Source: Netflix / Netflix
After almost two decades of being a programming stable on the USA Network, WWE Monday Night Raw will be making their much publicized move to Netflix in January 2025 and while fans don’t know exactly what that may mean for the show, it seems like not many changes will be made.
According to Deadline, WWE and Netflix executives spoke to the media Tuesday (Dec. 3), and revealed what we can expect from Monday Night Raw when it streams on Netflix Jan. 6 (hopefully it won’t involve an insurrection) and where they hope it goes going forward. With WWE overlord Vince McMahon no longer involved in the company due to some scandalous accusations, his son-in-law, Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, and WWE President Nick Khan will steer the franchise going forward. With a 10-year deal worth an impressive $5 billion dollars, best believe they’ll do what they can to keep the show fresh, relevant and utterly entertaining.
With that being said, do not expect the move to Netflix to automatically set the rating from PG-13 to a hard-rated R as Nick Khan promises the wrestling soap opera will continue to be a family affair that people of all ages can enjoy.
Per Deadline:
“We’re not changing the rating of our programming. So there’s some online chatter about, ‘oh, it’s going to be R-rated, or for us old folks, X-rated.’ That’s definitely not happening,” he said. “It’s family-friendly, multi-generational, advertiser-friendly programming. It’s going to stay that way. I would look for more global flair, especially as the relationship continues to develop. Countries outside of the United States are as important to us as the United States is. So we have certain targeted countries that are priorities for Netflix. They’re priorities for us. You’re going to see more of that. I think that’s the way you’ll see a bit of a difference.”
That’s all good and dandy, but we wouldn’t be opposed to seeing Monday Night Raw return to the golden “Attitude Era,” which bore many classic moments and matches that blurred the line between PG-13 and NC-17. Just sayin’.
While fans are worried that the move may lead to streaming problems as we witnessed during the fiasco that was the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight, it seems like that’s a risk that Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria and company are willing to take.
“We expected a big number, for sure. It was a big number. But again, you don’t know, and you can’t learn these things until you do them so you take a big swing. Our teams and our engineers are amazing, moved super quickly, and stabilized it, and many of the members had it back up and running pretty quickly. But we learn from those things. And we’ve all obviously done a lot of stuff to learn and get ready for the NFL and Beyonce at halftime and so we’re totally ready and excited for WWE.”
Added Levesque jokingly, “I’ll just say, if it blinks a couple of times and we do 60 million, I’m good with that.”
Heck, for $5 billion we’d be good with a few blinks too.
Aside from remaining true to their platform, WWE does expect more celebrity involvement in future matches (Bad Bunny actually held his own during his WWE run) and possibly taking their SmackDown and NXT shows along with them to the streaming platform when those contracts are up.
What do y’all expect from WWE Monday Night Raw when it moves to Netflix? Let us know in the comments section below.
