Highlights
- Raw will air exclusively on Netflix starting in January 2025, but WWE’s current deal with USA ends in October.
- That left a three-month window at the end of 2024 where Raw didn’t have a home, but that window has now been filled.
- Raw will remain on USA for three more months, the network paying $25 million to keep the show until the end of 2024.
WWE programming will be getting a serious shake-up worldwide in 2025. Raw will be leaving the USA Network and start streaming exclusively on Netflix in January, and SmackDown, NXT, and other WWE shows will be joining it outside of the US. WWE hit a stumbling block when it comes to these big money moves, however, as its current Raw deal with USA ends in October, but the red brand won’t start streaming on Netflix for three months after that.
A Temporary Home For Raw
That meant having to find a home for Raw for those final three months of 2024, and WWE has confirmed that has now been accomplished. Revealed in TKO’s first quarter earnings report (via F4W Online), it was revealed that Raw will remain on USA right up until the end of 2024. WWE agreed a deal with USA’s parent company NBCUniversal to keep its flagship show on the network for three more months, NBC paying WWE $25 million for the privilege.
USA Network Addresses Graphic Erroneously Dubbing CM Punk A Grand Slam Champion
No, CM Punk is not a Grand Slam Champion… yet.
If you compare that $25 million to what NBCUniversal previously paid to have Raw on USA for the past five years, it has bagged itself a bargain. The network paid $1.325 billion for five years of Raw starting in 2019 which comes to a little more than $66 million per quarter. My guess is it has taken this long for WWE to announce a landing spot for Raw during the final three months of the year as it likely didn’t want to give up TV rights for so little. In hindsight, it was unlikely anyone other than the current home of Raw was going to want the show for three months with no option to keep the rights beyond December 2024.
Everywhere You Can Watch WWE For The Final Three Months Of 2024
SmackDown and NXT don’t have the same problem as Raw – at least not in the US – since neither of them is headed to Netflix. The blue brand will be moving from Fox to USA in October, and NXT will be leaving USA and air exclusively on The CW from that point on too. Outside of The US, plans will be dictated by when deals end and begin. In the UK, for example, TNT Sports, the channel on which all WWE’s weekly shows currently air live, has the rights up until the end of 2024. After that, all three shows will be moving to Netflix.
WWE partnering up with Netflix will be a very interesting and exciting time for the wrestling industry. The finer details of the deal haven’t been revealed, but the length and value of the partnership appears to hinge on how well Raw performs on the platform. It will also spell the end of the WWE Network. That’s been the case for a while in the US, but the platform will be gone for good elsewhere once WWE’s programming makes the shift to Netflix.
