WWE filled Tuesday morning with major announcements.
On the heels of WWE legend Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson being appointed to the TKO board of directors, the company announced that “WWE RAW” will be broadcast on Netflix. The show has been broadcast live on linear television for the last 31 years.
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“This deal is transformative,” TKO COO and President Mark Shapiro said in a news release. “It marries the can’t-miss WWE product with Netflix’s extraordinary global reach and locks in significant and predictable economics for many years. Our partnership fundamentally alters and strengthens the media landscape, dramatically expands the reach of WWE, and brings weekly live appointment viewing to Netflix.”
“WWE Raw” will begin on Netflix in January 2025. Netflix will broadcast “RAW” in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America among other countries and territories over the course of the months afterward.
Netflix will also be the home of all WWE shows and specials outside the U.S. “inclusive of Raw and WWE’s other weekly shows – SmackDown and NXT – as well as the company’s Premium Live Events, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble,” the company said.
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“We are excited to have WWE Raw, with its huge and passionate multigenerational fan base, on Netflix,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said in a news release. “By combining our reach, recommendations, and fandom with WWE, we’ll be able to deliver more joy and value for their audiences and our members. ‘Raw’ is the best of sports entertainment, blending great characters and storytelling with live action 52 weeks a year and we’re thrilled to be in this long-term partnership with WWE.”
“Monday Night Raw” is one of the most popular shows on the USA Network. It became must-watch television in the mid-to-late 1990s as the WWE, then called the World Wrestling Federation, went head-to-head with World Championship Wrestling’s “Monday Nitro.”
WWE eventually won the Monday Night Wars and bought WCW. While the promotion’s product has gone through plenty of ebbs and flows, there is no question that professional wrestling is the hottest it has been in quite some time.
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WWE has gone through a lot of changes over the last 12 months and the eventual move to Netflix is among the biggest.