WWE Raw has been amped up to make its move to the unfamiliar yet bigger territory of OTT platform through its move to Netflix, next year. While the move has long been touted, we now have an official date for the shift of the longest-running weekly television show from the USA Network to Netflix.
During last night’s WWE Bash in Berlin premium live event press conference in Berlin, Germany, Cody Rhodes officially announced that the premiere date for WWE Raw on Netflix would be on January 6. While their current deal with NBC Universal runs through this fall, the show will continue to air on the USA Network through the rest of 2024 after a deal was reached between the two parties, earlier this year.
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This move of WWE Raw comes as a result of all three of WWE’s weekly shows will start airing on different networks within a couple of weeks from now. SmackDown will air for the final time on FOX next Friday, as they will return to USA Network starting on September 13. WWE NXT will then leave USA Network for the CW starting on October 1.
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WWE Raw commentary team has already been changed
In light of this shake-up, the existing commentary teams are also being shuffling up. Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett will begin calling WWE Raw this Monday, while Michael Cole and Corey Graves will be on the SmackDown announce team. Pat McAfee left the Red Brand commentary team earlier this month to cover college football on ESPN but he will return for the show’s debut on Netflix.
Speaking of this new era of WWE Raw on a brand new platform, there have long been speculations about the show returning to its non-PG format like the old school days. During an appearance on the IMPAULSIVE podcast hosted by Logan Paul, WWE Superstar Dominik Mysterio discussed what the fans might expect on the flagship show,
“I think people are going to expect us to go in there and first episode of Raw on Netflix, people are going to expect blood and tables everywhere. Titties. Edge and Lita where they had the live sex show. I’m sure people are going to expect that. I feel, in order for stuff like that to be special and meaningful, you can’t have it all the time.” (quotes courtesy Fightful)
