Michael Cole confirmed during "WWE SmackDown" on Friday that next week's show will be returning to its two-hour runtime.
Reports had emerged earlier in the week to suggest that the June 27 episode of "SmackDown" emanating from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ahead of Night of Champions would be the last of the three-hour broadcasts. Cole confirmed that to be the case on commentary during Friday's show.
"SmackDown" had previously been a two-hour show until its transition from FOX to the USA Network last September, and the runtime had been a particular point of debate amongst fans and critics alike since. "WWE Raw" has grown to be known as the three-hour flagship for the promotion, but has seen greater flexibility in its scheduling through the streaming deal with Netflix.
WWE CCO Paul "Triple H" Levesque confirmed as far back as January that the plan was to return to two hours, while also describing how he would ideally have the show run between two and three hours depending on what is needed on the night. It had been reported back then that the planned change would occur in June, as has turned out to be the case.
