Netflix gets major sports boost with addition of 'WWE Raw'

Netflix continues to increase its sports content as it recently added WWE Raw to its programming. WWE’s flagship show debuted on the streaming service on Jan. 6, earning 5.9 million viewers. That number ranked fourth globally on Netflix.

On3 attended WWE Raw at a packed State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Monday night, and it was a star-studded event that included Atlanta-based celebrities and Netflix stars. Some of the special guests from Netflix were Noah Centineo (The Recruit), Priah Ferguson (Stranger Things), Taylor Polidore Williams (Beauty In Black) and Gail Bean (The Piano Lesson). There were also appearances by Atlanta hip-hop artists 2Chainz, Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, Quavo, Killer Mike, DJ Drama, Young Dro, and Zaytoven among others.

Most of the celebrities were featured during the show, including Quavo who came out with WWE Superstar Jey Uso. Additionally, YouTuber Kai Cenat came out to the ring and spoke with Pat McAfee about his WWE experience.

The WWE Superstars that were featured on this week’s Raw were Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Drew McIntyre, Liv Morgan, Bianca Belair, Naomi, CM Punk and Atlanta native Cody Rhodes who is WWE’s undisputed champion. This was a big episode as it was the last Raw before the Royal Rumble which takes place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday.

Netflix looks to bring a ‘big audience’ with ‘WWE Raw’

WWE Raw on Netflix has a different feel compared to the USA Network in terms of presentation. With the show no longer on cable television, Raw can be more flexible with different things, including time. The Atlanta episode lasted two and a half hours, but the Jan. 6 episode (which took place in Los Angeles) was three and a half hours long.

Over the last year, Netflix has added more live sports programming. Some of the sporting events streamed on Netflix were the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match and two NFL games played on Christmas Day.

“We want to be able to bring value to the sport, like we have to date with WWE certainly, like we have with the NFL too, where we were basically able to bring a big audience, a young audience, a more global audience than linear television, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told Deadline last week (per Yahoo Sports). “But that has to be reflected in the deal as well.”

Only time will tell if Netflix made the right call by bringing WWE to the fold. But there’s no question that it has welcomed WWE Raw with open arms, which could lead to bigger things for Netflix and WWE down the road.