The WWE Network Is Officially Shutting Down Ahead Of Netflix Move

The WWE Network has long been the home of WWE's library in international markets.

Here in the States, WWE's streaming channel had a run on its own before getting integrated into Peacock. The library of content includes WCW, ECW, and NWA content, most of WWE's PLEs, replays of weekly shows, and tons of original content. It's pretty amazing.

But, that all ends on January 1, when WWE Raw and WWE's extensive library of content move to Netflix. The following press release was sent to WWE Network's international users:

On January 1, 2025, WWE Network will no longer be available in your area. After January 1, Netflix will be the new exclusive home of WWE.

Netflix will bring WWE’s electrifying content all to one place, including weekly shows, Monday Night RAW, SmackDown and NXT, PLUS Premium Live Events (PLEs) such as WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam.

Many of WWE’s top moments, along with historic PLEs and select programming, will be available on Netflix beginning January 1.

The premiere live episode of Monday Night RAW on Netflix airing on January 6 will feature some of the biggest names in WWE such as John Cena, Undisputed WWE Champion “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Bianca Belair, in addition to many other Superstars and guests including Travis Scott.

If you are already a Netflix subscriber, you’re all set. If you are not a Netflix subscriber, you will need to subscribe so you don’t miss a moment. We can’t wait for you to experience WWE on Netflix this January.

What does "select programming" mean? We'll have to wait and see.

source: si.com

Update On WWE Programming On Peacock

A new report provides an update on WWE‘s programming on Peacock.

WWE shows are on the move, as SmackDown has moved to USA Network, while NXT will premiere on The CW Network on October 1.

Steven Muelhausen of The Takedown on SI reports that, per a Peacock spokesperson, as part of their agreement with WWE, SmackDown’s complete past season library is available, while new episodes will be available only 30 days after airing on USA.

With RAW, new episodes will be available 30 days after airing, as the show will remain on USA Network through the end of 2024.

The spokesperson also said that Peacock will no longer have the libraries of NXT and RAW when their contracts expire. The streaming service will have countdown clocks to inform viewers of their expiration dates starting on September 19 and December 2, respectively.

Muelhausen also writes that a WWE spokesperson said that all PLEs will continue to air exclusively on Peacock.

WWE RAW will move to Netflix in January 2025. It is currently unclear how this may affect programming otherwise.

source: WrestleZone

WWE Receives Emmy Nomination For Ric Flair Documentary

WWE has received an Emmy nomination.

Wooooo! Becoming Ric Flair, a Peacock documentary, has been nominated in the Outstanding Long Documentary category. The winners will be announced that Lincoln Center in New York City on May 22

The documentary highlights the life and legacy of two-time WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair and includes interviews from a range of WWE stars and legends, including Flair himself

WWE Internal Memo Touts Crown Jewel 2022 As Most-Viewed International PLE In WWE History

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select reports that WWE sent out an internal memo to company executives in which it stated that Crown Jewel surpassed Clash at the Castle to become WWE’s most viewed international Premium Live Event of all time.

Per Sapp, the top five most-viewed events WWE has held in Saudi Arabia are as follows:

1) Crown Jewel 2022

2) Greatest Royal Rumble 2018

3) Elimination Chamber 2021

4) Crown Jewel 2021

5) Super ShowDown 2019

WWE also highlighted Crown Jewel’s seven-figure viewership number on Peacock in the United States.

Peacock President On Successful WWE Partnership

Peacock President Kelly Campbell says the partnership with WWE has been incredibly successful since launching in March 2021.

Campbell recently spoke with Vulture’s Josef Adalian and was asked how the WWE partnership is working out for Peacock.

“WWE has been an incredibly successful partnership for Peacock since launch,” Campbell said. “We invested in an incredible fan base that provides us the opportunity to bring those fans back time and time again with the massive live events that are part of the WWE franchise. We have WrestleMania, in fact, returning on April 3. This is already one of our biggest live events of the year.

Peacock Subscriber Updates, Stats On WWE Fans Using Peacock

Peacock hit 24.5 million active subscribers in the United States at the end of 2021, according to Comcast.

This is up 22.5% from the 20 million subscribers that were announced in June 2021.

