By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

Looking at our early poll results from Monday's Raw, PWTorch readers sent a clear message that they were down on this week's Raw three weeks out from WrestleMania.

Leading up to Mania, there's usually one, maybe two, poor episodes of Raw in March. It could be because the big matches are set and WWE finds themselves filling time or Creative feels handcuffed trying not to give away too much on free TV before Mania. But, inevitably there is going to be that week that would normally come right before or right after a PPV that is missing because of the gap between Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania.

Normally, the gap would be considered a good thing to the top feuds to breathe and build before peaking at WrestleMania.

The problem is Raw is three hours. And, WWE is heavily dependent on part-time stars who either (a) are not available every week (Rock and Brock), (b) are "legacy" stars who should not be over-exposed (Undertaker), or (c) have no direction or sense of purpose at the moment (Jericho).

But, the issue is mainly Raw being three hours. It's why - three weeks before the biggest PPV match of the entire year - John Cena was interacting with split-personality Titus O'Neil in a costume to begin Raw. I just - how does that make air? Is getting something goofy, off-the-wall, and out-of-left-field on Raw so that it trends on Twitter worth having the top full-time star do comedy three weeks before the so-called biggest match of his life?

Now, can WWE still draw one million PPV buys on April 7? Probably. It's the WrestleMania brand, it's Undertaker's Streak, it's the New York market, it's The Rock in a headline singles match, and now it's the desperation heave towards the endzone putting Triple H's career on the line. But, right now, there doesn't seem to be that sense of, "Wow, I can't wait for WrestleMania!"

Again, Raw is three hours. And, the last two weeks, three hours and a significant over-run. WWE would argue that the added hour of Raw is valuable to their top-line TV Rights Revenue. And, they would offer an unsupported argument that viewers are sticking around for all three hours, but we know that's not true when every Raw except for two episodes during the Three-Hour Era have seen a drop-off in third-hour viewership.

If you think about it, the stretch from Elimination Chamber until WrestleMania will have the equivalent of two extra Raw episodes compared to previous years. This is if you add up the extra hour of Raw for the seven Raw episodes leading to Mania.

It's too much for a Creative Team in transition following the pre-Mania departure of Eric Pankowski, the shifting Mania undercard, juggling part-timers's schedules, and Vince McMahon's indecisiveness.

Throw in an absolutely dead crowd Monday night because the audience wears out so quickly on meaningless matches and over-stretched talking segments and there doesn't seem to be an overwhelming sense of excitement building toward Mania.

WWE has two more Raw episodes to get things straightened out on the Road to WrestleMania; to get people excited for the biggest show of the year. Sure, once the April 1 Raw hits, no one will be thinking about this week's offering, but that April 1 Raw will also have to battle the three-hour Raw format. It's proven to be very difficult to hit the big peaks for the big, money angles when Raw is weighed down by so much filler and junk.

It's clear that the key for this year's Mania buys will depend on how well WWE navigates the final three-hour Raw episodes with The Rock back on television. Otherwise, WWE will see that one major trade-off of shifting Raw to three hours is hurting their #1 driving force, WrestleMania.

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