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Has The Light Faded On WWE’s Women’s Revolution?

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Hell In A Cell. Iron Woman match. Main eventing RAW. Money In The Bank. Royal Rumble. The poorly thought through Fabulous Moolah Battle Royale… WWE have certainly gone all out in the last two years to follow through on their promise of a Women’s Revolution and have offered up a veritable smorgasbord of ‘first evers’. By finally focusing on the talent possessed by these women rather than their bodies, WWE have struck gold and helped the women to become more relevant than ever before, sometimes even more so than the male superstars. But then something happened, something all too common within WWE… they took a good thing and ran it into the ground. The women’s divisions on both RAW and SDLive have become largely unwatchable, over populated, cringeworthy, clusterfuck botch fests… but how? What happened? I’m going to dissect the situation and take a look at what WWE can do to avoid turning this revolution… into a deevolution.

Charlotte Flair

What can be said Charlotte Flair that hasn’t already been said? She is arguably the greatest female superstar of all time, one of the most naturally gifted, athletic and charismatic women the company has ever seen. But one thing she is NOT… is a face. Let’s get one thing straight, Charlotte is not very good on the mic. She wasn’t as a heel and she certainly isn’t as a face, but at least as a heel it could be disguised with shouting, abuse and general sliminess. Her time on SDLive has been largely uncomfortable to watch, but this has also been contributed to by her colleagues. When Natalya is the closest thing you have to a heel you know you’re in big trouble. The introduction of The Riott Squad was a welcome one, but yet another shining example of WWE trying to flog a dead horse.

Speaking of the SDLive roster, it’s overcrowded with women who aren’t even close to Charlotte’s level. Carmella, Lana, Tamina, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan are all absolute messes and in no way legitimate threats to the queen’s throne. Ruby Riot offered a nice change of pace, but I always felt she was brought in just to be the polar opposite of Charlotte – rough, tattooed and alternative – rather than for her talent. Becky Lynch is still one of the best women the company has on its books, but they continue to misuse her… the best course of action here would be turning Charlotte heel again, having her claim no one is worthy of dethroning her, and having Becky step up to challenge her. The two have had fantastic matches before, including on ‘The Grandest Stage of Them All’, and would no doubt tear the house down again.

The biggest problem WWE faced by moving Charlotte to SDLive was trying to find her another Sasha Banks. Love her or hate her, Sasha always managed to bring out the absolute best in Charlotte, and their outstanding rivalry was rewarded with multiple history making moments. Hell In A Cell, main eventing RAW, Iron Woman match… can you imagine Charlotte v Carmella in any of those? Absolutely not. WWE need to look toward NXT to get them out of the shit once again… the prospect of Charlotte v Ember Moon or Kairi Sane are both tantalising.

Now I know what you’re thinking. What about Asuka? Surely WWE have sidestepped all of this mess by having The Empress of Tomorrow choose Charlotte as her WrestleMania opponent? Well sure, it’s the first time she has had genuine, serious competition for a long time which Is obviously a welcome change, but you’re now left with a roster full of women desperate to stake their claim not being given an opportunity.

Having a woman treat a man like a pathetic, worthless, lacky, spineless, ugly bitch in new demeaning ways every week… EQUALITY!

Carmella & James Ellsworth

The first ever women’s Money In The Bank match was an absolutely huge moment for the women of WWE and one they very much deserved after years of proving themselves worthy. The match had great build up, a great storyline and genuinely felt very important. So what did WWE do? They decided to take this iconic moment, iconic match, career defining moment… and have a man win the match on a woman’s behalf. Nice one WWE! James Ellsworth had already outstayed his welcome at this point after being quite a funny sideshow attraction for a long time, but this was one of the most mind-boggling decisions WWE have ever made. Sure, the company did eventually backtrack on the decision and reschedule the match for an episode of SDLive, but by this point the damage was done and it was too late to get the fan’s back on side. The victory felt cheap the second time round.