Comcast also announced that Peacock lost $559 million in the last quarter and $1.7 million for the whole year of 2021. Peacock-related reported revenue was $335 million for the quarter, and $778 million for the year.

Peacock holds the rights to the WWE Network in the United States, and has been the main streamer of WWE Premium Live Events and other programming since April 4, 2021. It was announced in January 2021 that NBCUniversal had acquired the exclusive United States distribution rights to the WWE Network, and would be folding those rights into Peacock.

WWE had around 1.6 million total Network subscribers before the Peacock deal began, with around 1.1-1.2 million of those in the United States.

Analyst Matt Belloni reported earlier this month that of the 1.1 million subscribers that WWE Network had when they signed with Peacock, 1 million successfully converted to Peacock subscribers. It was also noted that more than 3 million Peacock subscribers have watched WWE content since it moved over last spring. Furthermore, more than half of those 3 million subscribers indicated that they signed up “because of WWE.”

Peacock signs up 9 million after adding WWE and The Office

Stephanie McMahon Issues Statement On WrestleMania 37

Stephanie McMahon issued the following open letter:

Good morning,

On Saturday night, I stood on stage at Raymond James Stadium, surrounded by WWE Superstars, in front of a 103 ft long pirate ship, and looked out into a sea of fans. My father, WWE Chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon, addressed the crowd and said: “Throughout this past year our WWE Superstars performed tirelessly for all of you. Week after week, month after month but we all knew there was something missing, something very important, THE most important, and that would be all of you, our fans, the WWE Universe. And as we emerge from this dreadful pandemic on behalf of our entire WWE family, we would simply like to say thank you and welcome you to, WRESTLEMANIA!”

The 25K in attendance erupted and the rest of us had tears in our eyes; reinforcing the meaning behind our new company signature that started the show, “Then. Now. Forever. Together.”

WrestleMania streamed exclusively from its new home on Peacock in the U.S., and WWE Network around the world, taking place over two nights and making history.

Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair became the first Black female Superstars to main event WrestleMania. We had live musical performances from Bebe Rexha, Wale, Ash Costello and Ashland Craft, and Grammy award-winning artist Bad Bunny and YouTube influencer Logan Paul found themselves getting in on the action inside the ring. Bad Bunny’s performance receiving praise from ESPN touting it as “…one of, if not the, most impressive showings by a celebrity in the ring.”

WWE also secured a record 14 new and returning blue chip partners for WrestleMania including Snickers as the Presenting Partner for the sixth consecutive year and Presenting Partner of the Main Event, NBCUniversal, Papa John’s, Cricket Wireless, P&G’s Old Spice, DraftKings, 2K, Nissin, and Credit One Bank.

Across YouTube, WWE.com and WWE social media content during WrestleMania Week, video views hit 1.1 billion, 31 million hours of content was consumed, and WWE-related content saw 115 million engagements. WrestleMania was also the world’s most-social program both nights of the weekend, delivering 71 Twitter trends in the U.S. alone.

For the first time we launched a series of NFTs featuring The Undertaker, had record breaking WrestleMania weekend e-commerce sales and record merchandise per capita sales in stadium.

WWE Superstars and executives participated in more than 300 interviews to promote our WrestleMania celebration including appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, TODAY Show, ESPN Get Up, FOX & Friends, E! and Access Hollywood. And because we always want to leave our host city better off than when we arrived, we held more than 10 community activations throughout the week, from our community caravan where we recognized 11 local community leaders; to teaming with FOX Sports and Good Sports to donate sports equipment to Special Olympics Florida; and working with Feeding Tampa Bay, University of FL IFAS program, the Healthy Living Coalition, Nestle Waters and the Tampa Bay Sports Commission to dedicate the first of five sustainable community gardens throughout the Tampa Bay area to combat food insecurity.

It takes the effort of so many different people to make WrestleMania happen, especially during a global pandemic. Thank you to our friends, partners, employees, and of course, our Superstars for making it possible.

I hope to see everyone in person soon,

Steph

Triple H Reflects On WWE NXT’s Wednesday Night Run Head-To-Head With AEW

Paul “Triple H” Levesque spoke with the media ahead of NXT “TakeOver: Stand And Deliver”. The first Tuesday after TakeOver will be the first episode of NXT on Tuesday nights full time on USA Network. Triple H was asked how he would rate NXT’s run on Wednesday nights on USA Network.

