Triple H Offers Update On WWE Raw Runtime On Netflix
Triple H has provided an update on the anticipated run time of WWE Raw ahead of it’s Netflix debut on 6th January.
The company’s flagship show will call Netflix it’s home for atleast the next decade after a deal worth in the region of $500 million dollars per year was agreed. The highly anticipated inaugural show of the Netflix-era with emanate from the recently opened Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
The switch away from broadcast television could mean a reduction in time-constraint challenges for WWE, with speculation abound about the expected length of the show moving forward.
Raw has been a three hour show since 2012, although a reduced two hour show was introduced during for the final few episodes on USA Network, beginning with the 7th October 2024 edition.
WWE Chief Content Officer, Triple H, opened up about the runtime of the show on Netflix during a recent appearance on ‘SI Media With Jimmy Traina’, revealing that no fixed airtime was currently planned:
“It will be flexible. I don’t necessarily know the time constraints of network television or cable television apply. It’s a slightly different platform.
Much like many episodic shows, they have the ability to do whatever the show needs to have down. If this episode needs to be an hour, great, it’s an hour. If the next episode needs to be 42 minutes, it’s 42 minutes. It’s what makes for the best product.
I’m not saying we’re going to be 42 minutes, but clearly we’ll deliver the product in a way that is best for Netflix and their business model and best for our storytelling.”
Triple H Reveals Ideal Raw Runtime Length
‘The Game’ would go on to share his own feelings about the optimal length of Raw, revealing that a show somewhere between the previous two and three hour broadcasts would be his preference:
“I think we’ll have more freedom in the format and more freedom to say if two hours is not enough, three hours you can be in the position of ‘did you need that or was it important?’
Sometimes, a three hour show, having hours that crossover, you’re so constrained by that, that you’re putting in the show what we call ‘collapsible.’ The show is heavy, we get late into an hour, something has to lose time. What is collapsible? What is not the story driving everything? What can be shrunk or can go quicker?
The amount of commercial time doesn’t change. It’s difficult. Sometimes, three hours can feel long, and two hours is not enough. Somewhere in the middle is a sweet spot.”
The 6th January episode of Raw is amongst the most anticipated of all-time that features a stacked card including Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins battling CM Punk in the main event, whilst The Rock has also confirmed he will be in Los Angeles for the show.
H/T: Fightful for the above transcription.