WWE Expectations For Raw’s Netflix Debut Revealed
A new report has some revealing information about what WWE expects to happen when Raw debuts on Netflix in January 2025.
The highly anticipated debut of WWE Monday Night Raw on Netflix is just about three months away. Before they get there, WWE has to produce Monday Night Raw for USA Network for three more months. Starting with the October 7th episode of Raw, the show will go back to a two-hour format after being three hours long since July 2012.
January 6th, 2025 is the date of the first Raw on Netflix. Previous reports have stated that WWE’s Raw Netflix debut will be from the brand-new Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. It has been confirmed by Fightful Select, who have also provided additional details.
A longtime WWE employee told Fightful that the Netflix debut of Raw is expected to be one of the biggest shows in company history: “The show is likely to be one of the biggest episodes of Raw in history, from the standpoint of buzz.”
It was also noted that Netflix’s deal with WWE, which is for a staggering $5 billion over 10 years or $500 million per year, is considered by people in the company to be one of the biggest deals in the history of the company for obvious reasons. The Netflix deal will lead to Raw being shown in most countries, but it also covers international rights for Smackdown, NXT, PLE shows and more content as well.
That January 6th episode of Raw is also being talked about early as being like a Premium Live Event quality show. Fightful Select also noted that WWE views the Netflix move as something that can lead to their next leap in popularity.
As for WWE Smackdown performers, they are expected to be booked for Raw’s Netflix debut although that isn’t official yet. Since there are three months until that episode, WWE obviously has quite a bit of time to go before they can build that card.
Since there are no WWE main roster PLEs in December or January (Royal Rumble is on February 1, 2025), the company plans to bridge the special event gap by doing Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC on December 14 while the January 6th Raw will also be seen as a major show.
One big name who believes he will be part of the Raw debut on Netflix is 16-time WWE World Champion John Cena, who is planning to retire as a wrestler in December 2025 after competing for the company all year long. Cena did confirm in a recent interview that he will be on the Raw debut on Netflix.
Triple H Unsure Of How Long WWE Raw Episodes Will Be On Netflix
While speaking to the assembled wrestling media at the WWE Bad Blood Press Conference in Atlanta, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque said the company still isn’t sure if Raw will be a two-hour show, three-hour show, or something in between when the Netflix era begins.
“When we get to Netflix, we are still working through all of that. So I think the truth is, you guys will have to watch and see and I am gonna wait and see, but we will deal with it.”
“The truth is, no matter what the length of time is, it’s just about putting out the best product we can, telling the best possible stories we can. At the end of the day, that is what this is all about – telling stories.
Sometimes in our business, we get so caught up in two hour – three-hour, one-hour, this [that]…the movie is the movie.
When the movie is over, it was either really good, or it was not good, or too long, or too short. Whatever it is. But we are just making a movie every week, twice a week, three times a week, actually, with more to come.
We kind of approach it in that matter. Let’s write the best stories and then we’ll try to figure out how to jam it into whatever timeslot we have available.”
Since Netflix is a streaming service without a live programming schedule like most television channels, it’s going to be a new experience for the company and its fans.