“Very successful. For me, we went from a very small platform of the [WWE] Network with a lot of buzz outside of it to jumping to USA from one hour to two hours from pre-tape to live to everything in between,” Triple H said. “Talent call-ups, and talent blooming, and injuries and pandemics, you name it. In the course of that period of time, I’m incredibly proud and happy with what we’ve done with the brand, and the the opportunity is right now.

“What we first did, it was about maintenance of a consistent time slot, day of the week and time so that people could find what they were used to finding, even in that smaller group. Now we’ve established a consistent viewership. The viewership over the the period of time, I think it’s 850,000 a week. Obviously, we just renewed a multi-year deal. The network is very happy. The ability to jump to Peacock and have more visibility for our larger tentpole events, our TakeOver’s, and be able to create more interest in the product in that manner, it’s all for the right reasons.

“The Tuesday lead in from Monday night at a promotion from Monday night to Tuesday is going to be great for us. It’s all good, and to be honest, if you would have asked me a year and a half or whatever it was, ‘Hey, how would you see this going?’ I would see it going about what it is now. The ability to establish a fan base and then decide the best place to put it but establishing that fan base in the consistent time slot was where it was at.

Triple H also addressed if there will be any significant changes to NXT with their move to Tuesday nights. He used the HBO show Game of Thrones to illustrate NXT’s approach in how they produce shows.

“As far as further changes, you make them every week. It’s constantly looking at what you do to try to fans the best possible shows,” Triple H explained. “Not just in that moment because that is — a funny thing, they don’t write Game of Thrones and go, ‘How do you give them the greatest episode possible every single week?’ You have to build to things. You have to build long term. You have to think long term. It’s going to ebb and flow in what the episodes themselves look like. It’s all about long term. It really is, and it’s hard for people to garner, but we’re on the exact path I would like to be on.”

WWE Renews NXT Deal With USA Network, Moves Show to Tuesday Nights

WWE and NBCUniversal have signed a new multi-year deal that will keep NXT on USA Network. In addition, NXT will be moving from Wednesday to Tuesday nights beginning April 13.

Speaking with Variety, WWE executive vice president of global talent strategy and development Paul Levesque said that the decision to initially have the show on Wednesdays was to keep things consistent with its original timeslot on WWE Network. But now that it is firmly established on cable, they feel moving it is less of an issue.

“We now feel like we’re in a good place where we can move that consistent fanbase over to Tuesdays,” Levesque said. “We believe they’ll follow us. That way we can grow the brand more given the lead in from ‘Monday Night Raw,’ which we’ve seen in the past.”

NXT is one of three weekly wrestling shows WWE currently has on the air. Along with NXT, there is “Monday Night Raw” on USA as well and “SmackDown Live” on Fox. NXT will continue to emanate from Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, Florida.

“We are incredibly proud of our three-decade partnership with WWE and in extending USA’s NXT deal, we are further establishing our portfolio as an unrivaled home for quality WWE content,” said Frances Berwick, chairman of entertainment networks for NBCUniversal. “By transitioning NXT to a Tuesday timeslot where WWE has performed well in the past, we are giving our passionate fanbase more of what they love with back-to-back nights of exhilarating, live programming.”

NXT will air its trademark TakeOver pay-per-view on April 7 and 8, with the first night airing on USA Network and the second airing on Peacock, with all WWE Network content recently moving over the NBCU streaming service. The transition to Tuesday nights will take place the following week, with episodes then available to stream on Peacock the next day.

“The ability for us to be on [Peacock], a bigger platform where so many more people have the opportunity to experience it and and to let it grow into something more, is very exciting,” Levesque continued. “And once you sample it, we believe that the product is something that people will stick with and become involved in.”

Per Nielsen totals, NXT averaged 847,000 total viewers per week in 2020. Special Tuesday episodes of NXT saw lifts around 30% in both the adults 18-49 and 25-54 demographics.

source: variety.com

Peacock Purges Racist WWE Segments From Streaming Archive

As WWE Network is set to move exclusively to NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service next month, the media company is removing objectionable material from the wrestling franchise’s archives.

