RAW is Netflix

[screech]

Per Variety (and other places), RAW will stream exclusively on Netflix beginning in January 2025.

In a major shakeup, WWE has struck a deal with Netflix that will see its flagship weekly live pro wrestling show begin airing exclusively on the streaming giant beginning in January 2025. That will mark the first time in its three-decade history that “Raw” has not aired new episodes on a linear television network.

According to sources with knowledge of the deal, it is valued at $500 million per year and runs for 10 years. By comparison, sources also say WWE’s current five-year deal for “Raw” with NBCUniversal is worth approximately $250-260 million per year.

Full story here: https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/netflix-wwe-monday-night-raw-deal-january-2025-1235882820/

[drave]

Shitty. I've not subbed to Netflix in a looonnnnnn time. They've started sending e-mails saying its been X days since you signed in... sec.....


...
.....

.......

263 days. Nope.


Also - lolratings

[screech]

The subscription price is about to go through the roof

[screech]

I do wonder what the ad situation will be (because there will be ads).

Peacock shows a bunch of WWE shop things when the regular subscribers get commercials. So I guess if you're on the "premium" plan, get ready for DX to come back and shill!

[Evil Vito]

The full press release says that, outside of the US, Netflix will also be getting Smackdown and NXT where available, as well as Summerslam, the Royal Rumble, and Wrestlemania. That sounds to me like the international version of WWE Network will be slowly killed off.

Unlike the abrupt killing of the US Network where they took their sweet time moving everything to Peacock, they could take a more careful approach in moving things to Netflix. Maybe the goal would be to have everything on Netflix by 2026, which is when the Peacock deal is up.

As someone who enjoys watching old stuff I'd be thrilled if it ends up on Netflix. Peacock is by far the worst UI of any streaming service I've used and it's never seemed to have gotten any better.

[Fignuts]

Yeah, no thanks. I want to catch raw, I 'll just "watch wrestling".

[ClockShot]

If this is going to jack up my subscription even more, I'll ditch Netflix altogether and jump back into NJPW World.

[xrodmuc316]

$500 Million a year, holy shit! That is more than they are making per year now for Raw, Smackdown, and NXT.

[rez]

Holy balls mahoney

[Big Vic]

And it's all thanks to CM Punk.

[Ben Rodrigues]

There are levels to this. UFC rights deal coming up. Going to be interesting.

[Jordan]

If UFC goes to Netflix I'll nut. But I can definitely see myself watching Raw next year on Netflix.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Pretty big deal. It’s pretty huge that all their international deals seem to be heading to Netflix too.

[Lock Jaw]

Gonna tune in to RAW LIVE for the first time in a long time.... we shall see how long I can last....

[Lock Jaw]

Pretty sweet intro setup with the projections on the tarps around the ring

[Lock Jaw]

Circular mic flag..... gross looking......

[Lock Jaw]

The Rock is here and the fans going banana

[Lock Jaw]

Cool minimalized stage/ramp.... wonder if permanent....

[Lock Jaw]

Black ring mat crawling with sponsors...... surprised it took them this long to do that...

[Lock Jaw]

How long until we get evil Netflix execs authority figures

[Lock Jaw]

Rock not a heel anymore and thanking Cody Rhodes........ but what about that mysterious thing that Rock gave Cody after Mania?! Warning him that he would be back.....

[Lock Jaw]

Overall pointless promo.... cool..... Now Rock hugging Cody....

[Lock Jaw]

Opening wit Solo/Roman..... would have been better to somehow have Rock involved in this rather than pointless promo.....

[Lock Jaw]

Roman's new song still sucks..... doesn't have the same "majesty".......

[Lock Jaw]

oh no

fans chanting "f*** you Solo" and it not being censored.....

[Lock Jaw]

30 minutes in..... about to start the first match.... but cutting to a hype package instead....

[DrA]

It says that my device doesn’t support Live Streaming, fuck this shit.

[Lock Jaw]

What the heck kinda device is that

[Lock Jaw]

Hitting someone with the announce table monitor just isn't as impactful as when it was a big heavy rectangular CRT beast

[Lock Jaw]

Solo tossing the stairs at Roman...... reminds me of the time I went to a house show and Braun Strowman just continually threw the stairs at Roman.... my non-wrestling fan friend laughed at that.....

