WWE SmackDown’s shift back to two hours is being driven by a programming reshuffle, with a new show set to claim the blue brand’s late-night real estate. “Everything on the Menu” debuts on June 5 at 11 p.m. before sliding into SmackDown’s 10 p.m. slot in July, making the format change a direct consequence of the network calendar rather than a simple contractual flip.
The detail comes from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, which reported that SmackDown will run three hours through June 26 before returning to two hours in July.
There had been some confusion over WWE’s schedule because of the new show’s arrival. The belief was that “Everything on the Menu” would take SmackDown’s 10 to 11 p.m. slot right away when it debuts June 5, but that is not the case. The program will air at 11 p.m. for its first four weeks before moving to 10 p.m. in July.
That timing explains the firm June 26 cutoff. As previously reported, the plan calls for SmackDown to run three hours from January through the end of June, then shift back to two hours from July through the rest of the year.
An Annual Pattern
The three-hour run was never positioned as permanent. Bryan Alvarez noted on The Bryan and Vinny Show that the format appeared to follow a recurring setup, pointing to comments made during the broadcast itself.
“This was the first three-hour SmackDown, and they had a comment on the show, and I didn’t write it down, but the way they said it made me think that this is an annual temporary thing,” Alvarez said.
He added that he had heard as far back as the original announcement that the arrangement would repeat. “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,” Alvarez said.
For now, fans still have a few more weeks of three-hour SmackDown before the show settles back into its usual two-hour window for the remainder of the year. You can find tonight’s start time and card here.