WWE is shutting down WWE Network as a standalone service in the U.S. as of April 4, when customers will need to have a Peacock subscription to access the content. Ahead of the cutover, Peacock has been on-boarding WWE Network’s 17,000-plus-hour library of old programming — but some of WWE’s racist and controversial bits from years past are getting expunged in the transition.

Peacock began adding WWE Network content March 18, and fans have since noticed that some older content is missing.
Among the deleted scenes: A section of WWE’s “Survivor Series event from November 2005, in which chairman/showman Vince McMahon is shown backstage cheerfully greeting John Cena using the n-word within earshot of a confounded Booker T, who says, “Tell me he didn’t just say that.”

Also cut by Peacock is the WrestleMania 6 match from 1990 between the late “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown, in which Piper (a white performer) appeared in half-blackface to take on his Black opponent. NBCU’s edits to the WWE archive programming were first reported by PWInsider.
The content that is no longer available via Peacock has been previously available on the WWE Network platform. Since 2014, WWE Network has included this disclaimer on older material: “The following program is presented in its original form. It may contain some content that does not reflect WWE’s corporate views and may not be suitable for all viewers. WWE characters are fictitious and do not reflect the personal lives of the actors portraying them. Viewer discretion is advised.” The service also has allowed user to block access to selected programs using WWE Network’s parental-control settings.
Reps for NBCU and WWE declined to comment. The content in question is being removed for distribution on Peacock to conform with NBCU’s standards and practices policies, a source familiar with the situation told Variety.

More?

WWE Network – Peacock Deal Reportedly Worth More Than $1 Billion

The new WWE Network – Peacock deal is reportedly worth more than $1 billion.

As noted, WWE announced today that NBCUniversal’s Peacock will become the exclusive new home for the WWE Network in the United States on Thursday, March 18. You can click here for full details on the announcement, including price points.

In an update, the Wall Street Journal reports that a person familiar with the deal says it runs for 5 years, and is valued at more than $1 billion. WWE and NBCU did not officially disclose terms of the multi-year agreement.

It’s also been noted that WWE and NBCU will share details on how existing WWE Network subscribers in the United States will be switched to the Peacock platform in the next few weeks. It remains to be seen if current subscribers will be automatically subscribed to Peacock, or how they will do it.

WWE Network will continue to operate as a stand-alone entity outside of the United States and nothing will change for international users.

WSJ also reported that Alan Gold, a partner at Creative Artists Agency’s advisory and investment Evolution Media, served as an adviser on the new WWE – Peacock deal.

NBCU’s Peacock Pins WWE Network Exclusive U.S. Streaming Rights

NBCUniversal’s Peacock soon will be the only place to watch WWE Network in the U.S.

WWE and NBCU reached a multiyear agreement giving Peacock exclusive streaming rights to WWE Network for American viewers. The over-the-top wrestling entertainment service’s existing U.S. subscribers (about 1.1 million in total) will be migrated over to Peacock Premium, where they’ll continue to get access to WWE Network but will pay 50% less per month while getting full access to the version of the Peacock Premium tier with ads.

Peacock will launch WWE Network on March 18, 2021, when Peacock will begin the rollout of more than 17,000 hours of WWE Network new, original, and library programming (both on-demand and on a new 24-hour channel).

The NBCU streamer will have all WWE live events — for no additional charge — including WrestleMania and SummerSlam, with Fastlane the first event to stream on Peacock on Sunday, March 21. (WWE fans who would prefer to order events via traditional pay-per-view will still have that option.)

WWE Network will be available on Peacock Premium (which includes ads) for $4.99 per month, half the price of WWE Network’s current $9.99/month pricing. The no-commercials Peacock Premium Plus plan, which costs $9.99/month, also will include WWE Network.

The companies plans to share details of how existing WWE Network subscribers in the U.S. will be switched to Peacock (e.g., whether they will be automatically subscribed to Peacock) in the next few weeks. Nothing will change for WWE Network subscribers outside the U.S.

Financial terms of the Peacock-WWE Network pact were not disclosed. According to sources, it’s a five-year deal worth more than $1 billion over that time period.

More?