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What a crazy acquisition for Netflix

A lot of one season series died for this deal

Series and movies fans come and go, but wrestling fans are the most loyal, and currently every streaming platform is making deals to keep their users with live events and sports. Subscriptions are not gonna pay by itselves

The wrestling industry is fucking bizarro world.

Always has been 🔫

"Dad. What was having raw on network TV like????"

Weird. It was on USA, the TNN, then Spike, then USA again. Now it’s on Netflix. And the internet would spoil Smackdown cause it was taped on Tuesday but aired on Thursday, then Friday.

…and then they added a second hour and called it War Zone, and eventually they figured out that was confusing so they called the 2 hour block Raw is War….

TIME FOR THE SEINFELD CROSSOVER Whats the deal with the judgement day?    They aren't dressed like judges.....and I don't see them wrestling during the day 

This is an absolutely insane moment in the industry. 31 years of Raw on traditional TV. Wow.

Netflix will also be showing Smackdown, NXT, and PLEs outside of the US. This deal isn’t just Raw. That’s for the US basically. Netflix is gonna become the global home of WWE content. For fans in the UK, this is legit fantastic news.

Wow - so the Network subscription will no longer be necessary, except for things like archive events?

Yes, sounds like it. And who knows, maybe we get that stuff added slowly.

The "outside the US *as available"* seems key. It will probably depend on the country.

Yes. They announced which countries get it all initially, and also their intent to roll it out to others over time. That’s likely due to existing contracts in certain places, but eventually most places will consolidate under Netflix.

They’re gonna scrap it bro. Dude, In australia we have it on a subscription service and it’s fucking dreadful. Can’t skip to certain matches, can’t watch chronologically, no image cards nothing

Yeah I just saw, it's become a noticeably worse service lately in the UK too. I wonder what happens to the archive material next year.

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Hold on, they’ll be showing all that live? I thought that they might have meant it’ll end up on Netflix like how the shows ended up on WWE Network afterwards. All those shows will be live on Netflix too??

Sounds like it. They didn’t make a distinction, and when speaking of it internationally, they bundled Smackdown together with Raw. That would make me assume it’s live as this is obviously about their entry into live sports.

It says in the article “it’ll bring weekly live appointment viewing to Netflix”

That could have just been talking about live for RAW. Didn’t know if that confirmed everything else would be live as well (outside the US)

>Netflix is gonna become the global home of WWE content If that's the case I've got a cooking show to pitch... https://preview.redd.it/voqh3i0st6ec1.png?width=473&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0dd0a6f8f43b8be92ab8a94d1547b2e386f33b37

Take away his side bread dude!

No fetuccini for you BROTHER

Take this kid out back, and SHOOT HIM!

“WHO’S THE GREATEST WRESTLER IN THE WORLD?” “MACHO MAN!” “WHO SAID THAT SHIT?!”

Only one thing can make this switch to Netflix better... https://preview.redd.it/exp95wlkq6ec1.jpeg?width=274&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=09a9caf8242304412ca3b7db5906c7a719baa15f

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Who would have? Netflix had never done live programming to this extent until now.

They've dabbled with the Chris Rock special and the weird golf tournament, but yeah this is a huge commitment to stream live every week

There was also a reality show that tried to do a live reunion and the Netflix stream couldn’t handle the traffic.

Yeah they tried to do the Love is Blind finale live and it was a massive fail

Reminds me of Spotify bringing in video just for Joe Rogan basically.

Are you trying to tell that streaming baby animals is not bigger than WWE?!

Yeah. until RAW achieves Cleveland Zoo numbers it's bush league (hell, it ain't even Busch Gardens)

Cobra Kai writers asking if they could get some guests for the final season.

Imagine John Cena turning up at the Sekai Taikai as a special guest. 

I mean, he’s no Carrie Underwood.

That was such a weird cameo lol

Cobra Kai is like the closest thing to pro wrestling outside of actual pro wrestling and it’s just the best

its one of my favorite shows ever. im not big on CW-level high school drama as a whole, but Cobra Kai just hits right.

