Nick Khan open to moving Raw from Monday, 3rd hour of SmackDown, more

[Chris]

WWE CEO Nick Khan continues to do the conference rounds this month, saying during a Tuesday talk that the company "doesn't anticipate" Raw will change from its weekly three-hour format while also saying it could move off Mondays if needed.

He also said they are open to a third hour of SmackDown.

Khan was a guest at the JP Morgan Global Technology, Media & Communications Conference.

During his talk, he again brought up that the 10 PM hour for Raw is under consideration for some adjustments that would appeal to a more adult audience.

He confirmed they are still in the exclusive negotiating window with NBCUniversal on renewal rights for the Monday night institution while they are now out of that window with Fox. Those windows began during WrestleMania 39 weekend in early-April.

It's unknown what other entities have shown interest as of now. Khan has continued to remain bullish on the TV rights interest for both properties from both broadcast and streaming entities.

He gave no indication Tuesday as to when a deal could be done with any interested party. There's no rush for it to be done as they want to do what is best to maximize the value for WWE.

In a talk last week, Khan said they would be open to SmackDown moving off Friday nights while referencing how Amazon is attempting to program specific nights of the week for their Prime streaming service. He said Tuesday their content could go any night of the week, mentioning how Raw could also move off Mondays.

WWE and Endeavor's UFC are expected to merge in the second half of the year to form a new publicly traded company called TKO. The deal has to pass regulatory measures first in order to do that.

Other interesting notes:

• Khan said he feels NXT could be its own third brand with more crossover from Raw and SmackDown and be more than just a developmental brand.
• He also said that more content could be coming with "an additional show" on another night of the week: "Once that all of (TV rights) gets situated, we'll look at other nights of the week to develop new content as well." Some of that new content could be more adult-themed to satisfy the audience who is looking for it.
• In talking about the future with UK TV rights, Khan mentioned they have over 150,000 WWE Network subscribers at $10 USD per month in the region.
• He said the goal is for every pay-per-view/PLE to have a site subsidy fee like Cardiff, Wales, with Clash at the Castle, and Backlash in Puerto Rico.
• He said they see spikes on both Peacock and YouTube for older events in the lead-up to the new events (i.e. WrestleMania).

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/wwes-nick-khan-open-to-moving-raw-off-mondays-third-hour-of-smackdown

 

[Tremendez]

Moving Raw from Mondays would be blasphemy.

 

[Chris]

Moving Raw from Mondays would be blasphemy.

I think it's just his sales pitch to show prospectors that he's flexible and willing to work to their preferences. Doubt it's an actually idea he has or would want to do

 

[Colt Magnum]

Jesus they really trying to get 3 hrs Raw, plus nxt plus main event plus ple plus nxt lvl up and another hr to SD. Jesus

AEW got all their TV too plus impact NWA MLW GCW NJPW if you want to watch all of that literally feels like overload

 

[Chris]

Jesus they really trying to get 3 hrs Raw, plus nxt plus main event plus ple plus nxt lvl up and another hr to SD. Jesus

AEW got all their TV too plus impact NWA MLW GCW NJPW if you want to watch all of that literally feels like overload

No one should be attempting to watch it all, that's something wrestling fans need to understand one of these days lol you'd think these companies are forcing people to watch their product

 

[Dale]

Will be a big W for me if they go back to Sky Sports so I hope it happens.​

 

[Stellar]

The 3rd hour of Smackdown talk is what scares me. Please no.

 

[Dale]

Pretty much what Chris said, he's just fluffing them up and making themselves more appealing.

 

[Chris]

Basically, "we aren't ruling anything out if you pay us a fuckton of money"

 

[Alexa]

you want to watch all of that literally feels like overload

That is a personal thing and too much wreslting doesn't exist

 

[O-Blaze]

Yeah, if they added another show, I probably not watch, depending on what it was because I’m fine with the amount I have now, and am adding one more come June.

 

[Jimmy King]

Wrestling fans are spoiled these days with all of the shows to watch. It’s a good time to be a fan with all of these shows to choose from.

 

[Lethal]

3rd hour of sd no no no no no

 

[Sha-J Lee]

Moving Raw off Monday would be the dumbest fucking thing so I hope he’s just tryna hype up his prowess rather than actually considering that particular thing.

 

[Colt Magnum]

Monday Night Smackdown and Friday Night Raw