WWE sets unfortunate new record this week on RAW

The first-ever WWE RAW from Brussels, Belgium, just went down, and it was a historic show for multiple reasons. Unfortunately, the reception to the show was not all positive as there's now a frenzy surrounding the WWE Universe amid more backlash aimed at Triple H and other officials in the Netflix Era.

John Cena opened RAW this week with a scathing promo that brought real-life heat to WWE and Netflix, then Cody Rhodes interrupted for a back-and-forth. Penta declared interest in the Intercontinental Championship after beating Ludwig Kaiser in a No Holds Barred match. Rhea Ripley crashed the WrestleMania 41 contract signing for IYO SKY vs. Bianca Belair.

Jey Uso brawled with Gunther after squashing Austin Theory. The loaded episode also featured names like Seth Rollins and The LWO, and closed with Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker retaining over Finn Balor, then mixing it up with Penta and The Judgment Day.

RAW went just 2 hours and 22 minutes this week. This is the shortest duration RAW has been on the three-hour format, and the shortest red brand episode of the Netflix Era.

While some fans enjoyed the brief switch to a two-hour format last year, it seems most of the feedback to this week's runtime is fairly negative, with complaints piling up online.

WWE's flagship show premiered on Netflix with a 3 hour and 3 minute show on January 6. The second and third episodes ended at 2 hours and 35 minutes, while week four went one minute longer. February opened with the post-Royal Rumble episode at 2 hours and 29 minutes, which was also the runtime for the next two shows.

RAW was back up to 2 hours and 40 minutes on February 24, and back down to 2 hours and 33 minutes to begin this month. Last week's MSG episode had a runtime of 2 hours and 30 minutes, while this week's special episode from Brussels was 8 minutes shorter.