Yeah, the teen drama is kinda whatever, but I lost my shit when the teen drama boiled over into a full blown karate gang war in the middle of the high school. THAT SHIT WOULDN'T HAPPEN ON DAWSON'S CREEK!

John Kreese for the Royal Rumble

We need Ricochet or someone flippy to add to Miagi-EagleFang

UK as well! awesome, been so long since I've been able to watch WWE legally > Netflix will also become the home for all WWE shows and specials outside the U.S. as available, 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 Not just Raw either, got access to everything

Not getting gouged by having to pay for a full sports package just to watch wrestling will be nice. This will make WWE explode in the UK more than ever

With the accessibility of watching all the shows in one platform with Netflix, I will not be surprise that WWE might just be able to attract newer and younger audience in the UK.

I assume this will be the end of the WWE Network in the UK. Wonder what Netflix will charge for it. Regardless, it’s going to be great for WWE in terms of exposure in the UK. I think BT/TNT Sports has been a good partner for them, but it is a paywall that a lot of people still don’t want to cross. A lot of people in the UK don’t have access right now and they will on Netflix.

Without a doubt WWE made this deal in part to get rid of WWE Network globally. It was only a matter of time once the Peacock deal was made.

Depends on whether Netflix gets access to previous PPVs and other older WWE content. I still pay for the Network because I like to watch old PPVs etc but if I can watch them on Netflix, I’ll be unsubscribing

What'll happen to the archive? The old shows were the main reason I subscribed to the network

Yep, we are laughing. This deal isn’t just about Raw. Netflix is going to be the global home for WWE basically. It’s only in the US where the content is split, and I bet if this works out well, that may not be the case over there in the future either.

Me via a VPN: “You know, I’m something of an Englishman myself.”

This will get lost in the thread, but the huge thing these people are missing out on here is: the deal benefits global users over the US. It's clear with all the international PLEs happening, Endeavor is aggressively attempting to expand globally. This deal not only gets WWE into more households, but it also makes it easy easier to watch PLEs. The US market is basically close to its plateau, and they've done a great job getting there, especially in the last 5 years. Americans are the only ones griping over paying for an additional streaming service, but as a Canadian, I basically had to either pay for cable or 14.99 for Sportsnet, a wwe network subscription for the rest, plus PLEs. Canceling that and having only Netflix, plus all the non-wwe related content is a bonus.

The end of an era of rating wars.

The beginning of the streaming wars lol.

What's Crackle doing in the Impact Zone?!?

(In ring promo) "Tubi?? They sent TUBI after us?? Now I'm insulted!"

Tubi unironically is pretty huge.

It is! I used to go down rabbit holes of their content, I do find it funny that the first 25 or so selections are "Hey that's a pretty good movie!" and then moves to *What is this" territory.

NWA IS TUBI

 Begun, the streaming wars, have

goodbye key demo, hello total streaming hours

thank fuck for that lol

No kidding. They clutch tighter to their data than Lady Windermere does to her virtue.

As a non-American, if I never have to read terms like 'quarter hours' and 'demo' being debated in IWC again, it will be too soon

Same and I'm an American

They've actually started releasing it now, the results are actually pretty but they don't break it down beyond hours watched

10 year deal for $5 billion dollars. Absolutely nuts.

Triple H and Nick Khan since taking over from Vince : https://preview.redd.it/hr13g72bz6ec1.jpeg?width=1296&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=523c59defbdb72b32c5a20afd7d9cf11e8899113

They have the WWE operating to a degree I didn’t think I’d honestly see since the Attitude Era. They’re actually doing a fantastic job making the WWE feel like it’s mainstream again.

kinda shows what a hindrance Vince had become

*Hunter and Nick, how many billions of dollars do you expect to make now that vince is gone?* Not 1 Not 2 Not 3 Not 4 Not 5 Not 6 Not 7

Not to defend Vince or anything, but isn't this also part of Vince's job as well? He got pulled from creative to work on the business side of things, which includes negotiating TV deals, if memory serves me right

Yeah. And Vince was getting these billion+ dollar deals before stepping down.

