Nick Khan says Raw doesn’t have to be on Mondays, SmackDown could add third hour

Current WWE CEO (who will make a ton of money and become WWE President once the Endeavor deal is finalized and TKO Group Holdings officially launches) Nick Khan continues to be an in-demand speaker on the investor conference circuit.

On May 22, he was a guest at the JP Morgan Global Technology, Media & Communications Conference. And once again, he spoke about WWE’s upcoming media rights deals... among other things.

After last week mentioning in another keynote that SmackDown could move off Friday nights if that needed to happen to fit a partner’s broadcast/streaming schedule, Khan talked about how WWE could be flexible with both its main roster brands.

While SmackDown has moved nights in its history, Raw’s been a Monday night staple throughout its thirty year existence. But Khan indicated WWE could move to a different day of the week if need be. He also spoke about red show’s third hour, saying he “doesn’t anticipate” that going away. Khan also mentioned that WWE’s considering options for holding viewers in the 10pm ET block, discussions which again include possibly making the final hour more “adult”.

He also stated WWE would consider adding a third hour to SmackDown.

Regarding the next round of deals which could precipitate changes like those, Khan confirmed that FOX’s exclusive negotiating window for SmackDown has expired. NBCUniversal is still the only party they’re talking to about Raw, but that window should close soon, too. Both exclusivity periods started last month, around the weekend of WrestleMania 39.

Other comments of note from Khan’s speech:

• He sees growth potential for NXT beyond being a developmental brand, and as something that has more crossover with Raw and SmackDown.

• An additional show(s) could be added to WWE’s weekly schedule in the future: “Once [media rights] gets situated, we’ll look at other nights of the week to develop new content as well.” Some of that content could be non-PG.

• The company is currently in talks with multiple international cities for 2024 PLEs, and their goal is to have every such event subsidized by local entities like Cardiff, Wales did for Clash at the Castle and Puerto Rico did for Backlash.

• He expects WWE’s roster of female talent to grow, and said, “We pay our women as well as we do our men.”

H/t Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston, Post Wrestling & Wrestling Observer