WWE SmackDown Set To Return To Three-Hour Format Starting January 8, 2027

BY SACNILK

WWE is expanding its Road to Survivor Series: WarGames schedule, announcing seven new live event dates across the United States and Canada. The newly added shows will take place throughout October and November, building toward Survivor Series: WarGames in Houston later that month. The tour serves as a lead-up to WWE's biggest fall event. In July, WWE, in partnership with Houston First Corporation and the Houston Astros, announced that Survivor Series: WarGames will be held at Daikin Park in Houston on Saturday, Nov. 28, marking the event's return to the city for the first time since 2017. This year's show will be the 40th annual Survivor Series and the fifth in a row to be built around the WarGames match, the team-based steel cage format where two full-sized rings sit side by side inside a single roofless cage. It will also mark the second straight year Survivor Series has been staged inside a Major League Baseball stadium, following last year's record-setting attendance at Petco Park in San Diego, home of the San Diego Padres. Houston brings a long history with WWE's biggest events, having previously hosted WrestleMania in 2001 and 2009, the Royal Rumble in 1989 and 2020, and Survivor Series itself in 2017, in addition to numerous episodes of Raw and SmackDown over the years. Daikin Park, formerly known as Minute Maid Park, last hosted a WWE premium live event with the 2020 Royal Rumble. WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque called Houston the perfect host city to mark what he described as a milestone chapter in Survivor Series' history. With seven live events now locked in across six weeks leading into the pay-per-view, the Road to Survivor Series: WarGames Tour gives fans across Canada, the West Coast, the Midwest, the Northeast, and the Southeast a chance to see WWE Superstars in action before the roster heads to Houston for the November 28 showdown. Road to Survivor Series: WarGames Event Date Venue/Location Road to Survivor Series: WarGames Thursday, Oct. 15 Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg, MB, Canada Road to Survivor Series: WarGames Thursday, Oct. 22 Acrisure Arena, Palm Springs, Calif. Road to Survivor Series: WarGames Thursday, Oct. 29 Covelli Centre, Youngstown, Ohio Road to Survivor Series: WarGames Thursday, Nov. 5 Cross Insurance Arena, Portland, Maine Road to Survivor Series: WarGames Friday, Nov. 6 Cross Insurance Center, Bangor, Maine Road to Survivor Series: WarGames Thursday, Nov. 12 Hertz Arena, Ft. Myers, Fla. Road to Survivor Series: WarGames Thursday, Nov. 19 VBC Propst Arena, Huntsville, Ala.

BY SACNILK

WWE remains optimistic about Chelsea Green's injury status, according to WrestleVotes on Fightful Select Radio, and she is not expected to be removed from television or stripped of the Interim Women's Championship. The update comes after a difficult week for Green. She won the Interim WWE Women's Championship at SummerSlam 2026 on August 3, outlasting Charlotte Flair, Tiffany Stratton, Lash Legend, and Jade Cargill in a ladder match. The interim title was created after then-champion Rhea Ripley was ruled out with a torn meniscus that required surgery, opening the door for Green to finally capture her first world championship. Just days later, on the August 7 episode of SmackDown, Green teamed with Stratton in a Women's Tag Team Championship match against Fatal Influence's Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid. Green ended up taking the pinfall after Henley and Reid hit their Rolling Encore finishing move, and it was during that sequence that she suffered a broken orbital bone. Lash Legend and Nia Jax also attacked Green and Stratton after the match. Green addressed the injury herself in a video posted to Instagram, saying the situation felt different from injuries she'd played through before and that she was taking things day by day while processing the head trauma. It marked yet another setback in a rough stretch for Green, who has also dealt with a heart issue over the past year that required hospitalization and a medical procedure. The injury drew reactions from a wide range of names across wrestling, including Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, and Natalya, along with AEW stars such as Sammy Guevara and Thunder Rosa, as well as Green's real-life husband, Matt Cardona. The exact recovery timetable remains unclear, but WWE's stated optimism suggests the company does not currently see the injury as one that will force Green off television or require the title to be vacated. Given that Green only just captured her first world championship, WWE appears intent on letting her hold onto the title through her recovery rather than turning to a second interim reign so soon after the first.

BY SACNILK

Bayley's latest social media post reportedly did not land well with everyone backstage in WWE, according to WrestleVotes on Fightful Select. The video featured highlights from Bayley training at various locations alongside different wrestlers, including AEW star Mercedes Moné, and was set to the song "All In" by The Grouch & Eligh. She captioned the post "all or nothing, baby." Some WWE backstage personnel reportedly viewed the post as "eyebrow-raising." The reaction makes sense given the timing. Bayley's WWE contract is reportedly set to expire in October, and she has not wrestled for the company since a July 26 live event in Bakersfield, California. Her last televised appearance came at Saturday Night's Main Event on July 18 at Madison Square Garden, where she lost to Lyra Valkyria, who then attacked her after the match and later declared on Raw that she had run Bayley out of the company. Against that backdrop, a training video featuring an AEW star, set to a song sharing its name with AEW's biggest pay-per-view, read to many as more than a coincidence. AEW's All In event takes place at Wembley Stadium in London on August 30, and Bayley's "all or nothing" caption also echoes the branding of AEW's Double or Nothing event. Mercedes Moné, a longtime friend of Bayley's dating back to their time together in WWE's Four Horsewomen storyline with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, has added to the speculation herself, having previously shared a fan-made graphic teasing a possible match between the two at AEW WrestleDream. Even so, people close to the situation inside AEW reportedly aren't convinced anything is imminent. Bryan Alvarez said on Wrestling Observer Live that sources within AEW are just as confused by the teasing as everyone else, and that Bayley is believed to remain under WWE contract through around January once any additional time the company tacks on is factored in, making a Bayley-Moné AEW match unlikely in the near term. Dave Meltzer has reported separately that Bayley has not signed a new WWE contract and currently has a decision to make about her future. Nothing has been confirmed by Bayley, WWE, or AEW, but between the backstage reaction, the contract uncertainty, and the ongoing storyline with Valkyria, her long-term status with the company remains one of wrestling's more closely watched situations heading into the fall.

