Surprising Details Emerge About WWE Raw’s Netflix Switch

Intriguing details have come to light regarding what WWE Raw on Netflix will look like.

On January 6th, 2025, WWE Raw will begin life on Netflix in a deal said to be worth a staggering $5 billion. The move will be the final part of the company’s broadcasting reshuffle with SmackDown moving to the USA Network on September 13th, and NXT joining the CW Network on October 1st.

While it’s been confirmed that changes will be coming to the announce team with Michael Cole and Pat McAfee returning to displace the temporary line-up of Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett, a lot of the other details remain uncertain.

Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer attempted to shed some light on the speculation, dismissing the fan theory that the show will be commercial free.

It was noted that a normal Raw at three hours is 132 minutes so you can have the same content in a two-and-a-half hour show with less commercial time.

There will be commercials on Netflix as one of the reasons Netflix picked up Raw is because they are trying to add commercials to programming and the Raw and pro wrestling audience is used to commercials on the shows, but they can adjust a lot differently then on regular television such as when and how long the breaks are and not have the show to the second when it comes to that.

However, Meltzer suggested that the run-time could still vary as the show won’t be tied into a traditional TV schedule.

The time can also adjust such as if they need longer to tell the story or want to go shorter, it’s not like they have to be off the air because another show is starting. The idea is the length can change so the time frame of the main event finishes can be less predictable.

WWE Raw Dropping To Two Hours

It was announced during the September 7th episode of Raw that the show will drop back to being two hours until it moves to Netflix. The change is the result of a deal between WWE and the USA Network to keep the show with the broadcaster beyond the end of its original contract.

In order to avoid Raw being homeless before landing on Netflix, a short-term extension with USA was agreed in May worth $25 million.