USA Network is the home of Friday Night SmackDown, and the show is currently airing live for three hours on a weekly basis. However, it seems that the blue brand will be going back to the two hour format sooner than later.
Dave Meltzer recently discussed plans for the SmackDown brand on Wrestling Observer Radio and noted that the show will be returning to a two hour format in either the last week of June, or the first week of July.
When asked if SmackDown will continue this pattern of going back and forth between a three hour and two hour format, Meltzer noted that this will likely be the case for the next four years.
It’ll go (to two hours) either the last week of June or the first week in July, I believe it’s the first week of July. The contract that they have signed now is January until the end of June would be three hours, then the 1st July to the end of December would be two hours, so that’s the way the deal is structured right now. For the foreseeable future, yeah. Probably for the next four years.”
Last week’s episode of SmackDown featured an influx of new talent as Fatal Influence debuted and made it clear that they’re looking to capture the WWE Women’s Championship as well as the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. This week’s episode of SmackDown is set to feature the debut of Ricky Saints, and Blake Monroe is also expected to join the brand in the near future.
Stay tuned for updates.