Too much wrestling, from both companies. 4 hours each from Dynamite/Collision and RAW/Smackdown would be more than enough, and i like both, this can't be good in the long term
4 hours from AEW is more then doable now that rampage is getting cut. but good lord wwe at minimum to keep up with all the product is 8 hours weekly with raw smackdown and nxt.
They expect us to not have any other hobbies, to not watch football or UFC or motorsport or literally anything else that people may enjoy. They really think they can load up the schedules and everyone will watch everything
Problem is 3 hours doesnt mean more talent showcased, it means longer matches and promos with the same talent that is over exposed as it is. At least nitro matches RARELY did commercials mid match and kept tv matches to under 10 to 12 minutes so you had time to see everyone. This is just allowing for 20 min bloodline segments to go a full 30, and more commercials between matches.
This! I'd also add them extending the shows rather than start a hour earlier and still finish at 10pm ET. For US fans is already a bit too late, and for us Euroepan fans (who are a bigger factor now that we're getting both shows live on Netflix) it means ending at 5am in the cases of continental Europeans, 4am for Brits. And for PPVs and PLEs it ain't that bad ending at that time or even a hour later, as it's once or twice a month + with them mostly being on Saturdays now we still have Sunday morning to sleep (and even if it's on Sunday you still had the previous morning to sleep through), but with weekly shows it's just a bit too much, both if you wanna watch them live or if you decide to wait until after work/class and watch it later (as it's still watching a movie and a half, while trying to avoid spoilers, every Tuesday and/or Saturday).
And that right there is why I'm skeptical about SD being 3 hours rather than 2 hours. That 3rd hour or whichever of the 3 hours should be used to let everyone shine, not to give a spotlight solely to 1 party like the bloodline
It depends, the 3-hour Raws got a lot of shit for a long time (understandably, because they were terrible so it was really difficult to sit through them for that long), but since Triple H took over I've heard a lot of "Flew by even at 3 hours", "Better than SmackDown" and (since they went back to 2 hours for a while) "2 hours isn't enough." So I say let it play out.
At least here it's right before the weekends. With RAW however (cause I'm 99% convinced they're also going to 3 hours if SD is doing so) it will be a bit hard.
Won't be an issue for me, since I'm across the pond and never watch it live anyway - Saturday mornings I can whizz through the ads so it's more like 2 and a half hours really. But I see your point.
@@zoelotero Yeah I haven't actually heard whether Raw is going back to 3 hours as well or staying at 2 while SD alone goes to 3? If it's the latter they'll need to beef up the SmackDown roster and lighten Raw's quite a bit
@CyborgElbow There's nothing official as of now, but the rumors suggest they're also going three hours with RAW, hence in part why they're doing the transfer window thing and not enforcing the brand extension that strictly from January onwards. Not to mwntion, as you said if SD's one more hour that would mean they'd be in need of a stronger roster. And I don't see WWE giving Smackdown that over RAW at the time Netflix is entering the picture.
I love how Dave just throws out into the aether the possibility that they got no increase for a third hour of television, until Bryan points out the obvious... if they did, it would've started when they moved to USA, not several months later... and then Dave just gives a sheepish "I don't know" lol. These are the moments that make me question all of Dave's analysis, and whether he should be scrutinized a lot more for anything beyond reporting of facts.
He answered it by saying it's possibly baked into the deal to activate hour 3 in Jan. Which makes sense to do it exactly when RAW does it. Then any backlash is against a 'WWE thing,' rather than USA taking all the heat.
@@johnnymittle Oh I heard him, lol. And no, it doesn't make sense to sign a contract for a third hour when your next thought is then how to strategize around "backlash" to it. Nor does it make sense that starting in January would make it a "WWE thing" (???), since any person with a microbe of sense would assume a third hour of television was in their negotiated contract and not something WWE just decided to give USA for a lark and USA just shrugged and decided to air for them lol.