[Lock Jaw]

Never heard the word "ulafala" as many times as I have in the past 20 minutes.....

[Lock Jaw]

Weird dips to black for commercials but then coming right back to the action.....

[Lock Jaw]

Boring ass match......

[Lock Jaw]

My attention is officially lost......

[Lock Jaw]

Sami and Jimmy out for the save..... after the damage was already done and Roman had to kick out of the spike all by himself....

[Lock Jaw]

Ulafala

[Lock Jaw]

Jackie Redmond.... nice.....

Cool interview spot in front of the crowd..... old school.....

[Lock Jaw]

Damn at the Royal Rumble being in Saudi Arabia in 2026..... not only will it be at some random time of day, but the fans won't have the same energy, and Goldberg is probably going to win.....

[Lock Jaw]

Johnald Cena is here!!!

[Lock Jaw]

Liv Morgan hot braud

Raquel Rodriguez looking like Mexicool Juventud Guerrera

[Lock Jaw]

Sweet hype pack for Liv/Rhea..... seems like it should be a Mania match.... but dunno how they'd stretch it more....

[Lock Jaw]

Huge pop for Macauley Culkin

[Lock Jaw]

No respect for Will Freidel.... Topanga gets a name key and verbal mention but he doesn't.....

[Lock Jaw]

Rhea Ripley hot braud

[Lock Jaw]

Rhea Ripley wins... but now here comes Undertaker to challenge her

[Lock Jaw]

Might turn it off now that Liv/Rhea is done..... that was also one of the main reasons to tune in....

[xrodmuc316]

I am here for Drew McIntyre, he is the best!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I just wanted a good look at that tattoo. <br><br>I can confirm it’s even funnier up close. <a href="https://t.co/pjoyfwKKpP">pic.twitter.com/pjoyfwKKpP</a></p>&mdash; Drew (@DMcIntyreWWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/DMcIntyreWWE/status/1875653904782029111?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[slik]

Great production value, hot opener with Roman/Solo and very good main-event with Punk/Rollins

[Big Vic]

Hearing Hogan got booed out of the building seems :y:

[McLegend]

Was it that bad?

[Lock Jaw]

I had tuned out by that point but I tuned in to that segment just to see... there were a good number of cheers still, but I think the boos were indeed louder.

[Mr. Nerfect]

The production of the show was amazing. I like the new aesthetic choices. They bask in things and take ages to get from A to B, but they don’t need to rush and it seems to be getting everything more over. This was a great hour of wrestling stretched over 3.

CM Punk and Seth Rollins had some brilliant ideas for the main event. Glad Chad Gable could make the show.

Not much to gripe with or even champion content-wise.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol, Macauley Culkin has way more charisma than most wrestlers though.

[Lock Jaw]

Macaulay Culkin outpopped DX

[Mr. Nerfect]

They should do a PPV called “In Your Home Alone” and it should feature Macauley Culkin wrestling in a hardcore match where the heel walks into a bunch of traps.

[slik]

I acknowledge my tribal Culk

[Lock Jaw]

The Immortal Culk

[xrodmuc316]

Was curious about the replay, and they left the commercials in the replay, which was never done for Raw on the Network, Peacock, or Hulu. That must mean Netflix is getting paid an insane amount for ad space if it is going to be perpetual instead of just during the live airing.

[Lock Jaw]

I never saw commercials at least up until the point I watched.... other than internal WWE promos and commercials of course.

It would dip to black and act like they were going to break, but then it would just immediately come back. They would do the same acting as if they were coming back from a break.

[xrodmuc316]

That is interesting. I for sure just saw a Subway commercial on the replay.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I never saw commercials at least up until the point I watched.... other than internal WWE promos and commercials of course.

It would dip to black and act like they were going to break, but then it would just immediately come back. They would do the same acting as if they were coming back from a break.

This is what happened in Australia too.

[Tom Guycott]

Lol, Macauley Culkin has way more charisma than most wrestlers though.