BY SACNILK

WWE is expected to expand SmackDown back to a three-hour format beginning in January 2027, with the current target date for the switch set at January 8, according to WrestleVotes on Fightful Select. This isn't the first time the Blue Brand has gone through this. SmackDown first expanded from two hours to three hours on January 3, 2025, shortly after moving from Fox to USA Network. That run lasted roughly six months before the show reverted back down to two hours in July 2025, with insiders reportedly unhappy that the extra hour was dragging down show quality. SmackDown then expanded back to three hours again on January 2, 2026, starting with an episode from Buffalo, New York, before settling into what now looks like an annual pattern — three hours from January through June, two hours from July through December. If the January 8, 2027 report holds, it would mark the third straight year SmackDown has expanded to three hours to open the calendar, continuing the same six-month cycle WWE has now used twice already. Raw has already run as a three-hour show for years, so this change doesn't introduce anything new to WWE's weekly programming overall. What stands out is that SmackDown still hasn't committed to the longer format full-time the way Raw has, instead treating it as a seasonal adjustment tied to how the network broadcast deal with USA is structured season to season. There's also been genuine internal disagreement over whether the extra hour is worth it. Multiple reports from inside WWE have indicated that some people within the company aren't fans of the three-hour SmackDown format, citing a noticeable dip in show quality whenever the extra hour gets added, with matches and segments often padded out just to fill time rather than because the story called for it. At the same time, a three-hour show gives WWE more room to spotlight a deeper roster, build out midcard storylines, and give NXT call-ups a real platform, which has mattered more recently as WWE has pushed several new names up to the SmackDown roster and refreshed the show's presentation. Nothing is official yet, and WWE has not confirmed the change directly, but if the January 8, 2027 target holds, it would confirm the three-hour SmackDown format has become a fixed part of how WWE plans its television calendar each year rather than the one-time experiment it looked like back in January 2025.

BY SACNILK

Amazing Red has revealed how a horrific injury during a WWE 2K motion-capture session derailed what he believed was his biggest chance to become a WWE Superstar. The injury happened just one week before the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic, where Red was expected to compete and hoped to finally earn a WWE contract. While speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Red explained that WWE 2K had brought him in to perform several moves for the video game. One of them was his Spiral Tap, which he was asked to perform repeatedly. After already doing the move seven or eight times, Red said he felt he should stop, but was asked to do it one more time. “Can you just do one more, man? I'm so sorry. Can you do just one more and we're going to have you do this and then we'll go into a whole set of moves after this.” Red agreed, but the next attempt went horribly wrong. He explained that two crash pads had been placed underneath him, with a gap where they connected. “For some reason, I just jump and everything just blacks out for me. And I don't know where I'm at. So I just jump, instant darkness. And I hear this. And I wake up and I'm on the crash pads and my leg is backwards.” Red said his foot had gone between the two crash pads during the flip. He initially felt nothing, but Loki quickly realized how serious the injury was and shouted for help. “He broke his leg.” Red said that once his leg was moved, the pain hit him immediately. He described the moment as particularly devastating because he believed the WWE 2K project and Cruiserweight Classic were finally going to lead to his WWE breakthrough. The Cruiserweight Classic was scheduled to begin the following week, meaning the injury came at the worst possible time. Red was later told that WWE could potentially plan a second season of the tournament, but that opportunity never came.

BY SACNILK

Amazing Red has opened up about his 2005 WWE dark match against CM Punk, revealing that he believed the bout could be his chance to finally earn a WWE contract. However, Red claims several of his signature moves were vetoed before the match, leaving him unable to showcase the style that had made him stand out. Speaking with INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, Red recalled that he initially expected to wrestle someone else in a quick squash match, but WWE changed the plans and paired him with Punk. His friends, including Jimmy Wang Yang, told him that being booked for a dark match meant WWE could be looking at him for a potential signing. Red said he and Punk discussed ideas for the match, but several of the moves he wanted to perform were rejected. “Being very transparent here where the moves that I wanted to do, Code Red, my Flatliner, my standing shooting star, I wanted to get that out in the world that I made this up at that point because you're on WWE. Once this happens, WWE, it's officially yours. And every time I mentioned something to him, I don't know if it was him, but every time I mentioned something to him, it came back and got vetoed. You can't do a shooting star. Kidman does it. And Kidman is going to get hot. You can't do Code Red because Ray does it and he's going to get hot. And you got this move. You can't do that move.” Red said Jimmy Wang Yang noticed what was happening and told him: “They're kiboshing all your stuff, bro. Purposely.” The match itself did not go the way Red had hoped, and afterward he spoke with John Laurinaitis. Red recalled that Laurinaitis asked about his experience wrestling in a larger ring before telling him, “Well, you look blown up, so, you know, we'll give you a call.” When Red asked what else he needed to improve, Laurinaitis simply replied, “Get bigger.” Red ultimately never received the WWE contract he was hoping for. Looking back, however, he no longer blames Punk for what happened, explaining that both men were simply trying to secure their own opportunities in WWE. “Two guys trying to get a job.” Red added that despite his previous bitterness, he has no hatred toward Punk: “No, no, I don't hate him. I love that dude, honestly.”