@@Scottoest If there was no strategizing then why did they not have Smackdown at 3 hours on day one of USA return? You're missing the point that no one is going to think about it too much outside a niche in IWC. By the shear fact that both shows will be going to 3 hours at the same time. They will just be left with "WWE now 3 hours" impression.
@@johnnymittle Simple: Because they decided to increase the length of the show to three hours after the fact. Maybe because WWE decided to pitch it; maybe because USA execs went to WWE saying they wanted an extra hour of programming on Fridays. Dave's alternative theory requires a bunch of additional silly assumptions. If no one is going to think about it much, then why would they need to account for "backlash"? Why would people just assume "WWE 3 hours now" and nothing more, when RAW has been three hours for years and Smackdown hasn't? Why would that non-explanation make more sense in January, versus just doing it in October when the USA rights deal began?
3 hours is just "more commercials" which is why I can't watch any show these days the night of. That and its on till 4-5am my time and am I fuck staying up that late.
Why don't you just watch it the next day? That's what I do, Saturday mornings are where it's at (because like you say fuck staying up past 3am or whatever)
@@mikehuly4208 Lol "cooling off" this is based on literally nothing, still selling out in attendance all over the place. Let's see how the Netflix deal changes things first
Way back in the day most wrestling promotions had a one hour TV show and it was great. People couldn't wait until the next week to see what would happen. Two hours is good. When they do a three hour show every week they better give us really good stuff because we could be watching something else.
WWE Fans have to be the only people who will spend Friday’s tortureing themselves with 3 hours of Smackdown. I’m glad 1 million viewers from the Fox era got a life.
Raw went 3 hours in 2012... Smackdown is ONLY going 3 hours because Raw was for All Those Years 😂🤣... Btw, Fox got out a Month Early with Smackdown and That was the Compromise because NXT was Already going to the CW and Raw got the Netflix Deal.. Basic Math: ONLY 3 Hours on 1 Night is Better than 7 Hours on THREE SEPARATE NIGHTS😏😏😏
@TheHeatisOn76 If you're going to insult someone, at least double check that you're using the right grammar. You're = You are. "Dave, I think the hair dye has poisoned you are brain"? That sound right to you?
Urrm basically yes urm I'm not sure why there doing this because urm I have no sources in WWE because they all know I'm a schill for aew so I will errrrm work to undermine WWE so they tell me nothing anymore unless there lieing to me to eerrrrrrm put out a story they want out there to make me look stupid and swerve their audience errrm so yeah they out smarted me I'm a useful idiot to them that's become clear but ermm subscriptions to my newsletter are going up 30% because errrrm Im losing subscribers so I need to rip off the loyal subs.😅😅😅😅
IWC: You should want AEW to do great because more wrestling means more high paid talent and better jobs. Also IWC: This show SHOULDN'T become 3 hours! Knowing full well that a longer show means more high paid talent and better jobs. Do you actually care about this or don't you?
How are you equating a different company to more hours of one company? AEW has to use other talent. WWE with more hours may just extend the segments of already signed top talent.
@@johnnymittle Its not the same but it leads to the same outcome. We already have proof from going from 3 hour Raws to 2 hour Raws and the stories that got cut back. Your telling me SD will feature the exact same number of characters across 3 hours long term and just extend their segments by 15% or whatever that would be? No way.
@@johnnymittle "May" - yet people are stating that like it's fact, based on the Vince years or something. The reality is we don't know what 3-hour SmackDown is going to look like under Triple H yet.
@@rogerbabin8175 The point is SD could do that. Or use some people from RAW. Plus some other new talent. With the TV hours of AEW they HAVE to use all separate wrestling talent no matter what. AEW is guaranteed added jobs across all hours. WWE added hours is a possibility of some new jobs. That's why there is no comparison. 120 new jobs vs 30 new jobs, for example.
