WWE SmackDown is reportedly set to return to a three-hour broadcast length early next year.
The X/Twitter account Wrestlevotes reported on Friday that WWE and the USA Network have agreed to the change. The first three-hour show is slated to be the January 2, 2026, episode from Buffalo, New York.
According to sources, WWE and USA Network have decided to move SmackDown back to three hours, beginning with the January 2nd show from Buffalo, NY.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) November 14, 2025
The move was hinted at by WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque during the All In Podcast Summit in September. Levesque described the company’s live output, noting SmackDown’s variable run time.
Well, the beautiful thing about us is with the amount of content we do, we’re 52 weeks a year live. So when you talk about a content company that puts out entertainment, we are live Monday nights, two to three hours depending on the evening on Netflix; Tuesday nights two hours on CW; Friday nights two hours and, half the year, three hours on USA. That’s all live. That’s all content that we’re putting out on a regular basis.
John Pollock and Brandon Thurston discussed this comment on the November 5 episode of Pollock & Thurston.
A three-hour format would follow a similar pattern from earlier in 2025. SmackDown expanded to three hours on January 3, 2025, following its move from Fox back to the USA Network. The show remained a three-hour broadcast for the first half of the year before reverting to its traditional two-hour format on the July 4, 2025, episode.
WWE has not officially confirmed the change.
