WWE confirms SmackDown back to three-hour format starting next month
SmackDown is returning to three hours starting next month.
Michael Cole and Corey Graves made the announcement during Friday’s show, noting the change will take place starting with the January 2 edition of the program which will take place at the Keybank Center in Buffalo, New York. It was reported last month by WrestleVotes that the move on that date was likely to take place. The show had been airing in a three-hour format for the first half of 2025 before shifting back to its usual two hour format at the end of June.
WWE is set to have a busy first week of 2026, as Raw is set to be headlined by CM Punk defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Gunther on January 5. The following day, NXT will hold their annual New Year’s Evil event. Jacy Jayne will defend the NXT Championship against Kendal Grey while the Oba Femi’s NXT Championship will also be on the line, with an opponent set to be determined on next week’s show.
Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.