Real reasons for WWE RAW Netflix issues; future plans revealed after confusion - Reports

The WWE RAW Netflix era is moving forward with significant momentum as WrestleMania 41 season approaches. The first two episodes of 2025 appear to be successful outings, for the most part, but there have been some issues, including one major unresolved problem. Speculation is rampant over what might happen next week, but sources have just revealed a plethora of scoops on the matter.

Vince McMahon made the controversial decision to take RAW to three hours years back. A brief return to two hours was made last year, but RAW is now back to three hours on Netflix. In the lead-up to this new era, there was excitement over the expected additional freedom when it comes to over-runs and how RAW ends. No hard-outs, more leeway and flexibility, plus less censorship, were all seen as major perks by WWE. With the first two episodes in the books, one of the more prominent issues, internally and among fans, has to do with RAW's length and ending.

Penta arrived in WWE this week, defeating Chad Gable in a match that went long, as did the post-match promo. This led to time being shaved from other segments, which brought unfortunate backstage rumors and reports. The episode ended at around 10:30pm ET, which is earlier than the premiere that ended right after 11pm. Amid conflicting information, PWInsider now reports that the finish was by design.

WWE sources have reiterated that they do, in fact, have much more flexibility when it comes to the end of RAW. The run-times of the premiere and this week's episode were planned as officials decided to time out the shows to fit when they wanted to go off the air.

While it is true that WWE no longer has to deal with a hard-out at 11pm, officials do not want to go over each week. It was noted that once an episode is timed out for a certain length, if they go past that run-time for whatever reason, then officials will do what they can to bring it back into their desired timeframe. With this week's show planned for 10:30pm ahead of time, the decision was made to cut other segments down once Penta vs. Gable went long, amid major concerns for Penta's injury status. It's unlikely WWE will add any significant time to a show just because they are behind.

Venue costs and talent travel were among the key factors in this week's RAW run-time. Officials wanted to avoid any overtime fees that could have been added to the arena rental, the local staff used for the taping, and their own staff. Furthermore, there was a goal of ending early enough on West Coast time so talents and staff would still be able to catch their red-eye flights back home.

Dark matches for the live crowd in San Jose also played a big role in this week's finish. WWE wanted to get two planned post-show dark matches out and done and then wanted the overall taping to end within a manageable time frame. PWInsider pointed to how the Netflix premiere was treated like a pay-per-view or PLE, while this week saw things return to somewhat normal.

This week's dark matches saw Bayley defeat Nia Jax and LA Knight defeat United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura by DQ. WWE also taped two Main Event matches before RAW: Pure Fusion Collective vs. Katana Chance and Kayden Carter, plus Pete Dunne vs. Joaquin Wilde. Fightful Select noted that the timing did not come as a surprise as officials had the dark matches planned for several days and wanted to keep them on the lineup.

Backstage sources also noted in this report that RAW does not have an official length moving forward, whether it's three hours or two-and-a-half. However, the company will have a run-time in mind that they will try to meet each week, which is in line with the aforementioned report.

Netflix has a brief FAQ for new fans, and it's interesting how they included a line about the weekly run-time. In answering a question on how long RAW runs, the streaming juggernaut stated that this is a three-hour extravaganza, but some weeks will have a longer run-time now that the show is live on Netflix. The website does not mention episodes running under three hours.

Multiple sources have reiterated that WWE does have more freedom with RAW times now and that they were really trying to end this week's loaded live red brand episode in around two-and-a-half hours. The Fightful Select report seemingly confirmed the other update, noting that internal claims were that some talents were trying to confirm that they would be able to catch a flight out of San Jose to go back home.