When it comes to TV shows, you always expect that the channel you have been watching it on will stay consistent. This typically is the case unless a network moves it to a sibling channel in order to fulfill a contractual obligation; this commonly occurs when a sports playoff game or an election debate takes precedence.
For WWE this often resulted in Monday Night Raw moving to Syfy when the Olympics was on and Friday Night Smackdown being moved to FS1. With 2025 just around the corner and their TV deals expiring, WWE was seeking to renew their contract or secure new homes for Monday Night Raw, NXT, and Smackdown.
With the merger of the WWE and UFC to create TKO, long-time chairman and president, Vince McMahon, was tasked with overseeing the Network broadcasting deal rights for Raw, Smackdown, and NXT.
In September 2023, WWE and NBC Universal (USA) announced that Smackdown would be moving from Fox to the USA network. In November, it was revealed that NXT would air on the CW starting in 2024.
With Smackdown moving to the USA network, many wondered where Monday Night Raw would move to in 2024/2025; this came as quite a shock since Monday Night Raw had been on USA Network since 2005.
With Smackdown leaving Fox and heading to the USA Network, many wondered where Monday Night Raw would head unless NBC Univeral/ USA hosted both shows. With the probability of that low due to NBC wanting to potentially the broadcasting rights to the NBA, some speculated that RAW might end up on TNT/TBS or Disney.
The move to TNT/TBS would also be a shock since Warner Bros. currently airs WWE’s competitor AEW on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday; though it was still a possibility since AEW’s broadcasting contract had yet to be renewed.
Disney seemed like the last possible option with WWE already airing WWE content on Disney’s Hulu; however, in the Fall of 2023, a supposed representative of Disney stated that they did not have an interest in the broadcasting rights.
Moving to Netflix
Today, TKO and Netflix announced that Monday Night Raw would start airing on Netflix beginning in January 2025.
This will continue WWE Raw’s longest-running episodic TV show streak but will get rid of the TV aspect. In addition to WWE’s Monday Night Raw moving to Netflix, it was announced that former WWE Superstar/Legend The Rock has joined TKO’s Board of Directors.
