Live from the sold-out Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, WWE starts a new era on Netflix with Raw streaming across the world on the planet’s largest and most popular streaming service.
It is going to be a packed, packed show with several matches already announced including Roman Reigns vs Solo Sikoa in a Tribal Combat match for the title of Tribal Chief, Jey Uso vs Drew McIntyre, Liv Morgan defends her WWE Women’s World title against Rhea Ripley, and the main event of the much-anticipated CM Punk vs Seth Rollins.
Plus, John Cena returns with his first stop of his 2025 farewell tour, Logan Paul makes his first appearance since SummerSlam, the debut of Penta El Zero Miedo, The Rock makes his presence felt, and many, many more surprises.
WWE Legends and celebrities are also expected to be featured throughout the broadcast which at this point has no official time limit. Music superstar Travis Scott will also be in the house with his music serving as the new official theme for Raw.
The show will be immediately available to stream on Netflix as soon as it ends.
WWE, in partnership with The General Entertainment Authority, on behalf of HE Turki Alalshikh, announced that the 39th annual Royal Rumble will be held in January 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This landmark event marks the first time the Royal Rumble will be hosted outside of North America.
In a statement, HE Turki Alalshikh said, “Saudi Arabia’s hosting of the Royal Rumble for the first time outside North America reflects the General Entertainment Authority’s ongoing commitment to bringing the world’s largest and most important entertainment events to the Kingdom. Through this partnership with WWE, we aim to enhance the entertainment sector and deliver a transformative experience that attracts a wide audience.”
He added, “We are excited to see this historic event as part of Riyadh Season’s activities and look forward to providing an exceptional experience for wrestling fans from around the world, whom we welcome to all events hosted in Saudi Arabia.”
“WWE is a global enterprise and it only made sense to expand our relationship with the Kingdom by bringing one of our biggest annual events to Riyadh in January of 2026,” said Nick Khan, WWE President.
The announcement of Royal Rumble being held in Riyadh in 2026 marks a continued expansion to the successful partnership between WWE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which has already seen record-breaking events including Crown Jewel, Elimination Chamber, King & Queen of the Ring, Night of Champions, SmackDown and Monday Night RAW.
WWE has hired a team dedicated to flying drones every week for their weekly television show, with their work starting tonight on Raw.
WWE Line Producer Brian Fades told the Sports Business Journal that the drones will be showing viewers never-before-seen shots of WWE talent both inside and outside the arenas moving forward.
“That’s one thing we’re really going to try to lean into [today],” said Fades. “Getting these drones to be used in intimate ways and really take the viewer who’s at home, trying to get them to feel here like everyone else.”
Apart from drones, WWE also rehearsed using a point-to-point sky cam system and a techno crane for more intimate in-ring shots.
WWE and Netflix used 1,200 drones during the weekend for the show they gave over the Los Angeles sky and 200 of those drones were also equipped with pyro.
Tonight’s Raw will also have a helping hand from the Goodyear Blimp which will give aerial views of the Intuit Dome.
WWE Vice President Line Producer Brian Fadem revealed to the Sports Business Journal that Raw will not have commercials for those watching internationally.
He also said that the usual 15 commercial breaks typically reserved for cable television for a three-hour show will be reduced.
“While you might go to commercials if you’re in Texas, if you’re in Italy you’re going to see us continue content,” said Fadem. “You’re going to see the continuation of a match. You’re going to see exclusive interviews with our talent. You might see an exclusive package that will only be viewed on that international level.”
The way WWE will handle commercials for Raw has been a talking point for months and international viewers not getting commercials makes sense since commercials in the United States do not apply for international viewers.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show earlier today, Michael Cole said that there will be some change to how they do commentary tonight for the Raw premiere episode on Netflix.
Cole said that his and McAfee’s job tonight is to explain to new viewers who the WWE Superstars and characters are without insulting the long-time fans.
“We’re going to have a lot of new viewers tonight, we’re going to have lapsed fans that might not have joined us since the Attitude Era, so we’re going have to explain who is Seth Rollins, who is CM Punk, and why are they important to our product and also basically to the world because these guys just don’t wrestle, they do so many other things that are important to the entertainment industry,” Cole told McAfee.