They got a huge increase overall. He's just looking at USA network. You have to factor in the gargantuan Netflix deal which will decrease TV value slightly as people will VPN to Europe to watch Smackdown. But overall, their TV deal money has massively increased.
However Netflix can activate the deal to go 10 and even 20 years. That's a disadvantage to WWE down the line. WWE got the big headline today, but sacrificed the possible future.
I swear the only dum dums who complain about this is the podcasters who have to now do more work. Otherwise, I think it's great. More wrestlers get screen time. But, these two only pretend to care about wrestlers. Ha.
Short term gain, long term erosion. As great as WWE is now, it does feel overkill having all this TV in a single week. And here's the thing. This hot streak they've been on since Triple H took over, it's not gonna last forever. I would like it to last forever, but eventually the product might grow stagnant again, people are gonna get burned out and will stop paying attention.
Meltzer as always making up bullshit to try to down play wwe, with no facts to back it up, what happened to you my friend?? You have become a repulsive shill for AEW, it breaks my heart, how much respect you have lost from so many people, because of your bias towards AEW, I started reading the observer when I was 11!! You were to me the greatest historian and reporter of this business ever! Nobody was in your league in pro wrestling journalism, 😢😢, now you just make up crap , and I don’t get it, you were always on the money, no matter what, please stop being like this
I love how Dave tries to answer for a minute and THEN says "I don't know", most normal people start with that and move on
How many years is it gonna take for you people to realize he isn’t “normal”. The man is clearly on the spectrum.
Jeez, thank God for being able to record and fast forward.
True that ✌️ I love wrestling, but holy fuck!!! Can we get a two hour maximum?
Through F4WOnline or SmackDown? ;)
Through SmackDown or F4WOnline? ;)
Too much wrestling, from both companies. 4 hours each from Dynamite/Collision and RAW/Smackdown would be more than enough, and i like both, this can't be good in the long term
Its too much wrestling for today's fan... besides wwe only does interviews/promos so edrones shouldn't complain to begin with
@@juanheredia9297 people should really stop pretending that Vince is still booking the shows
4 hours from AEW is more then doable now that rampage is getting cut. but good lord wwe at minimum to keep up with all the product is 8 hours weekly with raw smackdown and nxt.
They expect us to not have any other hobbies, to not watch football or UFC or motorsport or literally anything else that people may enjoy. They really think they can load up the schedules and everyone will watch everything
Problem is 3 hours doesnt mean more talent showcased, it means longer matches and promos with the same talent that is over exposed as it is. At least nitro matches RARELY did commercials mid match and kept tv matches to under 10 to 12 minutes so you had time to see everyone. This is just allowing for 20 min bloodline segments to go a full 30, and more commercials between matches.
This! I'd also add them extending the shows rather than start a hour earlier and still finish at 10pm ET. For US fans is already a bit too late, and for us Euroepan fans (who are a bigger factor now that we're getting both shows live on Netflix) it means ending at 5am in the cases of continental Europeans, 4am for Brits.
And for PPVs and PLEs it ain't that bad ending at that time or even a hour later, as it's once or twice a month + with them mostly being on Saturdays now we still have Sunday morning to sleep (and even if it's on Sunday you still had the previous morning to sleep through), but with weekly shows it's just a bit too much, both if you wanna watch them live or if you decide to wait until after work/class and watch it later (as it's still watching a movie and a half, while trying to avoid spoilers, every Tuesday and/or Saturday).
And that right there is why I'm skeptical about SD being 3 hours rather than 2 hours. That 3rd hour or whichever of the 3 hours should be used to let everyone shine, not to give a spotlight solely to 1 party like the bloodline
Exactly
I would prefer it if both Smackdown and Raw were 1 hour shows.
It depends, the 3-hour Raws got a lot of shit for a long time (understandably, because they were terrible so it was really difficult to sit through them for that long), but since Triple H took over I've heard a lot of "Flew by even at 3 hours", "Better than SmackDown" and (since they went back to 2 hours for a while) "2 hours isn't enough." So I say let it play out.
