WWE apparently isn’t done with three-hour SmackDown after all. The blue brand only recently returned to two hours, but the extra hour is already expected to make its comeback early next year.
According to WrestleVotes Radio on Fightful Select, WWE is expected to expand SmackDown back to three hours beginning in January 2027, with January 8 currently targeted for the change.
If that sounds familiar, it should. SmackDown followed essentially the same schedule this year. WWE ran the show for three hours through the first half of 2026 before returning to the traditional two-hour format in July.
Dave Meltzer previously reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the three-hour run would continue through June 26 before WWE dropped the extra hour. That lined up with earlier reporting that the expanded format was never necessarily intended to be permanent. Bryan Alvarez had also suggested WWE could be settling into an annual pattern with SmackDown.
“I was told, when the announcement was made that they were going back to three hours in January, that it probably was going to be the same thing this year—where it would be a three-hour show for the first half or whatever.”
Now it looks like WWE may be doing exactly that again. SmackDown is currently back at two hours and is expected to remain there through the end of 2026. Then, if the current plan holds, January 8 will bring the third hour back for 2027.
There’s no word yet on how long next year’s three-hour run would last, so it remains to be seen whether WWE follows the same January-through-June schedule again. But anyone who celebrated getting an hour of their Friday night back might want to enjoy it while it lasts. Three-hour SmackDown is coming back in January.
Do you prefer SmackDown at two hours, or does WWE have enough talent to make three hours work? Let us know in the comments.
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