Then we have Carmella herself. Not the most obvious winner at the time, but one which made a lot of sense going forward. She had improved in the ring and on the mic, had a manager we all loved to hate, has the look that WWE love their women to have and is still young enough to grow in the business. The issue is that since winning the contract she has done absolutely nothing in WWE. No memorable matches, no memorable feuds, hastily thrown together last-minute matches and repeated failed cash in attempts. I imagine she will attempt to cash in on the winner of Charlotte v Asuka and fall flat on her face. She is in no way ready to be a champion and in hindsight was probably not the best choice in the first place.

Alexa Bliss and RAW

It may seem like I’m blaming SDLive entirely for the issues in the women’s division, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. RAW has become increasingly stale over the years and guilty of stagnating, with little storyline development and lots of underutilization of talent. Exhibit A… Emma. One of the most talented female superstars of the modern era with a stunning look to boot, she had every tool in the box to become a huge star in WWE yet was repeatedly buried, with her most memorable run coming at the expense of putting Asuka over on the main roster. Millions of fans got behind Emma through the #GiveEmmaAChance Twitter movement, but once again WWE failed to recognise that giving the fans what they actually want would result in more $$$. Exhibit B – Nia Jax. Sure, she is finally being used correctly now, but at the start it was painfully obvious she was brought up too early purely because of her size. There were much better options on the roster and also in NXT at the time, but Jax was brought up and spent months squashing jobbers left, right and centre. With a little more refining, Jax could’ve stepped straight onto the main roster and been a dominant force. But she was treated, lets face it, as a fat girl. It sounds harsh but its painfully true.

WWE also really screwed up by having Alexa Bliss defend the RAW Women’s Championship so rarely. I get that she’s a dirty slimy, heel who runs away at the first sign of danger, and I get that it made sense in terms of storyline, but in a day and age where so many millions of fans berate the company for not using Brock Lesnar and the Universal Championship often enough you would think they would try and keep their top belts relevant by actually featuring them. The one thing missing from Bliss’s arsenal is in ring talent. Don’t get me wrong, she isn’t the worst in terms of talent, but she’s also far from the best, and you want your top titles to be represented by the absolute best. There is no better woman on the mic than Bliss, but talk is cheap and it will only get you so far. The belt became completely irrelevant towards the latter part of 2017.

Ronda Rousey

The worst kept secret in WWE history… Ronda Rousey was signing with the company. This decision instantly got the fan’s riled up… we are sick to death of seeing part timers and celebrities treated better than the actual talent and it seemed history was repeating itself. We all assumed Rousey would be handed a title opportunity on her arrival, an assumption seemingly backed up by her incredibly well acted and not awkward at all sign pointing party, to kick the rest of the roster in the teeth once again. WWE have made the right decision in having Rousey join up with Kurt Angle to take on the team of HHH and Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania next month, but this could be another case of the damage being done. WWE have their work cut out for them getting Rousey ready in ring, especially considering she has supposedly signed a full-time contract, and even more work cut out for them to get her ready on the mic. It doesn’t take much for the fans to shit all over something or someone, and this could turn out to be a very expensive mistake… one which alienates the vast majority of the female roster and the little girls watching around the world.

‘You need to act like a champ’ ‘Why? You never did when DX won the Womens Championship for you…’ WE MISS YOU AJ

Stephanie McMahon

Did you know Stephanie McMahon created women’s wrestling? She actually created women altogether. She’s often cited with being the mastermind behind electricity, oxygen and penicillin. Obviously, I am joking, but the way Steph goes on sometimes you would be forgiven for assuming she is our lord and saviour. WWE love nothing more than shoving an authority figure down our throats when they should be looking at the bigger picture, evident in how much we saw and heard Steph talking about the first ever women’s Royal Rumble. Let the women themselves talk about it, let it feel important rather than yet another marketing tool. Steph is in every way just as bad as her brother Shane when it comes to hogging the limelight. A pair of power hungry, egomaniacs determined to remind us that their daddy gave us everything that we see before us. It’s a stark contrast between Steph and her husband HHH who did things the right way. He has successfully earnt the respect of the locker room and the fans by giving most of his life to the company, so his place a top of the mountain as WWE COO is one which the fans can accept. When he hands someone a title in NXT, its fine. When he introduced himself into the Survivor Series team, it was fine. He is there when he is needed. When the story can benefit from his experience. He isn’t there to put himself over.

