This past Monday marked WWE Raw’s first two-hour episode since it switched to a three-hour format in 2012. Fans have had mixed reactions to the change. While some have been advocating for a shorter show, arguing that the three-hour format often feels dragged out, others are concerned that cutting an hour reduces screen time for their favorite stars and could impact the overall quality. ECW legend Tommy Dreamer wasn’t particularly impressed with the shift, explaining on Busted Open After Dark that the shorter runtime could ultimately disrupt WWE’s storytelling.
“I left this show scratching my pony-tailed head,” Dreamer commented. “I felt Raw was weird tonight. Seth Rollins’ promo, excellent—everyone loves Seth. But then, Jey Uso interrupted, and the crowd was into it. There seemed to be some tension between Seth and Jey, like Seth was almost annoyed that Jey came out for his match. It’s like I said last week—when you lose an hour of your show, a lot of people are going to lose airtime, and I think that missing hour hurt a lot of stories tonight.”
Dreamer also noted that WWE appeared to be juggling too many intertwining storylines during the episode, which left him puzzled, especially when tension arose between babyface characters like Rollins and Uso. For fans like Dreamer who weren’t thrilled with the two-hour format, there may be some relief—Raw could return to its three-hour runtime in January when the show moves to Netflix.