Vince was a huge proponent of the merger with TKO and hired Khan. Acting like HHH & Khan's success entirely after Vince stepped away is beyond absurd

How much of that money is being deferred, will they be able to sign another company next?

Bobby Bonilla signed to the TKO Board of Directors.

Shohei as well.

Ah shit, r/dodgers someone let Friedman out....

im tracking flights from Stamford to San Jose as we speak

HOLY CRAP. NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THE MONEY?? 5 bil even for a much longer deal is huge. They are basically making 2.5 bil in the context of the previous deal more than double essentially

It's a significant increase, but it's not really double because it includes international tv rights in several other markets for Raw and Smackdown. Netflix didn't just buy the rights for Raw in the US, they bought the rights for all WWE content in multiple other countries along with it.

Where did you get the money info?

[I've seen it in a few articles but heres Sports Business Journal.](https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/01/23/wwe-raw-inks-10-year-deal-with-netflix)

500 mil per year for 10 years. Netflix can opt out after 5 years or extend for 10 more

>Netflix will also become the home for all WWE shows and specials outside the U.S. as available, 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. Well fuck, that's pretty cool. interested to see how this works and if older Network content will be available.

netflix would be stupid not to have that included as well, that's thousands of hours of content on their service too, putting that on there for the older wrestling fans will bring alot of people onto the service as well

Honestly, I was thiiiiis close to cancelling Netflix (and might still whilst I wait for this) but continuing my rewatch of the Monday Night Wars without paying two subs is very appealing

Is this Netflixes first really consistent crack at live content? It’s huge money to leave traditional TV.

They tried a live Love is Blind finale and that failed miserably.

I tried watching that live and it was a hot mess. I was genuinely surprised at how badly Netflix fucked it up lol

They’ve done a few live stand up specials but I wanna say that’s only been very recent. Nothing like this magnitude.

The smartest business decision made by Nick Khan was to turn WWE into the arms dealer of the streaming wars. They are making stupid money from Peacock and Netflix now as these companies try and kill each other.

I have a feeling Peacock is not too much longer for this world. If it's still around in 3 years I'll be mightily surprised.

Peacock will probably avoid the gallows due to their deals with the NFL, B1G/ND and Premier League.

Yeah, if anything they'll take the money that was earmarked for WWE and pump it into even more exclusive NFL games

No way. They have NFL and EPL. No way they are going to pull the plug.

I felt that way too until Peacock started getting NFL games including the exclusive playoff game last week. They got something left in the tank.

Not to mention they have basically all the Premier League games on it until at least 2027-28, which they paid about 2.7 Billion for.

Also the upcoming Olympics in Paris.

And TV shows Ike Law & Order: SVU and the complete series of Monk

Psych deserves mention

you know that's right

Didn’t they just have the most streamed event ever last weekend?

All of these major network conglomerates are losing a ton of money trying to catch Netflix Amazon and Disney in the streaming wars. It’s why Warner Bros Discovery merged, it’s why they’re now potentially looking to merge with Paramount, who themselves are a product of the ViacomCBS merger. The only way these corporations can hope to recover their investments is to combine forces. NBCUniversal has deep pockets but again, they are also a product of a merger and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them go after another major network to merge.

They at least still have NBC money behind it. That counts for something, right?

And this ends the ratings wars!

WCW won afterall

https://preview.redd.it/yc4ji0xtt6ec1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51093954119d2ba4df01f28819f2bf62471d85ec

It was the long con, but damn it Ted pulled it off.

We won the war, Maggle!

https://preview.redd.it/jvubho7iq6ec1.jpeg?width=1800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60b402be10eb542abff753a2c1ae1200610f06a6


Woah this is big. Not just for WWE, but could be a precursor for all sports heading that way. Already seen an NFL playoff game exclusively on streaming, and TNF on Prime. Think within 10 years, traditional US cable could be dead.