In terms of the Royal Rumble itself, the match went off without a hitch. The women who paved the way in WWE came back to remind us why they are so deserving of their Hall of Fame spots and the women of today showed us they are more than ready to take over and deliver. But then you had Steph sat on commentary talking almost as much bullshit as Booker T used to do. And she even received her own entrance as if she was a part of it. Then to really take the piss we had her mate Maria Menounas as the guest ring announcer despite women like Lilian Garcia and JoJo dedicating years of their lives to travelling the world with WWE. The Twitter outcry was almost deafening… WWE had once again taken something so monumental and made it feel cheap, prioritising their bank balance and lining their chums pockets.

Don’t mind me girls i’m just here to steal your thunder. I’m a McMahon. It’s what we do…

SDLive Overcrowding

Talk about having too much of a good thing eh? WWE have clearly given up on writing intelligent, entertaining, meaningful storylines because its easier to give us a series of meaningless 3 v 3, 6 women tag matches. Why call up Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan in the first place if they’re just going to play second and third fiddle to Ruby Riot? Riot could’ve just as easily been called up by herself and had more time invested in her. The exact same can be said over on RAW with Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose, but at least they’ve become part of the growing animosity between Bayley and Sasha Banks in the wake of Paige’s unfortunate injury.

See that’s the thing with RAW. They may have too many superstars on the roster but at least the vast majority of them get time to shine and get used properly. They’re managing to use every single woman at their disposal and spreading them over the course of two storylines, even finding a way for a veteran like Mickie James to stay relevant. There is a stark contrast over on SDLive, where we’ve seen Natalya, Becky Lynch and Naomi go from being on top of the division, to being thrown into non sensical tag matches on PPV’s just one month before WrestleMania. HHH does so much right in WWE, but for every great thing he does, he cancels it out by doing something like giving his delusional, one dimensional, living in the past, taken-one-too-many-blows-to-the-head mate Road Dogg a job in creative. If you aren’t going to give the girls a chance, let them go elsewhere. We don’t want another Emma on our hands.

Nothing says ’empowering women’ quite like idolising a well documented pimp!

The Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal

Where the fuck do I start with this one? We live in a day and age where you could Google ‘When did Hulk Hogan last go the toilet?’ and find an accurate answer. My point is that literally everything EVER is on the internet. So how did WWE think they would ever get away with naming a tournament after a well-documented sex trafficker? She actually did very little for women’s wrestling and is mostly known for her friendship with Mae Young, who happens to be a genuine pioneer and icon to women all over the world. The company’s moral compass doesn’t know which way is up at the minute. They completely blacklisted one of the most important women in their history, Chyna, for venturing into porn yet haven’t cut ties with Sunny for her addiction problems, badmouthing of the company or her very own foray into the world of sex entertainment. The same thing can be said for Paige’s leaked sex tapes with Brad Maddox and Xavier Woods. Sure, that wasn’t intentionally put out on to the internet by Paige, but it still caused a huge amount of embarrassment for WWE and a lot of people were surprised to see Paige return at all afterwards.

Chyna paved the way for women in WWE and in sports as a whole all over the world, and she would’ve been so much more deserving of this honour than Moolah. It could’ve been a great way for WWE to get the fans back on side, and a great way to lead on to Chyna finally being inducted into the Hall Of Fame. Instead, WWE have found themselves with egg on their face and have changed the name of the tournament amidst a huge fan backlash. It really does defy all belief that someone in WWE keeps giving the green light on all of these bizarre and downright stupid decisions.

Final Thoughts. WWE can still do a lot of good both pre and post WrestleMania. They’ve made the right decision in having Nia Jax and Asuka going after the RAW and SDLive belts respectively. Two really good storylines, one potential showstopper and the rest of the women get to be a part of history once again in the battle royal. Post Mania it would be a great time to start trimming off the fat and let go of the deadweight, making room for the likes of Moon, Cross and The Iconic Duo, all from NXT. This is hands down the best pool of female talent that WWE have ever had at their disposal. Long may the evolution, and revolution, continue.


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Opinion

Greg DeMarco’s 2024 WWE Royal Rumble Reaction

It’s the Royal Rumble! A favorite of many fans, the Rumble kicks off the Road To WrestleMania. Greg DeMarco is here with his live reactions to the event!