Good luck to WWE at trying to convince fans to stay up 3 hours on Friday Night to watch wrestling.
At least here it's right before the weekends. With RAW however (cause I'm 99% convinced they're also going to 3 hours if SD is doing so) it will be a bit hard.
Won't be an issue for me, since I'm across the pond and never watch it live anyway - Saturday mornings I can whizz through the ads so it's more like 2 and a half hours really. But I see your point.
@@zoelotero Yeah I haven't actually heard whether Raw is going back to 3 hours as well or staying at 2 while SD alone goes to 3? If it's the latter they'll need to beef up the SmackDown roster and lighten Raw's quite a bit
Wwe will be fine
@CyborgElbow There's nothing official as of now, but the rumors suggest they're also going three hours with RAW, hence in part why they're doing the transfer window thing and not enforcing the brand extension that strictly from January onwards.
Not to mwntion, as you said if SD's one more hour that would mean they'd be in need of a stronger roster. And I don't see WWE giving Smackdown that over RAW at the time Netflix is entering the picture.
I love how Dave just throws out into the aether the possibility that they got no increase for a third hour of television, until Bryan points out the obvious... if they did, it would've started when they moved to USA, not several months later... and then Dave just gives a sheepish "I don't know" lol. These are the moments that make me question all of Dave's analysis, and whether he should be scrutinized a lot more for anything beyond reporting of facts.
He answered it by saying it's possibly baked into the deal to activate hour 3 in Jan.
Which makes sense to do it exactly when RAW does it. Then any backlash is against a 'WWE thing,' rather than USA taking all the heat.
@@johnnymittle Oh I heard him, lol. And no, it doesn't make sense to sign a contract for a third hour when your next thought is then how to strategize around "backlash" to it. Nor does it make sense that starting in January would make it a "WWE thing" (???), since any person with a microbe of sense would assume a third hour of television was in their negotiated contract and not something WWE just decided to give USA for a lark and USA just shrugged and decided to air for them lol.
I just haven't taken Dave seriously for years.
@@Scottoest If there was no strategizing then why did they not have Smackdown at 3 hours on day one of USA return?
You're missing the point that no one is going to think about it too much outside a niche in IWC. By the shear fact that both shows will be going to 3 hours at the same time. They will just be left with "WWE now 3 hours" impression.
@@johnnymittle Simple: Because they decided to increase the length of the show to three hours after the fact. Maybe because WWE decided to pitch it; maybe because USA execs went to WWE saying they wanted an extra hour of programming on Fridays.
Dave's alternative theory requires a bunch of additional silly assumptions.
If no one is going to think about it much, then why would they need to account for "backlash"? Why would people just assume "WWE 3 hours now" and nothing more, when RAW has been three hours for years and Smackdown hasn't? Why would that non-explanation make more sense in January, versus just doing it in October when the USA rights deal began?
Bryan MERCIFULLY cutting Dave off at 2:19 was the biggest save. Dave’s head was about to pop like a robot, he wouldn’t stop
I swear to the giant spaghetti monster in the sky that at least 90% of the comments never actually listen to the clip.
I'm one of those 90% that you're talking about 😂
3 hours is too long. I don’t care how good a wrestling product is.
"The simple fact is that three hours is way too long to run a weekly wrestling show..."
RD Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez, "The Death of WCW"
aew still has a chance in 2027
Raw was good enough at times this year that I would have been okay with it being 4 hours.
I dont know but i like it. Because when they made raw 2 hours. The show just seemed like something was missing
I have a life so I'm not watching 3 hours of weekly wrestling. 2 hours is great.
no you don’t… you watch wrestling and then come on sites like this… cause you have a fix.
3 hours is just "more commercials" which is why I can't watch any show these days the night of. That and its on till 4-5am my time and am I fuck staying up that late.
