail.com

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