WWE’s plan to improve Raw’s third hour involves (checks notes) dimming the lights

During his introduction of WWE’s new 24/7 championship on the May 20 edition of Raw, Mick Foley said, “I’m gonna make you aware that starting tonight, the third hour of Raw each and every week is about to get downright mean and nasty - a little bit dirty.”

It was a bit confusing, and some fans online took this to mean that, despite its name, the new title would only be featured from 10 - 11PM Eastern on Mondays. Mick wasn’t talking about the belt, however. As he delivered those lines of his promo, the lights in Albany, New York’s Time Union Center were dimmed. It was that change, along with darker graphics on the Titantron and other arena screens, to which Foley was referring.

All part of the plan to differentiate the third hour of Raw with its own look, according to Fightful’s sources. The site was told the idea is to make the 10 - 11PM Eastern block “more Raw”; one source said this was just another example of WWE throwing out ideas and hoping they catch on. They didn’t hear anything about changes to the actual content of the show during its last hour on the air each week.

The easy joke is to say they should focus on better stories, but this doesn’t mean they aren’t also trying to improve their overall creative. I doubt that a new, “edgier” look is going to make a difference to most fans, but it could work in conjunction with other ideas.

Thoughts?