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WWE SmackDown Moving To Three Hours In January

In a move that was widely expected, WWE SmackDown is moving to three hours after the holidays.
Rick Ucchino|
WWE SmackDown
WWE SmackDown | WWE

After months of speculation that the shift would be happening, WWE has announced that SmackDown will be moving to 3 hours in the new year.

The 'Where to Watch' section of WWE's website says the following when it comes the Blue Brand:

"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."
WWE.com

Monday Night Raw will be leaving the USA Network in January when WWE's flagship show debuts on Netflix. Throughout much of its tenure on USA, Raw was a three hour program. It would make sense that the network would want to recoup that lost hour of ad revenue.

It was only recently that Raw dropped down to two hours as part of a brief extension to bridge a gap created by the start and end dates of the respective media rights deals.

At this time it's still unclear whether Raw will be moving back to three hours, but the separation from linear television does give WWE the option of being more flexible with the program's format.

WWE Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque has often joked that we'll all find out how long the show is going to be on January 6 when it debuts.

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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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