It has been just over a year since WWE made the move to streaming giant Netflix. WWE was always the crown jewel of wrestling, but there is now no doubt that its popularity has skyrocketed since the switch. There has been a huge boost in viewership, but the profile of the biggest brand in wrestling has also been helped by its association with one of the media world’s success stories of the last decade.
At a time when viewers have more choice than ever before as to where they find their sports and entertainment, joining up with Netflix was a bold, but necessary, move for WWE. Now there are even more opportunities for fans to watch their WWE heroes, while also enjoying other boom industries, like being able to place a Bovada bet on the biggest events.
In this article, we will take a look at how the move to Netflix has helped WWE in its quest to dominate wrestling, as well as what we can expect from the year ahead from the relationship between WWE and Netflix.
Raw and Smackdown
The flagship shows of WWE are obviously the weekly Raw and the Smackdown shows. They would probably have taken their loyal fans to whichever TV channel or streaming company showed them, but the move to Netflix has added an entirely new audience to the wrestling community.
Every TV producer spends most of their time trying to figure out how to remain relevant in the streaming age. When the younger generations are more than happy to pull away from traditional media and get their sports and entertainment from the likes of YouTube and TikTok, creating an audience can be difficult. But Netflix cuts across the age demographics, and now Raw and Smackdown are being enjoyed by young and old.
Greater Potential for Shows
This boost in audience numbers and profile has allowed WWE to expand its output. There is still a concentration on the weekly Raw and Smackdown productions, as well as the buildup to the annual WrestleMania, but the full economic power of Netflix has meant that we are now getting to see even more.
Netflix has a long and successful history of spin-off shows and docuseries, and that has been used to great effect by WWE. There are now far more behind-the-scenes and magazine-style shows covering wrestling in different ways. This is growing the WWE media universe, as well as increasing ratings and spreading the word.
Netflix Crossover
One way that WWE has really benefited from the move to Netflix is that many of the top stars have their own contracts with the streaming giant. This means that the audience tends to see the same faces crop up in a range of TV shows, movies, and other content. WWE events now fall into the mix as well.
The most obvious example of how celebrities get involved with WWE is seeing them ringside for the big events. Stars such as Macaulay Culkin and Tiffany Haddish attended events in 2025, and there doesn’t seem to be a show that goes by without celebrity endorsement. This can only bring even more fans to WWE and increase the viewership of wrestling in general.
Global Reach
WWE is still the biggest wrestling organization in its home, the US. But Netflix is a global streaming company, and it has been able to take wrestling to places it has never been before. WWE has long been big in Europe, of course, but its presence on Netflix has helped its grow its fanbase there – and across the world.
WWE Raw has made the Top 10 in Netflix in 34 countries and has consistently made the Global English Top 10 TV over the last 12 months. Bolivia, the UK, and Canada just cannot get enough of WWE, with nations as diverse as Saudi Arabia and Mexico also boasting huge viewership numbers for the full range of WWE content.
Personalized Viewing
Streaming has revolutionized the way that we watch “TV” now, and many of the innovations and technological advances have been influenced by the similar uptake in social media use. Younger generations, in particular, are used to receiving their content in a certain way, as well as expecting a level of personalization from the media.
Netflix recognized the value of personalization very early on – and it could be argued that this is one of the main reasons why it has been so popular and successful. WWE moving to Netflix allowed the wrestling organization to become much more than just a weekly show. Viewers and fans now have far more options for how they consume their WWE content.
Figure 2 Wrestling was already huge around the world but Netflix expands WWE’s global reach – Source: Pixabay
Looking to the Past in 2026
It is obvious that the move to Netflix has been a game changer for WWE, wrestling, and sports entertainment in general. WWE has been a great test for Netflix’s desire to move into live sports, but one of the most exciting plans for the year ahead is giving fans access to the archives of WWE.
The entire back catalogue of premium pay-per-view events are now available on WWE, alongside all the new content and shows that have proved so popular already. Fans love nothing more than watching classic events, and now older fans can introduce the younger generation to some of the big names of the past.
There seems to be no end to the potential of WWE’s move to Netflix, and 2026 looks set to be even more popular, as the streaming giant fully embraces this blossoming relationship.
Image Source: Pexels