Cole also revealed that during the production meeting, Triple H gave everyone a pep talk and everyone in the room was very emotional due to the importance of the occasion.
McAfee was hosting his daily show remotely live from the Intuit Dome, the site of tonight’s Raw.
TNA Wrestling today announced that it has re-signed Ash by Elegance, John Skyler, and its Knockouts champion Masha Slamovich to new contracts.
The announcement was made by TNA in a post on social media.
Ash by Elegance, the artist formerly known as Dana Brooke in WWE, made her TNA debut last January at the Hard to Kill pay-per-view. She was previously released from WWE after a decade with the company.
Skyler has been working for the promotion since 2021 and is one half of The Good Hands tag team.
Slamovich, who won the TNA Knockouts title at Bound For Glory in October 2024, has been signed to the company since 2022.
The cold open for tonight’s Raw introducing the Netflix audience to the world of professional wrestling was published by WWE today.
Narrated by WWE’s Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the three minute-plus hair-raising video gives a look at the history of how WWE evolved throughout the years as an artist paints the legends on a ring mat.
Superstars such as Steve Austin, Bret Hart, Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Trish Stratus, Lita, Becky Lynch, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Ted DiBiase, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Ronda Rousey, Goldberg, The Rock, Macho Man Randy Savage, The Undertake, Ric Flair, Charlotte Flair, nWo, CM Punk, and many, many others are all featured in the video.
Notably missing from the intro? Vince McMahon. Not even featured for a millisecond.
“The screen gets smaller, but the show gets bigger,” Triple H says as the orchestra music reaches a crescendo. “Global. From television to streaming. America to the world. Ladies and gentleman, presenting the all-real, ever-fantastic, never-end…story of WWE.”
WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan will be at the Raw on Netflix premiere live tonight from Inglewood, his first appearance since last year’s Royal Rumble where he introduced the show just days after celebrating the 40th anniversary of the birth of Hulkamania.
Hogan’s appearance was originally reported by Dr. Chris Featherstone on X and later confirmed by other sources.
It’s a very important night for Hogan, whose Real American Beer has now become a sponsor for WWE. WWE took a minority ownership as well, and the logo of the beer will be on the mat in the corner every week on Raw, starting tonight.
Hogan was expected at Saturday Night’s Main Event last month but he was not there and instead was on a UFC card walking down the aisle with Colby Covington at the same time. He is, however, expected to be at the next SNME later this month from San Antonio.
The former WWE and WCW champion is one of the many celebrities scheduled to be part of tonight’s historic broadcast.
A new era kicks in tonight for WWE as it makes its long-awaited debut on Netflix live at 8PM ET. Raw becomes the first weekly live broadcast on the streaming giant, airing in pretty much almost every corner of the world.
For those living outside the United States, their deal is even sweeter: apart from live Raw, there will be live NXT, live Smackdown, live premium live events, and a lot of WWE library as part of their current Netflix subscription.
This is a 10-year deal worth over $5 billion, a deal which was announced last year by the company as it shopped their weekly television broadcasts to different networks. It’s the first time that Raw will not air on cable television since its inception in 1993 and it will be quite the change with Raw omitted from the weekly cable chart, a chart which has catapulted USA Network to the top for around eight months of the year.
Netflix went all in with their promotion for WWE on their website, with a WWE: Live & Upcoming section showing what’s coming. John Cena, Roman Reigns, and Rhea Ripley are part of the graphic hyping up tonight’s live broadcast. Gunther, Dom Mysterio and Liv Morgan, and CM Punk each are used to promote the next three weeks of Raw. On social media, promotion is also at full force with Netflix accounts from different regions each hyping the broadcast.
Over 16,000 fans already have their ticket to attend at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, with the brand-new arena sitting next to the majestic SoFi Stadium, the host of WrestleMania 39. The show is likely to break the gate record for any WWE event held inside an arena, with sky-high prices even for the nosebleed section.
The cheapest tickets available are resale tickets for $442.80 plus taxes and fees on Ticketmaster. Third-party websites have even-higher tickets, starting from just over $500, an incredible get-in price for any show.
Tonight’s show will not be a regular Raw. It’s a special event level Raw which will be used to gain new viewers from Netflix’s 270+ million subscribers worldwide hoping they stick around for next week and the following week and the one following that.
