TKO President Says Talks With Netflix Were Initially About NXT

TKO President Says Talks With Netflix Were Initially About WWE NXT

WWE landed a major deal with the agreement that will see RAW move to Netflix in 2025. However, the conversations were initially about WWE NXT.

As announced in January, WWE RAW will move to Netflix in January 2025. The deal is reportedly worth $5 billion over 10 years. The bidding for RAW’s media rights was a buzzworthy topic, and Netflix being the destination is expected to be a game-changer.

TKO President Mark Shapiro commented on Raw’s move to Netflix during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, & Telecom Conference. He noted that the talks were initially about NXT. (H/t Jeremy Lambert of Fightful for the transcription)

“When we met with Netflix, Apple, and other streaming platforms, the conversation always started with, ‘When are the PLEs up?’ When we met on Raw, always started with that. ‘We’re not here to talk about the PLEs.’ We are in the sense that it’s part of the narrative,” he said. “When you watch Raw and SmackDown, things weave in and out of the PLEs. It’s an important part of the narrative concept. ‘Why wouldn’t Netflix be there?’ Let’s just get out of the gate with Raw strong. We have time. Let’s see how that partnership goes and that marketing delivers and the viewership shows up and we’re monetizing it from a sponsorship, consumer product, site fee standpoint, and then we’ll talk about where it goes, if it doesn’t go back to Peacock. We’re patient and that has bode well for us.

“We had a lot of pressure when we announced the SmackDown deal. Market was freaking out. “Raw, NXT, why didn’t they announce it? They don’t have anybody. There is no demand.’ There was pressure, but we said we were going to be patient and it was going to work in our favor. It over-delivered on our expectations. Never did I think Netflix was coming in. Not in my wildest dreams. When we first started talking to Netflix, it was frankly about NXT. It wasn’t even about Raw. That just turned into a bigger conversation. Then the Raw conversation became a global conversation.”