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WWE Raw debut episode on Netflix

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WWE Raw debut on Netflix
Promotional poster featuring various WWE wrestlers
PromotionWWE
Brand(s)Raw
SmackDown
DateJanuary 6, 2025
CityInglewood, California
VenueIntuit Dome
Raw special episodes chronology
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The Monday Night Raw debut episode on Netflix is an upcoming professional wrestling television special that will mark the debut of WWE's weekly Monday Night Raw program on the streaming service Netflix. The event is set to take place on January 6, 2025, at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, and will feature performers from the Raw brand as well as the SmackDown brand. This episode of Raw will shift from broadcasting on traditional linear cable television to over the top digital streaming, as well as the start of John Cena's farewell tour.

The event will feature an appearance by Houston rapper, Travis Scott, who will be performing the new theme song for Raw.

Production

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The event will take place at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.

Background

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Monday Night Raw is a professional wrestling television program produced by the American promotion WWE. It first aired on January 11, 1993, on the USA Network and since became the longest-running weekly episodic program in television history with no reruns albeit from its brief run on TNN (renamed to Spike TV in 2003 and now known as the Paramount Network) from 2000 to 2005.[1] It is one of WWE's two flagship television programs, alongside Friday Night SmackDown, and is also the namesake program for the company's Raw brand, a subdivision of WWE's main roster where wrestlers are exclusively assigned to perform on a weekly basis, albeit with some exceptions.

On January 23, 2024, TKO Group announced that Netflix would acquire the rights to Raw beginning in January 2025, in what was reported to be a 10-year deal worth $500 million per-year (roughly double the value of WWE's current agreement with NBCUniversal). The agreement will initially cover the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Latin America, with other territories to be added in the future. The agreement also includes international rights to WWE content outside of the United States, including SmackDown and NXT, live events, and other shoulder content.[2][3][4] While USA Network's contract for Raw was to expire in October 2024, WWE reached a short-term extension of its agreement with NBCUniversal to keep Raw on the network through the end of the year. In preparation for the move to Netflix, Raw will be shortened from three to two hours from October 7 through December 30; wrestling reporter Dave Meltzer stated that this was a request made by USA Network.[5][6][7]

It was then reported that Intuit Dome, which opened in August 2024 to host the Los Angeles Clippers in Inglewood, California, is set to host the debut episode on Netflix.[8] WWE confirmed the location on November 18, 2024 with tickets to be on sale to the general public on November 22.[9] That same day, it was announced that Travis Scott will be making an appearance at the Netflix premiere, which he will be composing the new theme song for the program.[10] On July 2024, during the Pat MacAfee podcast, Paul "Triple H" Levesque told the host, that WWE Raw will be uncensored for the first time in 16 years since 2008. WWE will return to be a TV-14 adult oriented product for the first time since the company moved away from adult edgy content and turn it into a TV-PG family friendly product back in July 22, 2008.

Storylines

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The event will include matches that result from scripted storylines. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands,[11][12] while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.[13]

On July 6, 2024, at Money in the Bank, 16-time WWE world champion John Cena officially announced that he would retire from professional wrestling at the end of 2025, having wrestled for WWE since 2002 (though part-time since 2018).[14] It was then announced that Cena will be at the upcoming debut episode of Raw on Netflix.[15]

References

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  1. ^ Truitt, Brian (July 22, 2012). "WWE's 'Monday Night Raw' packs 1,000 episodes under its belt". USA Today. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
  2. ^ Hayes, Dade (2024-01-23). "Netflix Gets In The Ring, Locking Up WWE's 'Monday Night Raw' In 10-Year, $5B-Plus Deal For Longtime TV Staple". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
  3. ^ Sherman, Alex; Pramuk, Jacob (2024-01-23). "Netflix to stream WWE's Raw starting next year in its biggest jump into live entertainment". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
  4. ^ Otterson, Joe (2024-01-23). "Netflix, WWE Strike Deal to Move 'Monday Night Raw' to Streamer Beginning in 2025 for $500 Million per Year". Variety. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
  5. ^ Hayes, Dade (2024-05-08). "WWE 'Monday Night Raw' To Stay On USA Network Through Year-End Before Netflix Shift; Rights Extension With NBCU Valued At $25M". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  6. ^ Thompson, Andrew (2024-09-10). "WWE Raw to be two hours starting October 7th through December 30th on USA Network". POST Wrestling. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  7. ^ "Wrestling Observer Radio: WWE Raw recap & shift to two hours, UFC Sphere debut, Kuniyaki Kobayashi passes away". F4W/WON. 2024-09-10. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
  8. ^ "Possible location for first WWE Raw on Netflix". 27 September 2024.
  9. ^ https://www.si.com/fannation/wrestling/wwe/wwe-releases-netflix-monday-night-raw-premiere-details-date-location-ticket-sale-information
  10. ^ https://thesource.com/2024/11/19/travis-scott-to-appear-on-wwes-monday-night-raw-netflix-debut/
  11. ^ Grabianowski, Ed (January 13, 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  12. ^ "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  13. ^ Steinberg, Brian (May 25, 2016). "WWE's 'Smackdown' Will Move To Live Broadcast On USA (Exclusive)". Variety. Archived from the original on May 26, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  14. ^ "John Cena announces that he will retire in 2025". WWE. July 6, 2024. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  15. ^ "John Cena Reveals if He'll be on WWE Raw Netflix Debut – TJR Wrestling". 18 August 2024.
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