WWE needs to make major changes before SmackDown's rumored three-hour runtime, feels Dutch Mantell (Exclusive)

Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell feels the creative team needs to undergo some changes before SmackDown can become a three-hour show. The 14-time World Champion, Triple H, currently heads creative for the company.

WWE recently signed a deal to air SmackDown on the USA Network. In addition to this change, Monday Night RAW will be moving to Netflix starting January 2025. WrestleVotes Radio recently reported that the company might be experimenting to see how the blue brand would be received if the show moved to a three-hour format.

During the latest Smack Talk episode, Mantell detailed that WWE might need to add more members to the creative team. He also opened up on the power play backstage where only a few members of the creative had any say in the direction of the show.

"Well, they may have to add some creative members. But a lot of those members are hitting on zero anyway. Because if you have eight members, you have four who are really contributing or five, and the other three are just agreeing with what those five have said. That's exactly the way it works. I've been on creative teams, there's two or three guys, the ideas all come from them. Even though you throw ideas in, we don't like that, we're gonna go with that." [From 10:05 onwards]

WWE has already announced that RAW will be moving back to its two-hour format in October. There has not been any official word from the company on SmackDown's runtime yet.

It will be interesting to see if the changes to the runtime for both shows have an impact on the rosters and viewership.

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