Update On WWE Plans For SmackDown Moving Back To 2 Hours

Friday Night SmackDown will reportedly remain a three-hour show for a couple of more months before the series switches back to two hours.

Dave Meltzer has reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that SmackDown will return to two hours on either the last week of June or the first week of July. This will be a regular occurrence for the foreseeable future as SmackDown's current US media rights deal with USA Network is for SmackDown to be three hours for the first half of the year and two hours from July 1 until the end of the year.

"It's either the last week of June or the first week of July. The contract that they have signed now is January until the end of June would be three hours. Then 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, probably for the next four years," Meltzer said.

WWE SmackDown has aired on USA Network in the United States since September 2024 as part of a five-year deal worth $1.4 billion. SmackDown was three hours for the first half of 2025 and moved back to two hours for the second half of the year.

One of the factors in the switch back to two hours in 2026 is reportedly that USA Network has shows that will air at 10 pm ET later this year, including season two of Everything on the Menu starring Braun Strowman which is due to return in early summer.

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