Back in 2015, Triple H revealed the one big change he’d make to Raw if he could.

Three hours of one consistently good television show is a tough ask at the best of times, and it is fairly safe to say that WWE have not always succeeded with the runtime of their flagship show Monday Night Raw.

Raw has been shown on the USA Network as a three-hour show since the 23rd of July 2012. However, WWE fans frequently criticise the Red Brand’s addition of a third hour, because the show struggles to find ways to fill all three hours each week with interesting material, but that could be all about to change.

The streaming giants will pay $5 BILLION over 10 years

The company has just struck a broadcast deal with streaming giant Netflix, which is set to start next year and will see broadcast rights in the United States exclusively on the platform.

WWE COO Triple H made a telling quote back in 2015 about what changes he would like to see in the future, which gives hope that, when the new deal begins, Raw could soon revert to a two-hour format.

The Game said: “If I could change anything, I would want it (Raw) to be two hours. The third hour of television is so exponentially harder to write, I can’t even begin to describe it to you. It just is really difficult.”

Netflix and WWE have struck an agreement to stream Monday Night Raw from 2025 onwards, and the numbers behind the deal are staggering.

Triple H, real name Paul Levesque, was speaking to longtime on-screen rival Stone Cold Steve Austin when The Rattlesnake retorted by questioning if the show could ever return to two hours, to which Triple H stated, at the time, that Vince McMahon would have to make the final choice.

WWE’s broadcast rights agreement with NBCUniversal is one of the many multibillion-dollar partnerships that have helped it achieve record-breaking revenues in recent years, as defenders of its product have frequently pointed out.

WWE under Triple H’s guidance

After McMahon departed the company, Triple H was announced as the new head of WWE’s creative team. Even though he’s been credited with making sure WWE creative has been logical and incorporated history & continuity, The Game told Sports Illustrated it’s the audience’s emotions he’s most focused on: “Writing this stuff is a feel. You can analyse stories and how they come together, but how does it make you feel? If you can make people feel those stores, they will be more invested in the product. That’s how we try to approach, find that ultimate emotional place for the talent and the characters and the stories they are in.”

Under Triple H’s tenure, WWE shows have felt different compared to ones with McMahon’s reported influence. WWE is featuring different talents and giving larger main event spotlights to other championships than the world titles, which are always main eventing Premium Live Events or receiving the primary focus of Raw and SmackDown.

The current deal WWE has with USA Network expires in October, which leaves the potential for Raw not having a broadcast home until the Netflix deal begins next January. One option could be to make Peacock the temporary home. Many WWE fans already subscribe to Peacock for the company’s Premium Live Events, so that could be a seamless conversion.

Will Raw on Netflix need a third hour? It depends on what that third hour will be used for or, more importantly, how it’s being looked at now. If the only reason WWE added an hour was to increase ad revenue while airing on a linear network, it may no longer be necessary. Netflix has also historically been driven by algorithms, so surely it’ll take a data-driven approach to determine Raw’s ideal length.