As first noted by Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio, Vince McMahon has decided that matches during WWE Raw and SmackDown Live should not be interrupted by commercial breaks. That is why they started doing 2-out-of-3 fall matches last week so that the matches could have a break when they go to commercial. McMahon feels that since real sports don’t interrupt the action then the wrestling matches should be seen in their entirety.

An idea that was pitched to McMahon was to have rounds incorporated into matches. Basically, there would be a time limit per round and then they could go to a commercial break after each round. The way that it was described to me was that a wrestler could get a pin in the first round and the opponent would have an opportunity to tie in the second or third round. If there is a 0-0 or 1-1 tie by the end of the third round, then the match would be declared a draw. A match could early end if a wrestler gets two consecutive pins in the first and second rounds. McMahon liked this idea because it gives them another way to draw out feuds to lead up to pay-per-views. Some matches (mostly quick squash matches) would not have rounds.

There are other scenarios that could play out such as a match being 0-0 in the first and second rounds and a wrestler getting a pin in the third and final round. Every scenario presented to McMahon would allow them to take breaks and not interrupt matches.

Some people in the company are skeptical that McMahon’s plan to have breaks in between matches will last more than a few weeks.