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WWE Royal Rumble 2024 Results

It’s the Royal Rumble! A favorite of many fans, the Rumble kicks off the Road To WrestleMania. Greg DeMarco is here with his live reactions to the event!

The WWE Royal Rumble is upon us, and while the Men’s Royal Rumble Match isn’t for the World Heavyweight Championship like I suggested, it’s still the most anticipated event of the year.

Why? The Unknown.

That’s right–in this age of the internet (usually incorrectly) telling us everything it possibly can about what is going to happen in the world of wrestling, the Royal Rumble stands out because despite what we’re told (or, more importantly, what we choose to listen to), the event is always full of fun and surprises.


Check out Steven Mitchell’s 2024 WWE Royal Rumble Results & Review!


Women’s Royal Rumble Match

  • They really are driving home the “main event WrestleMania” point this year–strengthens my thought that women will main event Night 1. Triple H would catch a ton of heat if he keeps women out for the third straight year.
  • NAOMI! Good to see her back, and the emotional response she had.
  • Love Michael Cole calling out Naomi’s time in TNA, and recognizing her as a former Knockouts Champion.
  • Entering #3 doesn’t bode well for Bayley. I honestly don’t think she is gonna win.
  • JORDYNNE GRACE! I saw the reports earlier today. This is a much bigger deal than Mickie James, because Mickie was a returning legend.
  • “TNA HAS A WEAPON!” So glad to have Pat McAfee on the call.
  • Honestly, Jordynne Grace belongs in WWE.

  • Asuka comes in, and they sell the surprise of Bayley. STORYTELLING, people!
  • Something tells me when we get Kairi Sane in there, The Kabuki Warriors will eliminate Bayley.
  • Ivy Nile enters, and I immediately want to see her go toe-to-toe with Jordynne Grace.
  • What if they pulled some crazy sh*t and had Jordynne Grace win???
  • Just step through the ropes next time, Bianca.
  • When I first saw the C4 clock, I thought I would get tired of it But I am already used to it.
  • Here’s Kairi Sane, time to set the plan into motion!
  • This crowd does not appear to like Tegan Nox.
  • Welp, there goes my idea o Asuka and Kairi eliminating Bayley.
  • That was a hell of a way for Jordynne Grace to go out.

  • I think Michael Cole secretly loves to call a Meteora.
  • There’s a reason Maxxine Dupri doesn’t wrestle much.
  • That tandem Code Red was very Young Buckish. And that’s not a compliment.
  • Hair,…gear…this might be the messiest Royal Rumble yet.
  • Ah, here comes the winner, Becky Lynch (I am calling Becky eliminates Bayley to win her second Royal Rumble).
  • LOVE the scoreboard of time in the Rumble for selected wrestlers.

  • R-TRUTH?!?! (Funny story, it was Truth’s spot that Nia Jax took in 2019.)
  • If you push Mia Yim, she’ll take it further than you could imagine.
  • “How is everybody the most athletic person on Earth?” – Pat McAfee
  • Surprising that Roxanne Perez, at #27, is the first NXT entrant. I don’t think we’ll be seeing Tiffany Stratton of Blair Davenport since we only have 3 more to come.
  • Amazing reaction for Jade Cargill. Give her time, she’s definitely going to be a huge star.
  • JUST GIVE HER TIME.
  • Seriously, Nia Jax had to help Jade eliminate her–A LOT.

  • Greg Was Wrong: It is indeed Tiffy Time in the Royal Rumble.
  • Back to Jade–she is insanely over.
  • I know it won’t be, but this should be Tiffany Stratton’s official main roster call-up.
  • Liv Morgan returns at #30, and good for Liv. She nearly went wire-to-wire last year.
  • Liv Morgan: “Thank you!” Pat McAfee: “No problem.”
  • Tiffany Stratton eliminating Roxanne Perez is, to me, an invitation for a match with them on Raw this Monday.
  • Still love the scoreboard as Naomi passes an hour.
  • The camera is catching a lot of in-ring communications right now.
  • And Jade Cargill eliminates my pick to win. Bye Becky.
  • Jade Cargill in the final three of the Royal Rumble (with Liv Morgan and Bayley) is huge for her.
  • Hell of a debut for Jade Cargill.
  • And a huge win for Bayley.

