WWE Considered Adding Third Hour To SmackDown

AEW will debut a new show on TNT every Friday at 10:00 PM with Rampage. Both Dynamite and Rampage will move to TBS in 2022, but they are on TNT for now. WWE might have been planning an attempt to cripple that program’s viewership, but this is an idea we have not heard any official announcement about.

During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed that WWE discussed adding another hour to SmackDown and airing the final hour on FS1. That didn’t happen, but the discussions were present. Now that AEW is officially moving into that 10:00 PM time slot on Fridays, it is likely that WWE was planning a counter programming measure that they ultimately passed on.

“Rampage debuts August 13th, and when the idea came out. The old Vince McMahon would have put that third hour of SmackDown on FS1, because that was even talked about before. When the idea of Rampage, and this and this goes way, way back I mean over a year ago, the idea was always for it to be Friday at 10:00 PM from you know, over a year ago, who’s to know what WWE knew and didn’t know?”

The idea was apparently breached to turn SmackDown into a three-hour show with the third hour taking place on FS1. They cannot run three hours on Fox, because the network must cut into local affiliates’ nightly news coverage.

We’ll have to see if WWE tried anything to counter program AEW Rampage when it finally debuts later this month, but it appears that AEW won’t have any direct competition in the pro wrestling space during that show.

What’s your take on his story? Sound off in the comments!

Transcription by Ringside News