Tag: WWE On Netflix

VIDEO: Netflix releases first ads promoting WWE’s debut in January

Posted on by Josh Nason

The beginning of the media push for WWE’s debut on Netflix has begun.

On Thursday, the streaming giant dropped their first 30-second spot on social media to help build to the debut which will begin domestically with Raw on Monday, January 6th from Los Angeles, California’s new Intuit Dome.

The clip, set to Mustard and Migos’ “Pure Water,” features several fans and a pair of podcasters yelling in excitement about WWE action. Several big spots are shown in addition to current wrestlers like The Rock, John Cena, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Tiffany Stratton, Jade Cargill, and others. Interestingly, NXT Champion Trick Williams was also shown in the montage despite not being on the main roster.

Netflix didn’t give the exact date for the premiere, instead going with “January 2025.”

They also dropped a nearly identical spot for Netflix UK and Ireland (sans the aforementioned fans and podcasters) in which they promote Raw, SmackDown and NXT, PLEs and “select programming & historic PLEs” from the archive.

In January, the two announced a 10-year, $5 billion deal which will bring Raw to Netflix domestically and for all WWE content internationally.

We’re Live, Pal: WWE NXT vs. AEW Dynamite, WrestleDream preview

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

It’s another episode of We’re Live, Pal, which is also available for free on YouTube below, as Andrew Zarian and I talk about what’s going on in wrestling today.

We kicked off the show talking about what we missed over the last few weeks including the AEW to Fox rumors.

We talked about tonight’s AEW Dynamite vs. NXT matchup and run down both cards.

We talked about how weird it was to watch a two-hour version of WWE Raw and wondered about what WWE might do for the very first Raw on Netflix.

Finally, we went over all the matches for AEW WrestleDream this Saturday.

You can also follow the show account on X.

For website subscribers, you can click here to listen (sub needed).

WWE reality show & documentaries planned for first year of Netflix deal

Posted on by Josh Nason

A WWE “Drive to Survive” type reality show is planned to be part of the first year of the WWE and Netflix partnership.

Speaking at the JPMorgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference Monday, TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro talked about the relationship with his usual talking points, but added that as part of the deal that begins in January 2025, they will also do “a lot of ancillary shoulder programming” next year that includes a series akin to the popular F1-focused docuseries in addition to documentaries on other WWE stars.

The “Drive to Survive” series that launched in 2019 is credited for a massive boom in F1’s popularity worldwide. The league signed a three-year extension with ESPN in June 2022 worth up to $90 million annually — a huge increase from their previous $5 million/year deal.

The WWE/Netflix deal begins this January, bringing Raw to the streaming giant domestically and all WWE content internationally for those regions that don’t have existing deals still in place.

Some other interesting quotes:

  • He said they will expand their WWE deal with Saudi Arabia over the next 6-12 months. Interestingly, the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (Turki Alsheikh) said an “enhancement” will be announced this month which could mean a future WrestleMania or Royal Rumble heading to the country in 2026 or 2027 if he has his way.
  • In talking about the UFC’s impending TV rights negotiations, he openly opined that ESPN should consider buying out the PPV rights and put them all on their impending direct-to-consumer flagship streaming channel exclusively. He said they haven’t pitched that to ESPN, but used that as an example of the “flexibility” they will bring to those conversations.
  • He said packaging up UFC/WWE events is a big part of their strategy going forward with attendance, site fees and pricing as key performance indicators. He said if they (WWE or UFC) are coming to town, it doesn’t have to be all cash when it comes to site fees, but they have to heavily incentivized to bring events to a city.
  • He said if next June’s UFC debut in Saudi Arabia goes well, he feels Dana White would be very open to bringing future events there past the one they already signed for — one that got twice the fee as the first one that hasn’t even happened yet.

Netflix aired WWE WrestleMania 40 live in New Zealand

Posted on by Josh Nason

In a surprise move, Netflix aired both nights of WWE WrestleMania 40 live for subscribers in New Zealand.

First noted by Lightshed Partners’ Brandon Ross based on X activity, it came as a surprise to a local there:

Ross noted that the country of 5.1 million is a market “known as a test bed for tech companies.”

The rationale: they are English-speaking, tech-savvy early adopters, affluent and isolated enough where if something doesn’t work, there is little blowback in terms of bad P.R. Major companies like Google, Facebook, Domino’s, Microsoft and others have tested out products and technology there through the years.

As of Wednesday, one independent Netflix popularity tracker showed the event as the fifth most popular TV show on the service there after reaching the top spot earlier this week.

WWE and Netflix announced a five-year, $10 billion deal in January 2024 that will bring Raw to the streaming giant for U.S. viewers and all of WWE’s content for international viewers (in countries that don’t have existing deals in place) starting in January 2025.

WWE & Netflix discussions originally focused on NXT

Posted on by Josh Nason

While most of the headlines coming out of Mark Shapiro’s Wednesday comments have revolved around Vince McMahon, the TKO COO did reveal an interesting fact about the initial WWE/Netflix talks.

