When WWE SmackDown Will Return To 2 Hours Revealed

Friday Night SmackDown won't be a three-hour series on a permanent basis.

WWE SmackDown moved to three hours from the January 3 episode - the first of 2025 for WWE's blue brand. WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H has since revealed on the Pat McAfee Show, however, that SmackDown is only a three-hour show "for right now" and it will switch back to two hours at a later date.

Triple H did not announce when SmackDown would be a two-hour series again but Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics has reported the current plan is for SmackDown to revert back to two hours beginning in June.

Thurston tweeted: "Levesque didn't specify the timing here. I've been informed Smackdown is planned to return to a 2-hour format beginning in June."

Why SmackDown is three hours temporarily has not been confirmed by WWE. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that USA Network - WWE's SmackDown TV partner in the United States - are planning to debut a new show and wanted SmackDown to serve as the lead-in for the programme.

"I think the deal is that USA has a programme that they want to debut and use SmackDown as the lead-in because SmackDown is a fantastic lead-in to debut a new programme. The new programme is debuting in a couple of months," Meltzer said.

WWE SmackDown will air on Netflix across much of the globe, including the United Kingdom, from January 10. The Netflix premiere of WWE Raw aired on Monday, January 6.

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