Macaulay Culkin outpopped DX

Are you surprised? He paid is dues by buying the "dick sucker t-shirt"! The company and it's fans remember such loyalty!


... uh, that was a Wrestling Isn't Wrestling joke. It occurs to me that someone might think he somehow sucked off the whole building one at a time to make himself that over by airtime if they never seen it or don't remember watching it.

[Tom Guycott]

Was curious about the replay, and they left the commercials in the replay, which was never done for Raw on the Network, Peacock, or Hulu. That must mean Netflix is getting paid an insane amount for ad space if it is going to be perpetual instead of just during the live airing.

I never saw commercials at least up until the point I watched.... other than internal WWE promos and commercials of course.

It would dip to black and act like they were going to break, but then it would just immediately come back. They would do the same acting as if they were coming back from a break.

Couldn't do live. Only watched after-the-fact. And it was chock full of commercials.

However, they thankfully didn't pull the HULU forced-watch horseshit (on a service that initally had commercials as either/or for if you paid for a subscription or not, then changed to a tiered commercial free service, then just did away with "commercial free" and now makes you watch them regardless because "fuck you, give us your money" that's why) and it was more like a DVR'd show- I could just skip right through the shit unless something caught my eye like a previously unwatched show.

[xrodmuc316]

Are you surprised? He paid is dues by buying the "dick sucker t-shirt"! The company and it's fans remember such loyalty!


... uh, that was a Wrestling Isn't Wrestling joke. It occurs to me that someone might think he somehow sucked off the whole building one at a time to make himself that over by airtime if they never seen it or don't remember watching it.

I remember that video, pretty sure that dude ended up getting metoo'd! Or maybe it was his dad, I forget now

[Destor]

Couldn't do live. Only watched after-the-fact. And it was chock full of commercials.

However, they thankfully didn't pull the HULU forced-watch horseshit (on a service that initally had commercials as either/or for if you paid for a subscription or not, then changed to a tiered commercial free service, then just did away with "commercial free" and now makes you watch them regardless because "fuck you, give us your money" that's why) and it was more like a DVR'd show- I could just skip right through the shit unless something caught my eye like a previously unwatched show.hulu still has commercial free tiers but not on live events

[xrodmuc316]

Reports going around that WWE is thinking about leaning into Hogan's heat and making him a heel, maybe have him manage somebody. Could explain why McAfee was able to have the parody press conference.

bCiisGVLqpA

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don’t really see the point in that. Hogan’s not exactly a versatile performer and I am skeptical it would actually get anyone over. The focus would probably be on him, and he can’t even bump to blow the heat off.

Just save him for special appearances and things that people can choose to go to if they seek him out (signings and the like). Don’t jam him down peoole’s throats in 2025.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Kieran Culkin was at Raw too and had a cool interaction with CM Punk after his match.

[Sting Fan]

Hey TPdub is back, weird.

I tried to watch the first Raw on Netflix but honestly the Roman vs. Solo thing was pretty terrible so I turned the TV off after it.

Gave it a shot.

[Big Vic]

I don’t really see the point in that. Hogan’s not exactly a versatile performer and I am skeptical it would actually get anyone over. The focus would probably be on him, and he can’t even bump to blow the heat off.

Wonder when the last time he dropped the leg was... probably TNA right?

[Rammsteinmad]

I have approximately 0% interest in seeing Hogan on TV for anything.

[xrodmuc316]

I don’t really see the point in that. Hogan’s not exactly a versatile performer and I am skeptical it would actually get anyone over. The focus would probably be on him, and he can’t even bump to blow the heat off.

Just save him for special appearances and things that people can choose to go to if they seek him out (signings and the like). Don’t jam him down peoole’s throats in 2025.

He should be limited to Saudi shows, nobody else is cheering him. He got booed at Mania 37 in Tampa Bay, and that is basically his home town. That was also before he started being a hardcore Trump spokesperson too. At this point I am pretty sure Toronto and Montreal would boo him.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I understand why they want Hogan under some sort of deal, but keeping him limited to video games and historical pieces may not be a bad idea either.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Not too pumped for Raw. Chad Gable vs. Penta and Sheamus vs. Ludwig Kaiser will both be “bangers” though. The latter could be the best match of the year so far.