Winner of the 2024 Women’s Royal Rumble Match: Bayley (eliminating Liv Morgan to win)

Fatal 4-Way Match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Randy Orton vs AJ Styles vs. LA Knight vs. Roman Reigns (champion, with Paul Heyman)

  • Glad to see AJ Styles got his tights back. Pants AJ Styles (but still with the football gloves) was not working. Not just bring the beard back to your face Allen–the think beard also ain’t working.

  • Pat McAfee campaigning for Roman Reigns to be given at least a 26% chance is amazing.
  • Say what you want about LA Knight, he’s a damn star and totally belongs in this match.
  • Roman completely sandbagged Randy on the table drop. I don’t think it was on purpose, but he definitely didn’t jump.
  • Roman Reigns is very much like Gunther in that he does the simple things SO WELL, like a jumping clothesline. That’s how you do it.
  • Yes, I compared Roman Reigns to Gunther. Don’t @ me, I’m right.

  • RKO City, Bitch.
  • Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand here’s Solo! (At some point, Solo will get tired of saving Roman’s ass.)
  • Solo ’bout to go through that barricade.
  • Solo indeed went through that barricade.

  • Yes, we had the Solo interference mid-match, but honestly in the end Roman won that clean.

Winner, #ANDSTILL your Undisputed WWE Universal Champion: Roman Reigns

WWE United States Championship: Kevin Owens vs. Logan Paul (champion)

  • Kevin Owens wearing Zubaz shorts in the Performance Center fight makes me very happy.
  • Logan Paul talking about a full time run, and now he’s putting on size.
  • Logan’s headband didn’t list very long.
  • I honestly hate it when modern-day wrestlers bust out a crotch chop.
  • If you were watching the Royal Rumble and didn’t know who Logan Paul was, you’d just assume he was a pro wrestler. That says everything you need to know about how good he is at this.
  • ANOTHER crotch chop. Now we’re at 2 too many.

  • Cue the “Better Buckshot Than Hangman” tweets. But they might be right.
  • I love the idea of a Logan Paul, Austin Theory, and Grayson Waller stable.
  • C’mon, there’s NO WAY Ryan Tran could see the knucks on Kevin Owens’ hand given his placement. It’s the little things.
  • Finish here tells me we’ll see KO vs. Logan Paul again. I’d guess on TV, if not in Australia.

Winner by disqualification, #ANDSTILL WWE United States Champion: Logan Paul

Men’s Royal Rumble Match

  • Jey Uso coming at #1 was expected thanks to the internet reports. But I still think Jimmy should be #1 and Jey #2, for the reaction shots on Jimmy.
  • Grayson Waller talking himself to the ring is perfect.
  • “No Yeet!” Grayson is a brilliant performer. I’d make a Roddy Piper comparison here, but y’all would get at mad at me.
  • Good to have Andrade back in WWE. Great reaction for him when the mask came off.

  • SmackDown superstar Carmelo Hayes! I really really really hope Trick is also in this match, just for the chants.
  • Melo pointed to the sign, C’mon, man.
  • Do you send Andrade to Smackdown, or do you send him to Raw and let him do his own thing?
  • Oh goody, Karrion Kross is here. Yay.
  • (Yes, that’s sarcasm you read.)
  • Dominik Mysterio is so good. Give him time, he’s going to be a huge star.

  • The Royal Rumble was a great place for the Apple Spot.
  • Here comes Bob Lashley–please just eliminate Karrion Kross.
  • Lashley wearing the WrestleMania white gear more than 2 months early.
  • Austin Theory still gets his concussion effect entrance, despite it being the Rumble.
  • What if–hear me out now–Finn Balor wins the Royal Rumble to get the shot at Seth Rollins, and Priest uses his briefcase to make that match a triple threat at ‘Mania?
  • I know he didn’t, but it sure looked like Jimmy was swerving while he drives in that interaction with Gunther.
  • Kofi did tell us the Rumble Magic wasn’t happening anymore.
  • Give me Ivar vs Gunther!
  • Bron Breakker is a star. It’s inevitable.
  • Of course Omos would be in the Rumble. Good to see MVP on my TV as well.
  • “I didn’t know humans came that big!” – Pat McAfee
  • I half think Pat McAfee didn’t know he was entering the Rumble.
  • Nice moment for Bron Breakker eliminating Omos. WrestleMania match?
  • R-Truth trying to get Dominik (Tom or Nick?) Mysterio to tag him in is brilliant.
  • DOM MADE THE TAG!!!
  • “And now R-Truth is the legal man.” – thank you Michael Cole.
  • Michael Cole delivers multiple TNA references tonight, along with a Dolph Ziggler reference. God Bless Michael Cole.
  • Imagine for a second that this was CM Punk’s actual WWE return.
  • The reaction to Drew McIntyre’s entrance is a reminder that they don’t actually need him.
  • Sami Zayn enters at #30, also known as “Not The Rock.”

