• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, January 25, 2024

By partnering with the WWE, Netflix is making a sure bet on a form of televised entertainment that dates back to 1942 and has been with us ever since.

Judging from the tone of the press release that Netflix issued on Tuesday announcing the deal, pursuing a wrestling deal was not a particularly difficult decision.

Over the decades, the apparent popularity of professional wrestling on TV has never really waned. Based on that consistency, the press release gives the impression that Netflix believes wrestling comes with little or no risk for the money it is paying, and the company is probably right. 

Wrestling is “can’t miss” in terms of its position as a television fixture for some eight decades, and it is “predictable” in terms of business planning, says a prepared statement in the press release from Mark Shapiro, president and COO of WWE parent TKO Holdings Group.

“This deal is transformative,” Shapiro said. “It marries the can’t-miss WWE product with Netflix’s extraordinary global reach and locks in significant and predictable economics for many years.” 

Indeed, Netflix’s reach is likely unmatchable anywhere else in television -- an estimated 260.28 million global subscribers at the end of 2023.

Under the deal, “WWE Raw” -- for years a staple on NBCU’s USA Network and one of the WWE’s flagship properties -- will move to Netflix for 10 years starting next year.

“WWE Raw” airs live every Monday night on USA, which has had it since 2005. The deal announced this week gives Netflix exclusivity to the show in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Latin America, with territories to be added later, Netflix said.

The deal gives Netflix exclusive international rights (but not in the U.S.) to other WWE properties too -- “Smackdown” and “WWE NXT,” and live events such as “WrestleMania,” “SummerSlam” and “Royal Rumble,” the company said.

The press release did not provide the price of the deal, but published reports say it is valued at $5 billion.

The live, once-a-week “Smackdown” -- also known as “Friday Night Smackdown” -- is also considered a flagship WWE content brand. Fox has aired it on Friday nights since 2019, but it goes back to USA Network next October in a five-year rights deal announced last September.

The NBCU rights are exclusive to the U.S., which is why Netflix was able to secure the international rights for it.

As commented everywhere this week, the deal gives Netflix a portfolio of live events requiring audiences to watch them on schedule. 

And so, a long-running, key attraction of legacy cable (another way of referring to basic cable) is moving out and going to streaming.

Why? Because Netflix has all the money, and can outbid anyone for just about anything, with the possible exception of Amazon.

Photo courtesy of HBO from the 2018 documentary, “Andre The Giant.”