[screech]

Circular mic flag..... gross looking......

Hitting someone with the announce table monitor just isn't as impactful as when it was a big heavy rectangular CRT beast

I also had these two thoughts and I knew you would also probably hate the circular mic flag,,,,

[screech]

thought the first Netflix episode was "good" but I don't know that I'd have been roped in as a new fan. not enough rasslin action.

but I knew the show would be more "look at how cool we are" than actual rasslin so I was prepared.

matches were good, though

[Tom Guycott]

I remember that video, pretty sure that dude ended up getting metoo'd! Or maybe it was his dad, I forget now

No, it was him. There was apparently a less than noble reason most of the cast were girls, among other allegations.

hulu still has commercial free tiers but not on live events

HULU kept moving their goalposts. The last time I had them as a standalone deal (currently have the D+ launch package such as it is now), they went from having a free version with commercials, and a paid version with no commercials. Then, they made a third, more expensive version with no commercials, and the original subscription had "limited" commercials. Then, the "limited" commercials got super intrusive to the point where the "free" version was unneccesary. So they scrapped it. Then, the "commercial-less" tier started showing commercials. That's when I stopped paying for HULU for years until the aforementioned Disney thing happened.

[BFP]

Honestly, I think Hogan’s time has passed. His name still carries weight, but trying to shoehorn him into storylines now feels forced. Special appearances here and there would be fine, but trying to make him a regular part of the show? Not so much.

[Lock Jaw]

Watched a bit of the show....

Feel like Jey Uso really "dropped the ball" on his promo... it is ok to be emotional, but channel that emotion into passion, Uce. He eventually got into very little of it, but he should have been giving an impassioned speech about how long he has been around and how he always thought he was going to be a tag team guy, until he embraced being "just me, Uce" and now is finally going to prove all the doubters wrong and prove that he is "Main Event". The material really wrote itself....

Even after Gunter came out and was talking about his legacy, the material was right there for Jey to be all "It ain't about your legacy, Uce, it's about mine".

Hopefully he can take some notes and get back on track once he is "less emotional".


Saw the Charlotte/Rhea segment too..... Charlotte looking near unrecognizable from what she once looked like... good to see that they are having her embrace the boos and heel it up a bit rather than just trying to stubbornly make her a face.

Overall I think the fans are gonna be sour on it.... prematurely ended the big Liv/Rhea feud which should have ended with the "money moment" at WM with Rhea finally getting the title back in order to shoehorn in a big match for Charlotte. Feel "bad" for Liv who deserved that spot after all she has been doing. The "rubber match" for Rhea/Charlotte I guess has a certain bit of drama to it, but won't be nearly as big as a feel or big of a match as Rhea/Liv would have been.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I haven’t seen the segments themselves, but the way you describe it makes it sound like Jey Uso’s post-IC Title win promo. That registered with people, but you can’t recreate those moments. Jey’s already done the “everyone thought I’d only be a tag wrestler” thing. “Damn right I was going to win the Royal Rumble” would have been a good tone to take.

I prefer Rhea/Charlotte. The Liv stuff was reaching its limit and wasn’t going to deliver as well in the ring. Moving Liv down plays with the fans a bit and they might end up reacting positively to her as a star.

Watching her at the Rumble (see what I did there?), she seemed to interact a lot with Bianca & Naomi. I wouldn’t be opposed to that being the tag match at WrestleMania. Or Liv bypasses Raquel as a partner and chooses a new heel ally to team with — Raquel can corner. Then Jade can come back and help Bianca & Naomi.

[Lock Jaw]

Ah, ok. Didn't see Jey's promo after his IC win. I guess he can't repeat himself.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don’t think your sentiment is wrong though. I mean, he’s essentially repeating something by being all emotional too.

[Lock Jaw]

Yeah, the sentiment was to channel emotion into passion and he didn't do that.

When KofiMania was a thing, he was emotional too, but he channeled that into passion. From what I remember anyways.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Kofi has always been good on the mic, but I just remember this weird promo with Vince where Kofi was complaining about how long he’s been there. “When do I get my shot?!” I dunno, Kofi — in kayfabe you kind of earn it?