  • In the ring, Drew McIntyre is amazing. Just keep the microphone away from him. (And stop the damn counting!)
  • And there goes my choice for the Men’s Rumble!
  • Love having both Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in the press boxes watching to see who wins.
  • Punk kinda looks like Chris Jericho in there. Seriously.
  • Between Punk and Cody, Cody is the right choice. I really don’t want to watch Punk right now–he needs to hit the cardio, and hard. Given Seth Rollins’ injury and Punk’s conditioning, WWE would be smart to make the World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 40 a multi-man match.

Winner of the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble: Cody Rhodes


Overall thoughts on the 2024 WWE Royal Rumble

For at least the second straight year, the Men’s Royal Rumble Match was kinda disappointing. Not the result–that’s fine. But the match itself. It just wasn’t nearly as exciting as the Women’s. Of the four matches, I would place it 4th in terms of enjoyment.

Great moments for both Bayley and Cody Rhodes. Logan Paul continually shows that he deserves to be considered a pro wrestler, not a celebrity who is wrestling. Pat McAfee is a joy on commentary. Jordynne Grace is a WWE Superstar, regardless of what company she is signed to. Bron Breakker is a star.CM Punk is very out of shape. Cody Rhodes is about to become THE guy, and he deserves it.

Overall I give the event a thumbs up, but they have to do something about the Men’s Royal Rumble Match moving forward.


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WWE Raw Heads To Netflix: What Does It Mean?

Monumental news drops as WWE RAW is moving to Netflix. Is it truly a game changing move? Greg DeMarco analyzes this shift for the TV wrestling business.

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WWE Logo Metalic

Monumental news drops as WWE RAW is moving to Netflix. Is it truly a game changing move? Greg DeMarco analyzes this shift for the TV wrestling business.

Being a wee little kid in the 80s, I am “lucky enough” to remember having 3 TV channels, and my dad explaining what an 8-track is, how shocked I was when I say a laser disc for the first time, when I bought a 6 CD changer, installed my own car stereo, and all the way up to the fact that I have now been watching WWE pay-per-view/premium live events on the WWE Network and Peacock for 10 years. Hell, in the same month (February 2014) I signed up for the WWE Network, cut the cord to drop cable and got Sling TV. I have since moved onto YouTube TV which is highly recommended.

Over the last two years the NFL has put Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime, simulcast to various streaming services, and less than 2 weeks ago put a playoff game exclusively on streaming when a Wildcard Weekend showdown between the Chiefs and Dolphins was only shown on Peacock.

And now it’s fully permeated into pro wrestling.

WWE and AEW are both in the midst of a very important time on the business side, with all of their TV rights up for grabs. The first domino fell when SmackDown On FOX became SmackDown on USA Network, and soon after we learned that WWE NXT was moving to broadcast television and joining The CW (which is also rebranding, but just to CW).

The AEW suite of programming that includes Collision, Rampage, and their most successful show Dynamite is up for renewal with Warner Bros/Discovery, and Tony Khan has been optimistic about the relationship and potentially an increase in rights fees.

That brings us to Tuesday morning, and the likely groundbreaking WWE announcement that Raw is moving to Netflix, starting in January 2025. Triple H tweeted that they’re changing the game, and TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro (who knows a thing or two about shifts in media consumption) used the word “transformative” in his statement, and I really think he couldn’t be more right.

But what does it all mean?