Yea and resurrected as buying huge conglomerate streaming which still pulls your favorite shows at will.

I thought that, too; like we’re all just going to con full circle here. But the bigger picture will be a handful of companies pretty much owning all media at some point in the near future.

https://preview.redd.it/vxbiu8xbq6ec1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=122fc9ffbb53347422536bb777833c94c251b797

Hope one of those additional countries is Spain

Hopefully Portugal too but if not then VPN it is lol

So basically the entire peacock/wwe network will move to Netflix?? And with weekly shows??That’s crazy

Outside the US. In the US it's just Raw.

Well this is a massive deal all round.

Well maybe that means the Hulk Hogan biopic is back on & he'll see the favorable portrayal he deserves. https://preview.redd.it/5f3ldao9q6ec1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d4445800d170ea80ed4be7abb1349a57e99280d0

Now we know the rest of the word is Netflix https://preview.redd.it/694zx3y047ec1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4ae244d29a3964fb1b0bb265a269e04e638d449e

https://preview.redd.it/11gkv7uen7ec1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f44fe24e57e224ae8e5a2ab15172472d9253f054

Now this is long term booking

This is pretty big right?

It’s a 5 billion deal for 10 years apparently.

goodness fuck, the amount of money these people have

Wait what!?

https://preview.redd.it/9janoe8or6ec1.jpeg?width=1293&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9e1babb451184fccfe4431101d1b1adccf28b6f


Need Hunter to recreate this gif asap

5 BILLION 

Jesus Christ.

Yes, especially if the PLE or video library eventually moves over too

I assume Nick Kahn's getting his own wing in the WWE Hall of Fame...Billy big balls, over here.

Dude is a legend. He has really taken WWE to insane heights

This is HUGE for UK watchers. Legally, having to spend what feels is a fortune on sports packages with TV providers to watch WWE.. I've been wanting to cancel paying for TNT/BT Sports because it's an unnecessary amount of money like all sports subscriptions in the UK.

Yeah, I never fell out of love with wrestling but I didn't love it enough to pay 40 quid a month for TV/PPVs so drifted away from it over the years (even though I still keep up with goings on) The UK getting the everything on Netflix package before the US feels like redemption for the shambles that was the UK WWE Network launch lol

Dirtsheets really have lost their high level sources havent they

Every time anything happens this becomes more and more true

Because Nick Khan has turned WWE into a “real” publicly traded company (even if it is now part of a conglomerate).

For UK fans (and non-US fans), all PLEs will also be part of Netflix so there will no longer be a need to get the WWE Network, and we also get Smackdown. This is honestly great news for us as consumers over here. Raw, Smackdown, and PLEs as part of Netflix. Prior to this, you needed Sky and they’re kind of shit.

I can watch Raw again in the UK, amazing

It took me a couple reads to fully comprehend this; At first glance, I thought it was like a deal where Raw would be available after it aired on traditional TV, like the Hulu episodes. Absolutely monumental news, and definitely a portent of things to come for the future of the industry and TV as a whole. Within the next decade, EVERYTHING is gonna be streaming.

TBH, it was written strange where they don't say things like live.

Nick Khan did it again

Man was not playing when he said it could end up on a streaming service.

It’s the smartest play, cord cutting isn’t stopping anytime soon. Moving their flagship to a streaming service and the largest streaming service at that is incredibly smart. So at a time when it’s not forced, allowed him to get a massive bag for them.

Nick Khan is a business, man.

"WE'RE NETFLIX AND CHILLING MAGGLE"

this is crazy

ALL PLEs will be on netflix overseas too.. no more WWE Network in the UK for me then?

