WWE, TKO and Raw on Netflix: How wrestling became a streaming-era sports business

WWE, TKO and Raw on Netflix

How wrestling became a streaming-era sports business. In 2023 WWE merged with the UFC to form TKO, and in January 2025 Monday Night Raw left cable television for Netflix after more than three decades.

The bowl of seats around center court inside the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California

Inside the Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California: Spatms, CC BY-SA 4.0

From family business to TKO

For decades WWE was run by the McMahon family. In 2023 it agreed to merge with the UFC, the mixed martial arts giant owned by Endeavor. The deal closed on September 12, 2023, creating TKO Group Holdings, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker TKO. Endeavor held 51 percent and WWE's shareholders 49 percent.

Endeavor's Ari Emanuel became TKO's chief executive and Mark Shapiro its president, while Nick Khan stayed on to run WWE. Vince McMahon became executive chairman but resigned in January 2024 after a former employee filed a lawsuit accusing him of serious misconduct. Creative control rests with Paul Levesque, better known as Triple H, who was named chief content officer in 2022.

Raw leaves cable

On January 23, 2024, TKO announced that Netflix would become the home of Monday Night Raw starting in January 2025, in a deal reported at 10 years and about $5 billion. Outside the United States, Netflix also took over most other WWE programming, replacing the WWE Network. The same day, The Rock joined TKO's board of directors.

Raw had been a cable show since its debut in 1993, most of that time on the USA Network. The move made wrestling one of Netflix's first big steps into live weekly entertainment.

Premiere night

The first Raw on Netflix aired on January 6, 2025, from the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. CM Punk beat Seth Rollins in the main event, Roman Reigns defeated Solo Sikoa in Tribal Combat, and Rhea Ripley won the Women's World Championship. The Rock, The Undertaker, Hulk Hogan and John Cena all appeared, with Cena's visit kicking off his farewell year.

Streaming changed the look of the show, too. The ring mat turned black and carried sponsor logos, and Triple H said Raw's running time could be flexible instead of locked to a TV schedule. Raw ranked in Netflix's US top 10 every week from early January through early February 2025.

A bigger playground

TKO kept growing. In 2025 it added Professional Bull Riders, the hospitality firm On Location and parts of IMG from Endeavor, launched Zuffa Boxing, and through WWE took a controlling 51 percent stake in Mexico's famous lucha libre promotion, AAA. Wrestling, once a carnival sideshow, now sits inside one of the biggest sports companies in the world.