Wrestling Remains A Strong Media Product

I have been claiming this for over a year now. As many online will cite a decline in TV viewership for both WWE and AEW, the TV product has been a strong value to networks. Even in dropping SmackDown, FOX themselves said they didn’t pump enough resources into the show, and that the advertising return wasn’t what they wanted. That doesn’t mean the product (TV value, we’re not talking about creative here) isn’t strong. It’s so strong that USA Network picked up SmackDown for $280 million per year, giving WWE an increase over the FOX deal. CW is paying $20-$25 million annually for NXT, and now Netflix is paying $500 million for RAW.

Why? Because wrestling isn’t just a strong media product, it’s consistent. And that is key.

Look at this quote from Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria:

“Raw is the best of sports entertainment, blending great characters and storytelling with live action 52 weeks a year and we’re thrilled to be in this long-term partnership with WWE.”

Now cross reference that with a comment from CW President Dennis Miller from back when the CW/NXT deal was announced:

“We are thrilled to welcome the WWE brand into the CW Sports portfolio as they play an integral role in our mission to bring live sporting events to the network year-round.”

What do those statements have in common? The year-round, 52-week nature of wrestling programming. It’s an unbeatable value for networks. It’s cheaper than a deal with a major sports league, and it’s not finite. Wrestling joins news, talk, and sports talk as the only year-round programming available to networks. And WWE and AEW have shows that essentially always land in the Top 5 after you factor out live sports. You can’t beat it.

What Does This Mean for Netflix?

Don’t get it twisted, this is also a huge leap for Netflix. Prior to the WWE Raw deal, Netflix has only experimented with live events, streaming the live Chris Rock “Selective Outrage” special, and showing The Netflix Cup live (a golf event featuring athletes from their F1 series “Drive To Survive” and their golf series “Full Swing).

WWE is the perfect partner for Netflix as it gets into live programming. It’s sports entertainment: sports like programming (which Netflix has done) that focuses on storytelling (which Netflix has obviously done). And no one does it better than WWE. It’s essentially plug-and-play for Netflix, the perfect solution for their live programming aspirations.

The perfect solution that they were willing to pay $5 billion for.

What Does This Mean for AEW?

The biggest risk to an AEW renewal with Warner Bros Discovery was WBD picking up WWE Raw–and that risk has been eliminated by Netflix. Don’t discount that fact–Netflix did Tony Khan a huge favor by throwing $500 million per at WWE. The path is clear for AEW to remain on the Turner networks.

But at what price?

I know I usually write as if I have all the answers, but I have zero idea either way on this one. WBD no longer has any other options if it wants to keep wrestling (except for TNA, who recently expressed a desire to be on a bigger network), and AEW (at least, Dynamite) is a weekly Top 5 program for them on Wednesdays, on cable.

On the other hand, AEW doesn’t exactly have another network begging for their services. The reason WWE could get a yearly increase for Raw, SmackDown, and NXT is because it was truly a bidding war. Unless Tony Khan gets another network involved, any threat of walking away from a deal doesn’t really hold water.

So if I were a betting man (and who would ever bet on this) I would expect an announcement of a renewal for AEW and WBD relatively soon. We may not know the terms of the deal, I will take a shot in the dark and say that AEW gets a small increase (not the “nearly double” that had been reported last year).

Regardless of the increase (or not), given AEW’s recent attendance challenges, this likely renewal would have to be viewed as a win for the company.


Personally, this is simply an amazing time to be a fan. We’ve seen WWE go from one live TV show per week with Monday Night Raw, through the Monday Night Wars, the addition of SmackDown and later NXT, to being this global juggernaut that is commanding half-a-billion dollars per year for Raw. I also think this makes Raw the flagship once again. All of this comes after Vince McMahon is largely out of power, Triple H has taken over creative (and holds a pretty good success rate so far), and the company was sold to Endeavor, and merged with the UFC as a business entity under the TKO banner.

If you know me, you know I am a huge follower of the business side of the wrestling business. I often care less about WHAT wrestling companies do, but HOW they do it. I have always gravitated towards that, since middle school. And for the past near 24 months, I have been like a kid in a candy store.

The Peacock deal for the WWE Network runs out in 2026, right? The fun never stops!


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