Executives from WWE and Netflix have teamed up to reveal their plans for the upcoming debut of Raw with media on Tuesday as the series prepares to switch from linear to streaming on Jan. 6 from Los Angeles.
The excitement at Netflix's Los Angeles headquarters was palpable from both sides of the room. On stage, panelists included moderator Michael Cole, Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria, Vice President of Reality Series and Sports, Brandon Rigg, and on behalf of WWE, President Nick Khan and Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque. .
In January, the entertainment giants revealed they had signed a multi-year contract for the broadcaster Monday Night Raw (in the US, Canada, UK, and Latin America) as part of Netflix's expansion into premium live events (formerly pay-per-view). Netflix also acquired the rights to stream WWE specials, such as WrestleMania, Summer Slam, Royal Rumble, and weekly shows. raw, smack down and NXT– Outside the United States. All for a $5 billion deal and a 10-year commitment.
“There was no doubt in my mind,” Levesque said of the change to a streaming model by going into business with Netflix. “Once that conversation happened and the first time [streaming] Growing up, in my mind, I was like, “Oh my God, this is going to be a game-changer for us.” Not just because of the environment, like the reach and how much that can expand our base, but just look at the offerings that they provide. [Look] In the things they do and the freedom they have in it. “It's a game-changer for us.”
Khan stresses that while many things will change, other things will remain the same.
“We're not changing the rating of our shows. So there's some chatter online about, 'Oh, it's going to be R-rated, or for us old-timers, X-rated.'” That's definitely not happening, he said. “They're family-friendly, multi-generational shows. And advertiser friendly. It will stay that way. I will be looking for more international flair, especially as the relationship continues to develop. Countries outside the United States are just as important to us as the United States. So, we have some target countries that represent Netflix's priorities. They are priorities for us. You will see more of that. “I think that's how you'll notice some difference.”
before RawFor an upcoming premiere in early January, Netflix is launching two live events roughly a year apart. Chris Rock comedy Selective anger! It aired last spring and most recently, the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson “fight” last month. The latter was marred by complaints of technical issues such as excessive buffering and complete loss of signal.
Bajaria discussed it and what they are doing to improve it.
“When we do live events, we want things to go smoothly for every single one of our members. That's really important, and to put it in perspective as well, there were 65 million concurrent streams, right? It was a very successful night. A lot of people [watched]The scale was very large, which was great. “There's a lot of interest in it,” she said.
Adding: “We were definitely expecting a large number.” It was a big number. But again, you don't know, and you can't learn these things until you do them until you make a big swing. Our teams and engineers are amazing, they moved extremely quickly, stabilized, and had many members get it back up and running very quickly. But we learn from those things. And obviously we've all done a lot of things to learn and prepare for the NFL and Beyoncé at halftime, so we're all ready and excited for WWE.
“I'll just say, if it flashes a few times and we do 60 million, I'm good with it,” Levesque added jokingly.
Valuations are likely to rise even higher, for example Wrestlemania Especially with Netflix making it even more accessible globally. WWE has a huge fan base outside of the United States in Latin America, India, and Japan, to name a few.
And that's without mentioning some of the noise she caused during lunch while chatting with fellow journalists, WWE stars and executives. I've heard that the long-discussed match between Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Roman Reigns is now in the works but no one has officially confirmed it. I hope it gets done because it's something the fans deserve once and for all.
Looking to the future, both Netflix and WWE have had ongoing conversations about potential intellectual property expansion and opportunities for wrestlers and those who love them, specifically their passionate celebrity fans including Bad Bunny, Travis Scott and Jelly Roll. Levesque shared that there will be more celebrity involvement Rawwhich is a perfect situation for at least one of the previously mentioned three who have big wrestling ambitions.
“I saw Jelly Roll a few days ago and he's still interested in wrestling. Every time I see him he says the same thing, 'I've gained another 100 pounds since then, baby, and I'm doing a match with you guys,'” Levesque said of the “Son of a Sinner” singer. “Who has already lost 120 pounds.
As John Cena looks to spend 2025 on his farewell tour and make his final appearance at WrestleMania in April following the news of his retirement, he already has a new film project currently in development at Netflix.
“We're really looking forward to making documentaries and capturing some of them [WWE’s] “Great history and characters and doing it on the unscripted and written side,” she said. “Again, we have a lot of great stars that have come through WWE that we've had a great relationship with on TV and film. We're about to do a new movie with our very own John Cena. It's a really great comedy called Little brother [starring Cena] “And Eric Andre are together, and we're so excited about it,” she continued.
WWE's deal with Peacock is set to expire in 2026, and if all things look good, Netflix could potentially become the official home for almost everything except… smack down and NXT (CW). smack down He just moved to USA Network in October as part of a 5-year deal after closing WWE's deal with Fox.
“Peacock is our current partner, and we will always respect the rights of our incumbent in the relationship that we have there. So we will have those conversations with them in 2025 and see what happens,” Khan said.
