Monday Night RAW Reportedly No Longer Running Past 11 PM

Since WWE’s flagship program Monday Night RAW lengthened its broadcast time from two hours to three hours back in 2012, fans have gotten used to consuming three-plus hours of the show with RAW running past the 11PM hour on a weekly basis.

Unlike WWE’s other live show on the USA Network, SmackDown Live, RAW’s main event segment consistently has bled past 11PM and even gone as late as 11:15 in some cases, pushing back programming that is scheduled to follow instead of ending right on time. This was a concept that really developed during the Monday Night Wars, as WCW and the WWF would utilize their overruns as a means to try and give themselves an extra ratings boost.

However, that will finally be coming to an end for now as Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful reports that Monday Night RAW now has a “hard out” for 11:00. Meaning, the show must be off the air at its scheduled time and will no longer be running long. This also means that WWE will have to stick more closely to their format and will have less wiggle room if a segment in the show goes longer than it should.

Additionally, it’s been noted that this will begin with next Monday’s episode. Also, while it can’t be confirmed, it was also said that the decision was likely made by the USA Network and not by WWE.

EA’s Take: I don’t want to speak on behalf of anybody, but I think a lot of people will be just fine with this. I know I am. There’s no reason for RAW to run past 11:00 at this stage in the game. That’s consistently the lowest rated hour anyways (not that ratings matter that much if you follow our weekly reports). I mean, let’s keep it real here…you’ve got three damn hours to get all your stuff in and a lot of fans don’t even want the show to be that long. Let alone be three hours and five, ten, fifteen minutes.

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