Why don't you just watch it the next day? That's what I do, Saturday mornings are where it's at (because like you say fuck staying up past 3am or whatever)
What the hell is Dave talking about?. He's just babbling.
So.. "VINTAGE DAVE"! lol
$14.99 please. Lmfao
Glad I unsubscribed from their goofy newsletter.
Lol
He always babbles
To quote Tom Campbell from Cultaholic, "Dave Meltzer talks like jazz happens."
I knew it was coming, but still a part of me died hearing this.
Someone needs to tell wwe that less is more.
Dave trying to speak things into fruition. "People are gonna get burned out. Their USA deal is really no increase at all." 😅
The first thing is based on previous data of RAW moving to 3 hours. The second thing is math.
wwe is cooling off
@@mikehuly4208 , can't stay hot forever. I wouldn't get into making comparisons, though. Could get embarrassing for Dave's fave promotion.
@@TheBrindleBoxer I dont watch AEW, couldn't care less. WWE's product has not been that good since summer slam imo.
@@mikehuly4208 Lol "cooling off" this is based on literally nothing, still selling out in attendance all over the place. Let's see how the Netflix deal changes things first
Nice! More wrestling 👍
Way back in the day most wrestling promotions had a one hour TV show and it was great. People couldn't wait until the next week to see what would happen. Two hours is good. When they do a three hour show every week they better give us really good stuff because we could be watching something else.
6 hours every week, 8 hours if you watch NXT, and then PLEs and SNME on top. All of it crammed with commercials and recaps.
Y'all I'm tired.
i won't Bryan Alvarez
Another video where the bumpers at the beginning and end are in the wrong order. FIRE. YOUR. EDITOR.
I was one of those fans that gave up on the 3 hour RAW's. Just too much of a commitment/time investment.
WWE has a loyal fanbase. Most fans will still watch even if the additional content isn’t worthwhile.
I'm a big E mark but ffs 3 hours is ridiculous, just overkill beyond words, il just keep on watching the highlights.on UA-cam.
WWE Fans have to be the only people who will spend Friday’s tortureing themselves with 3 hours of Smackdown. I’m glad 1 million viewers from the Fox era got a life.
well that is their life to watch wrestling on Fridays… maybe not much to do.
Yes do not do 3 hours. It water downs the product. Its already too much wrestling shows
Raw went 3 hours in 2012...
Smackdown is ONLY going 3 hours because Raw was for All Those Years 😂🤣...
Btw, Fox got out a Month Early with Smackdown and That was the Compromise because NXT was Already going to the CW and Raw got the Netflix Deal..
Basic Math: ONLY 3 Hours on 1 Night is Better than 7 Hours on THREE SEPARATE NIGHTS😏😏😏
Dave, I think the hair dye has poisoned your brain
@TheHeatisOn76 If you're going to insult someone, at least double check that you're using the right grammar. You're = You are. "Dave, I think the hair dye has poisoned you are brain"? That sound right to you?
@@BmanTheChamp 😉
@@BmanTheChamp nerd
Dave needs to get to point instead of babbling or just get someone else to take his spot
Dave doesn't know shit lol. Then he just makes up hypotheticals
That's what this segment is. It's a commentary.
BASICALLY
Urrm basically yes urm I'm not sure why there doing this because urm I have no sources in WWE because they all know I'm a schill for aew so I will errrrm work to undermine WWE so they tell me nothing anymore unless there lieing to me to eerrrrrrm put out a story they want out there to make me look stupid and swerve their audience errrm so yeah they out smarted me I'm a useful idiot to them that's become clear but ermm subscriptions to my newsletter are going up 30% because errrrm Im losing subscribers so I need to rip off the loyal subs.😅😅😅😅
Shame, I liked watching Smackdown
oh thank god, aew is struggling and needs ur help to average 700,000 b4 max
IWC: You should want AEW to do great because more wrestling means more high paid talent and better jobs.
