USA Network’s new series, titled The Rainmaker, will be making its premiere on Friday, August 15 at 10PM ET, suggesting that the three-hour format of Smackdown is coming to an end a week before that.
Smackdown has been three hours since the first episode of 2025 on USA Network, a highly unpopular decision but one which remained so far. The added extra hour was only supposed to be temporary and rumors were that it was expected to go away by the end of May, but obviously that did not happen.
Multiple TV-focused websites are now reporting that The Rainmaker will take the Friday 10PM slot and will benefit from Smackdown as it’s lead-in.
WWE has not announced anything official yet.
Colin Vassallo has been editor of Wrestling-Online since 1996