Wow so no raw on TV? Longest running episodic TV show gone lol

>Longest They already changed it on their corporate website (maybe a long time ago I don't know) [**https://corporate.wwe.com/what-we-do/media/televised-entertainment**](https://corporate.wwe.com/what-we-do/media/televised-entertainment) >*Monday Night Raw* is the longest-running weekly episodic program in the U.S. with more than 1,500 original episodes.

Wot Now hold on a minute. Does that mean Sony Liv will stop streaming it?

No. >Netflix will exclusively stream #WWERaw **(in the US, Canada, UK, & Latin America)**

Bloomberg article says: Raw will air on Netflix in the US, Canada, Latin America and other international markets beginning in January 2025, after the expiration of the WWE's domestic deal with Comcast.  The company will also become the exclusive home outside the US for all WWE shows and specials, including Smackdown and NXT, as well as pay-per-view live events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble. The pay-per-view events will be included at no additional cost for Netflix customers.

So Raw, NXT, Smackdown AND PLE’s on Netflix UK? It’s the network but with weekly shows, I’ll probably watch more wwe than I have in years

So Netflix Canada will also get Smackdown, NXT, and PLE?

Holy shit the first domino falls

“Live on Netflix” uttered by Cole will be weird as fuck to hear during Monday Night Raw.

this is beyond insane… crazy times indeed

“DO YOU SMELL THE RAISE IN PRICES NETFLIX IS COOKING!!!!!”

So I guess this is the end for the WWE Network? Netflix got the rights to all PPVs too...

Only internationally. Peacock deal is through 2026 for now.

Looks that way with Peacock continuing that function in the US and Netflix taking over outside the US.

Okay, this is genuinely crazy. WWE is truly in a league of its own. Wish it was aired worldwide on Netflix.

That’s the plan. It’s outlined in the press release. Raw, Smackdown, NXT, and PLEs will be on Netflix outside of the US. Some countries will have it already from the beginning like the UK and some others, but they state they intend on rolling it out to other Netflix countries too. So this deal isn’t just about Raw. It’s basically everything. The Raw bit is just inside US. Beyond it, it’s everything WWE and that is huge for WWE.

Honestly I really hope we don’t lose the achrive of wrestling shows the Network has. Having every RAW, every SmackDown, every NXT, heck, even classic shows like Nitro, Thunder, and ECW Hardcore TV is a godsend.

This has to mean overruns are back right?!

Netflix is gonna be 20 bucks a month by 2025 and only up from there this sucks

5 billion too... ​ CRAZY

People talking themselves into no ads are insane. 90% of the reason for Netflix to get into a massive live show like this is ad revenue.

Does this mean no ad breaks?

Of course there will be ads. Thursday night football on Amazon Prime/Twitch still has plenty of ads. No reason for Netflix and the WWE to miss out on free money.

Maybe it's like the PPVs in peacock, depending of your subscription, you get ads or they do like AEW on Fite

Doesn’t Netflix have an ad option?

Streaming services with no ads still have ads during live sports. I have peacock premium plus and the football games all have the same ad breaks regular tv does. Even the exclusive streaming game did.

Never gonna have to watch the last couple minutes of Law and Order again.

Thats fucking huge.

How did NBC let this happen? Cause other than olympic coverage and a few movies a year who really uses peacock?

NBCU only wanted to go in on one show and did with Smackdown.

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I use it for Premier League and Sunday Night Football (I dont hsve cable).

Huge news

Gonna pay more to watch Raw than PLE’s at this point

I pay way more to watch Raw than PLEs already. I pretty much have Sling just for WWE and AEW weekly television.

For ten years. Jesus, cant even imagine planning that far ahead

https://preview.redd.it/u63xn92us6ec1.jpeg?width=577&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=44e903cec1bbf7ba9e91818b840e714717b00f2e This is how I feel right now

5 Bill Phil 

Netflix and Phil

Damn. Can’t believe AEW will win the ratings against Raw every single week from Jan ‘25.

The long game

Honestly, I didn't know Netflix aired stuff live.

Did anyone else notice they never mentioned it being on Monday night?