Triple H on WWE RAW Runtime on Netflix Will be Flexible, Moving RAW Off Mondays was Considered for Netflix, Joe Tessitore Moving to SmackDown Commentary Team, & WrestleMania 41 Main Event Plans

A recent episode of Sports Illustrated’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast featured WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Levesque confirming that WWE RAW’s runtime on Netflix will be flexible.

“It will be flexible. It will be flexible in I don’t necessarily know the time constraints of network television or cable television apply. It’s a slightly different platform. Much like many episodic shows, they have the ability to do whatever the show needs to have down. If this episode needs to be an hour, great, it’s an hour. If the next episode needs to be 42 minutes, it’s 42 minutes. It’s what makes for the best product. I’m not saying we’re going to be 42 minutes, but clearly we’ll deliver the product in a way that is best for Netflix and their business model and best for our storytelling.”

Levesque also gave his thoughts about a potential average runtime for WWE RAW shows on Netflix.

“We have averages. For me, the perfect show time is somewhere in the two-and-a-half-hour range. If you had asked me years ago, the two hour shows, you get into them and you don’t have the real estate on that program to get everything in there you want to get in, all the stories and characters. Sometimes, it’s a good thing because it creates scarcity and opportunity for people to be more over, but sometimes there are things you want to get in there. People lose track of the fact that what we do is live. There are formats we have to stick with and constraints of commercial time. If you run a segment that is scheduled for 10 minutes and it ends up being colossal content and goes 17 minutes, you’re now 17 minutes into a show and you have to find places to pull that out and still hit commercial times and crossover times, which is important for networks. All of that makes it difficult to do. I think we’ll have more freedom in the format and more freedom to say…if two hours is not enough, three hours you can be in the position of ‘did you need that or was it important?’ I don’t want to say filler because I don’t want anyone to feel like they’re filler. Sometimes, a three hour show, having hours that crossover, you’re so constrained by that, that you’re putting in the show what we call ‘collapsible.’ The show is heavy, we get late into an hour, something has to lose time. What is collapsible? What is not the story driving everything? What can be shrunk or can go quicker? The amount of commercial time doesn’t change. It’s difficult. Sometimes, three hours can feel long, and two hours is not enough. Somewhere in the middle is a sweet spot.”

Levesque also gave his thoughts about how there was some consideration within WWE to move RAW off of Mondays to a different night for its move to Netflix.

“One of the things working best in WWE with the team of Nick (Khan), Lee Fitting, and many others, we’re all looking at what is the best way to do it. Forget what we have and what’s on the table. Let’s look at it with fresh eyes and say, ‘If we were building this ground up, what would we do and how would we do it?’ Take all the things we know and factor in the whys and hows. Monday night was contemplated. Is that a move off of Monday? Is it stay on Monday? It’s also a 30-plus-year tradition. You have to factor that in. Plus, the business model and everything else. I’m a big believer that you can work around all of those things. We weighed all of it out, as we always do, with the partners and ourselves and we determined what was best and what was best was staying on Monday.

You can move and understand the global nature of WWE and Netflix. Yes, Monday is NFL, but that is not a factor in a lot of the world. There were a lot of factors heavily weighed.”

Levesque also confirmed that RAW brand announcer Joe Tessitore will be moving over to their SmackDown brand to call commentary going forward.

“Yes.”

Levesque also gave his thoughts about Tessitore’s work on commentary since joining the company.

“He’s such a massive fan. Even before he was doing anything with us, Joe would text me on stuff. We became friends through Nick. He would be telling me, ‘I saw on this podcast,’ and I don’t even know what he’s talking about, and it’s my job to know what he’s talking about.”

Levesque also gave his thoughts about if he knows the WrestleMania 41 main event as of this moment.

“Yes, with an asterisk. I cannot tell you what happens between today and Las Vegas. People get hurt, you get a phone call, ‘Have you ever considered doing this with me?’ ‘Oh, that’s an amazing opportunity. Maybe we go in a different direction.’ Sometimes you start to go down the road with a storyline and it’s not resonating the way I thought it would, ‘maybe this would be bigger.’ It can all change. I’m a big, ‘Put pins in stuff far in advance.’ We had a card for WrestleMania loosely written out in October, and that’s morphed a lot. We’re sort of sitting down on a regular basis, weekly, and talking about what do we believe the shift is. Where do we see the shift happening and what do we need to move around? Can I say I have something penciled in? Yes. Do I think it will stay? I think, but I’m not sure.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1, 2, 3, & 4