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World Wrestling Entertainment made history on Monday night, becoming the first pro wrestling company, and sports-themed company to make the full switch to streaming across the world’s largest platform, Netflix.
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From top to bottom, the show was easily one of, if not the single greatest episode in the show’s 33-year history, with four main-event type matches, celebrity appearances, surprises and more.
“But what of the story of wrestling itself, what if the canvas could speak of an ageless carnival with primeval roots but came of age with that most American of institutions: television. As television changed, so did wrestling, and together, they changed America. Truth is, a great swath of American culture is born of that eternal battle between the face and the heel. From ecstasy to humiliation, fame to obscurity and back again, an endless cycle that changed the rules and blurred the lines. Made it hard to distinguis the good guys from the bad, the shoot from the work, the real from the unreal, because wrestling’s greatest stories, every damn, has that element of truth. The screens get smaller but the show gets bigger. Gloady, from television to streaming, America to the world, ladies and gentleman, presenting the all real, ever fantastic, never to end, story of WWE.”
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With those powerful words, which pulled back the curtains, mixing wrestling lingo with lay terms, WWE’s chief content office, Paul “Triple H” Levesque ushered in a new era before more than 17,000 screaming fans in L.A., and an unprecedented number around the world. Raw is Netflix.
Raw’s look changed dramatically on Monday night as the Netflix era began, with everything from a new ring canvas, complete with sponsor logos, to its bright, well lit set, to new ring attire worn by its referees right down to drone cameras that took fans watching at home to a whole new world visually, no expenses were spared.
Outside L.A.’s Intuit Dome, drones hovered in the night sky, lighting up to make out the logos of WWE superstars, while inside, drones caught new angles, following wrestlers to the ring, taking viewers to the top of the roof of the packed stadium and seating featuring lighting gave an unbelievable and visually stunning look to the product.
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The ring itself featured a new, sharp black canvas and featured the several sponsor logos, something that until WWE merged with TKO Holdings was almost a faux pas. Referees inside the ring traded in their traditional striped shirts for sharp new grey and black shirts, blending in well with the ring.
The entrance itself was a visual masterpiece, lit up, featuring a long entranceway from Gorilla Position, where WWE talent enter the arena.
Sharp new match graphics and a huge, circular overhead screen that featured the redesigned Raw logo added to the stunning set.
All highlighted the ushering in of the WWE’s new era, which Triple H coined the Netflix era.
The night may have featured several of today’s top wrestling talent, but the debut episode paid homage to the past as well.
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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson opened the show, delivering an impassioned promo and had the crowd eating out of his hand. During his promo, Johnson went out of his way to thank the WWE’s new broadcasting partner, Netflix, which inked a $5 billion, 10-year deal to broadcast WWE content for the next decade.
He also thanked Cody Rhodes, the company’s current Undisputed WWE champion, for his nearly year-long title reign as the face of the company. Johnson also gave a nod to his real-life cousin and former Undisputed champion, Roman Reigns, whose years long title reign and massive popularity played a significant role in the company’s recent success, which led to the Netflix deal.
The legendary John Cena also returned to begin his yearlong final run with the company. Cena has returned full time for 2025 to finish his storied career, beginning with the Netflix debut, where he declared his intention to enter the coming Royal Rumble, which he stated he plans to win in order to earn a shot at a record 17th world title.
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There was even a cameo by The Undertaker, who resurrected his American Badass persona and did a lap around the ring with his Harley to celebrate Rhea Ripley’s victory.
The immortal Hulk Hogan made his return during the Netflix debut and perhaps stole the headlines, but not as he’s always been used to. Hogan’s appearance was greeted by a very hostile California crowd, which relentlessly booed Hogan. The iconic wrestling figure laboured through his promo to promote his beer company’s alignment with WWE as the crowd booed him loudly, nonstop.
Even having fan favourite Jimmy “Mouth of the South” Hart with him, waving an American flag, couldn’t win over the Democratic crowd. Hogan turned heads with his support of incoming U.S. president Donald Trump last year. He’s also controversially been involved with scandals involving a sex tape and for racist comments captured on tape.
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Needless to say, parading out the Hulkster in one of America’s most Democratic states maybe wasn’t the wisest move on a night that was all about celebration.
The stars were out in full force in L.A. for the debut. From Seth Green, Macaulay Culkin, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Danielle Fishel to Logan Paul, who announced he signed a new contract with WWE to become a full-time wrestler, to Ashton Kutcher, Wale and Travis Scott, to name some, dozens of celebrities were on hand for the big night.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, along with many WWE stars not featured on the card for the night, also littered the audience, with WWE cameras catching nearly every one of them.
The card itself was nothing short of stacked. From Reigns defeating Solo Sikoa in a Tribal Combat Match to Rhea Ripley becoming the first new champion in the Netflix era when she defeated Liv Morgan for the WWE Women’s World Championship to Jey Uso upsetting Drew McIntyre to the main event, in which CM Punk defeated Seth Rollins, the audience was treated to an incredible night of wrestling.
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Each one of those matches would have been a main event on any other night, or saved for premium live events, highlighting just how important the company viewed the Netflix debut.
Noticeably absent from the broadcast were the technical issues Netflix struggled through during last year’s Mike Tyson/Logan Paul fight, when users struggled to stream the fight, which was estimated to have drawn 108 million views on Netflix. Raw’s debut featured no lagging or streaming issues, with the 8K cameras providing crystal clear pictures. In Canada, it did appear that viewers had some audio content cut out, though it’s unclear why. On a couple of occasions, the audio dropped for a few seconds at a time.
The entire three-hour-plus show was commercial free, for the first time in history. Where commercials normally would have aired, the broadcast stopped as though to go to break, but came back right where the match left off. It does lead one to believe either commercials will be added after the live broadcasts, or WWE was prepping its audience for commercials in the future. Either way, it was odd.
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Levesque has said the length of broadcasts no long matters because there are no longer time contraints on the product as in the past when it had to be off-air at the top of the hour.
Generally, the show had a more traditional pro wrestling show/WWE feel to it, with some of the UFC style camera angles eliminated in favour of more traditional camera work. That, to be honest, was refreshing.
Finally, the return of commentating team Michael Cole and Pat McAfee was a breath of fresh air. The duo have incredible chemistry and were firing on all cylinders during the debut.
Jan Murphy is reporter and editor with The Kingston Whig-Standard, a longtime pro wrestling columnist and a huge fan of John Cena.
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