Pruett’s Blog: WWE’s next boom period begins January 6 on Netflix

By Will Pruett, ProWrestling.net Co-Senior Staffer (@itswilltime)

My friend, I need to confess something to you. It’s wild. You won’t believe me. But you must. It’s urgent that you know this little bit of the future. The future? The future. You see, I have actually traveled back in time just two months to warn you. It’s imperative that you hear this warning. Ready? You’re sure. I broke all sorts of time and space rules just to bring you this information.

WWE will enter a new boom period when it launches on Netflix.

Now, I know what you’re thinking – They’re already in one. That’s how they got the Netflix deal to begin with.

But you’re wrong. While WWE has some insane attendance numbers and ticket prices right now, they aren’t quite in a generation-defining boom period. I’d argue WWE has only experienced true boom periods twice – the original national expansion period and the late 1990’s Monday Night War period. They never ignited a true boom period in their monopoly era (2001-2019) and saw business decline steadily during that time. We are now 23 years removed from a WWE boom period and (because I saw it happen and am from the future, obviously), we will see one now.

Here is a list of reasons WWE’s next boom period begins on January 6, 2024:

• Viewers, so many viewers – Netflix is in more homes than Cable TV. WWE Raw has been a cable mainstay for the last 31 years. Bouncing from USA to TNN/Spike and back to USA, Raw has always had to pull its viewers from the available cable universe. That universe is much larger on Netflix. In addition to this, Netflix can report views in a different way than traditional cable. I doubt they’ll release quarter-hour or minute-by-minute breakdowns. Instead, Netflix will tell you how many people saw any portion of Raw live, even if that portion was just auto-played to them as they scrolled by. They say 60,000,000 people watched Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul and there is no way to check that number. WWE will tell you Raw had more viewers than ever before after their first Netflix show and there will be no way to check that number.
• The young viewers are there – It won’t just be viewers, but young viewers that make WWE on Netflix a pop culture phenomenon. Most homes with children do not have cable. Most homes with people 40 and under living in them do not have cable. Most millennial (they’re old now) and Gen Z households do not have cable. For a large swath of potential wrestling fans, this will be the first time they have access to weekly wrestling TV. Younger viewers drive engagement and word of mouth. If you think people are working hard (and paying too much) to go to WWE shows now, wait until they’ve been on Netflix for a few months.
• Unparalleled pop culture relevancy – Netflix has shown the ability to drive pop culture for the better part of the last decade. Look as far back as the buzz around House of Cards and Stranger Things as Netflix originals. Then look at March and April of 2020 and the pandemic entertainment phenomenons we all engaged in – Love Is Blind, Tiger King, and The Last Dance. Each one was a Netflix series. Each one defined a moment in time for so many of us. Netflix, even last weekend, showed their ability to drive pop culture with the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight. All over social media, folks were posting about this and not just combat sports enthusiasts. The same engine that drove people to watch a train wreck fight featuring Mike Tyson’s whole ass will be behind WWE week in and week out.
• ’Tis the (WrestleMania) Season – WWE’s TV deal for Raw ran out in September and they signed a short-term friendly deal with the USA Network to house Raw from September to January. Netflix does not become the home of Raw until January 6. Why? To put Raw’s best season on display in front of as many people as possible. For the last two years, WWE has done a great job ensuring their stories peak with WrestleMania season. Under Paul Levesque’s creative leadership, WrestleMania has seen some really great disciplined storytelling. Now, WWE will get to debut to a larger and younger audience with more pop culture relevancy during their best storytelling time of year. It’s a recipe for success, as long as the stories going into WrestleMania hold up.
• It’s about talent – WWE’s roster is really good right now and I would expect it to get better. We already know John Cena’s retirement tour will take place on Netflix (and possibly start on January 6, the next time he is advertised). We also know The Rock will be returning at some point, possibly for WrestleMania season, with unfinished business with both Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes. I expect we will be adding Becky Lynch to the already great women’s roster as soon as January 6. And WWE has a wild assortment of legends and nostalgia acts they can plug into their shows for support. The roster is good and getting better. In the end, characters hook fans and hold their interest. WWE has done a great job of focusing on current talent, not authority figures or legends who can’t go, for the last year. That work will pay off on Netflix when their main roster stars will become mainstream stars.

For the first time this century, wrestling will have the potent combination of the right talent, the right stories, the right audience, and the right platform all combining to be a pop culture relevancy machine. Netflix combining with WWE is a far bigger deal than most know. That’s why I traveled back in time to tell you about it. Sure, I could have prevented some disasters or punched certain people who need punching, but honestly, this whole Netflix thing has seemed like a surprise to FAR too many people. The signs were all there. So I had to be like Jack and Kate at the end of Season 3 of Lost and go back.

Will Pruett writes about wrestling and popular culture at prowrestling.net. To see his video content subscribe to his YouTube channel. To contact, check him out on Bluesky @itswilltime, leave a comment, or email him at itswilltime@gmail.com.