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology Media & Telecom Conference, Shapiro said that in the company’s talks with the streaming giant, NXT was the original point of discussion.

The two sides eventually came to a five-year, $5.2 billion deal to bring Raw to Netflix domestically starting in January 2025 in addition to all WWE programming, including PLEs, to Netflix internationally.

Shapiro said with the deal, they “cracked the code” with bringing live sports to Netflix and that the partnership alone “de-risked” the UFC/WWE merger that spawned TKO.

Shapiro is bullish on the deal that was driven by WWE CEO Nick Khan and TKO CFO Andrew Schleimer, mainly because of his confidence in Netflix’s marketing. He specifically mentioned WWE being highly visible when users log in to the service. He said it’s a good neighborhood to be in with Netflix and WWE, NBCUniversal and WWE, and UFC with Disney/ESPN.

He said the plan with Netflix is to be “very innovative” with the partnership, but that things are in the laboratory phase with possibilities. He wants to bring innovation to the deal with new technology, discussing how when he was with ESPN, they did the same with any new properties that came to the network.

“Netflix is very incentivized to bring the same technology innovation and disruption to WWE and we welcome it,” he said.

Other notes:

  • On the UFC side, Shapiro said they consider UFC one of the “big four” when it comes to TV given how much better their ratings are vs. the NHL. He talked a lot about the success they have brought to ESPN and ESPN+ where he said they are the anchor tenant.
  • Shapiro said they have not yet made a combined sponsorship pitch for WWE/UFC deals, but the team to do that just came into place in January so it’s early. He has a lot of confidence they will be able to grow the WWE sponsorship money in the same way they did with UFC, but possibly quicker given WWE’s “best in class” standing.
  • To that end, he reiterated they will focus on activating advertising inside the arena and that McMahon didn’t do things like selling ads on the mat. He did say that UFC’s ads on the Octagon mat are “arguably too muddy.”
  • He said the recent Anaheim WWE/UFC weekend was a great test for their dual threat approach of holding two shows in one venue and loved the “unplanned synergy” of athletes from both brands appearing on the other. They will look to replicate that, but it will be more of a long-term play with select situations.
  • He added that WrestleMania will see a big influence from WME (Endeavor’s talent agency) with “big celebs” coming.

Wrestling Observer Live: From WrestleFest to WWE 2K24

Posted on by Jim Valley

Editor’s Note: This was recorded prior to the news of the Vince McMahon/Janel Grant lawsuit and McMahon’s resignation from TKO.

On Saturday’s Wrestling Observer Live, it’s time for the Royal Rumble — one of the most fun and popular PLEs on the WWE calendar and where fans get an idea of what to expect at WrestleMania.

It was a historic week for WWE with the announcements that Raw will be streaming on Netflix starting next January and that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is now on the TKO board and he has regained all rights to his wrestling name.

We are also going to have a little fun and talk wrestling video games with Patrick from the YouTube channel PatmanQC: History of Arcade Games. He’s played every WWE 2K game and tons more. We’ll get his thoughts on the upcoming WWE 2K24 game and then reminisce about everything from WrestleFest to Fire Pro and more.

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)

Wrestling Observer Radio: Ice Train, your WWE/Netflix questions answered, Dynamite & NXT recaps

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including the death of Ice Train, your questions about the WWE & Netflix deal, all the business notes from the past few days, AEW Dynamite and NXT reports, plus tons more.

A fun show as always so check it out~!

Timestamps:

Start: Ice Train passes away

4:00: Netflix/WWE Q&A

26:53: Kazuchika Okada vacates NEVER Six-Man titles

30:45: TNA Hard to Kill PPV numbers, ratings

39:24: Kayla Harrison signs with the UFC

46:02: AEW Dynamite recap

1:11:03: WWE NXT notes

1:24:11: AEW Rampage spoilers

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Wrestling Observer Radio Breaking News Audio: Raw to Netflix, Rock to TKO Board, Okada and WWE

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with a breaking news audio talking WWE Raw moving to Netflix in 2025, Okada and WWE, and The Rock being named to the TKO Board of Directors.

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JNPO: WWE Raw/Netflix TV rights deal talk with NY Post’s Ryan Glasspiegel

Posted on by Josh Nason

With the big news coming Tuesday morning that WWE is taking its Raw talents to Netflix beginning in 2025, I welcomed New York Post sports media reporter Ryan Glasspiegel on Josh Nason’s Punch-Out to talk all about the big news.

In our 20+ minute discussion, we talked about the deal that will see Raw head to Netflix worldwide in addition to international rights for WWE PLEs, SmackDown and NXT, and other WWE programming associated with WWE Network.

We talk about some of the big questions that go along with the news like what night of the week WWE content will fall on, and if Netflix is the front-runner for the domestic WWE Network/PLE rights currently held by NBCUniversal.

There’s also the spillover effect for AEW whose rights are up at the end of this year. Does this mean WBD is the odds-on favorite by default and will Tony Khan take his properties out for bid?

We cover all that, plus Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson joining the TKO Board of Directors, on this relatively breaking news edition of JNPO.

Click Here to Listen