Also IWC: This show SHOULDN'T become 3 hours! Knowing full well that a longer show means more high paid talent and better jobs.
Do you actually care about this or don't you?
How are you equating a different company to more hours of one company?
AEW has to use other talent. WWE with more hours may just extend the segments of already signed top talent.
@@johnnymittle Its not the same but it leads to the same outcome.
We already have proof from going from 3 hour Raws to 2 hour Raws and the stories that got cut back.
Your telling me SD will feature the exact same number of characters across 3 hours long term and just extend their segments by 15% or whatever that would be? No way.
@@johnnymittle "May" - yet people are stating that like it's fact, based on the Vince years or something. The reality is we don't know what 3-hour SmackDown is going to look like under Triple H yet.
@@rogerbabin8175 The point is SD could do that. Or use some people from RAW. Plus some other new talent.
With the TV hours of AEW they HAVE to use all separate wrestling talent no matter what.
AEW is guaranteed added jobs across all hours. WWE added hours is a possibility of some new jobs.
That's why there is no comparison.
120 new jobs vs 30 new jobs, for example.
They got a huge increase overall. He's just looking at USA network. You have to factor in the gargantuan Netflix deal which will decrease TV value slightly as people will VPN to Europe to watch Smackdown. But overall, their TV deal money has massively increased.
However Netflix can activate the deal to go 10 and even 20 years. That's a disadvantage to WWE down the line. WWE got the big headline today, but sacrificed the possible future.
@@johnnymittle Why would it be "sacrificing the future" if the deal gets extended, if it works well for both?
No you mark…they were looking for 40% increase for EACH SHOW
3 hours of a good show is not gonna burn people out.
If they use more talent. But that could cannibalize NXT.
WWE can't help themselves smh
WWE fangirls always crying 😂
So every wk going to be looking at; 3hr RAW, 3hr Smackdown, 2hr NXT, 2hr Dynamite, 2hr Collision, 2hr TNA??? That's too much...
Dave looks fucking STRESSED. Maybe due to his favorite company not doing so well, or maybe just overworking himself. Take a vacation or something lol
Hell ya ..one more hour less of aew I have to watch 😂
I swear the only dum dums who complain about this is the podcasters who have to now do more work. Otherwise, I think it's great. More wrestlers get screen time.
But, these two only pretend to care about wrestlers.
Ha.
Meltzer why can't you just say - I don't know anything
*Dynamite moves to 3 hours* “The people are starving for wrestling….there is no chance of a burnout”
BUT BUT AEW…
@@six6thdisciple I mean Tony did say they might do this, for the exact same reasons WWE is (an extra hour of advertising)
I don't ever remember anyone complaining about Nitro being 3 hours in the 90s and no one got burnt out on it until the booking turned bad in 1999.
When aew gets a deal they got a great deal but when wwe gets a deal and dave knows nothing about it dave underplays it 😂😂
Short term gain, long term erosion.
As great as WWE is now, it does feel overkill having all this TV in a single week.
And here's the thing. This hot streak they've been on since Triple H took over, it's not gonna last forever. I would like it to last forever, but eventually the product might grow stagnant again, people are gonna get burned out and will stop paying attention.
Wasn't this known months ago, the Smackdown was going to 3 hours in 2025
women has ic and us titles so you obviously need 3 hours regardless
3 hours is too long but aew does 6.5 hour ppvs every month and it’s fantastic
No one counts the pre-shows. And there are no commercials.
Meltzer as always making up bullshit to try to down play wwe, with no facts to back it up, what happened to you my friend?? You have become a repulsive shill for AEW, it breaks my heart, how much respect you have lost from so many people, because of your bias towards AEW, I started reading the observer when I was 11!! You were to me the greatest historian and reporter of this business ever! Nobody was in your league in pro wrestling journalism, 😢😢, now you just make up crap , and I don’t get it, you were always on the money, no matter what, please stop being like this
AEW is the one who’s losing attendance
no star-power no draws