Netflix has a good track record of sending shows into the stratosphere. Shows such as Squid Game, Money Heist, Cobra Kai, and others all achieved status which was unheard of thanks to the Netflix machine. WWE is hoping they’ll be the next ones to gain that level of popularity in places where maybe the product isn’t followed as much.
Tonight is the night history will be made and the (Netflix) world will be watching. Streaming is probably the future for many shows and just like it’s usually the case, WWE is there to experience it.
WWE today announced a multi-year partnership with legendary WWE Superstar and Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan’s Real American Beer – one of the fastest-growing light beers in the U.S. – that will showcase Real American Beer branding within WWE’s weekly flagship program Monday Night Raw as well as other key WWE assets.
As an official partner of WWE, Real American Beer will receive ring mat corner branding during every episode of Raw which makes its highly anticipated debut tonight on Netflix. Further, WWE will become a minority owner in the rapidly expanding company, which is now available in 20 states since its launch in June 2024.
“Hulk Hogan has done a tremendous job introducing an exciting, new product to a competitive marketplace,” said Grant Norris-Jones, Executive Vice President & Head of Global Partnerships for TKO. “We are excited to unlock a new partnership category and to showcase Real American Beer in front of Netflix’s global audience.”
“Well, let me tell you something brother! From the first time I stepped into the ring, I’ve always fought for something bigger than myself,” said Hulk Hogan, Co-Founder of Real American Beer. “I’m thrilled to bring Real American Beer into the ring with WWE. Together, we’re bringing that pride to America, one beer, one match at a time, brother!”
Additionally, Real American Beer will receive social and digital support, including original, short-form content that will be distributed across WWE’s popular social and digital channels which reach more than 700 million users globally. WWE trademarks and Superstars will also be available for use on in-store point-of-sale materials and promotional displays throughout its growing network of retailers nationwide.
The Royal Rumble has surpassed 50,000 tickets according to ticket tracking service @WrestleTix.
As it stands now, it’s the third most-successful Royal Rumble in history ticket-wise and has a big chance of moving up to second if they sell 2,000 tickets more in a couple of weeks.
The 1997 Royal Rumble has the record with an attendance of 60,477 while the 2017 Rumble, held from the same Alamodome in San Antonio as the one from 1997, is the second most-attended with just over 52,000 people.
Seats continue to open up at Lucas Oil Field with many sections on the side where it was supposed to be closed off now available for sale. Cheapest tickets are going for $150 plus taxes and fees in the 600 Level which is at the very top of the stadium. Tickets in the new opened-up sections in the 400 Level are priced $175 and up and are available at Ticketmaster.com.
John Cena’s final year as an active WWE Superstar starts today with the Raw on Netflix premiere. Cena will reveal his plans for the rest of the year tonight on the highly-anticipated episode of Raw.
The former 16-time world champion announced his 2025 retirement tour at the Money In The Bank premium live event in Toronto last July and will wrestle his final match in December of this year.
“I’m so grateful to be invited back home so we can write the last chapter of this unforgettable ride. Sunsets are often the most memorable experience,” Cena wrote in a social media post last year. “I can’t wait to share this sunset with my family. See you all very soon. The Last Time Is Now!”
Cena has said in the past that he has given all of 2025 to WWE and will be appearing at WWE events throughout the year. In August, Cena revealed that he signed a new, long-term deal with the company that will keep him involved way long after he officially retires from in-ring competition.
Takaaki Kidani, the CEO of Bushiroad which is the parent company of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, expressed disappointment with the attendance for both Wrestle Kingdom 19 and the Wrestle Dynasty pay-per-views over the weekend.
Wrestle Dynasty was the NJPW version of the Forbidden Door, with AEW, ROH, CMLL, and Stardom all participating.
The Wrestle Kingdom 19 show from the Tokyo Dome on January 4 attracted 24,107 fans while the Wrestle Dynasty show the following day on January 5 from the same location did 16,300 in an arena which holds around 55,000.
The majority of the first riser seats were all empty for Wrestle Dynasty, a big disappointment since it featured the return of Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks to Japan and the first match of Mercedes Mone in the famous Tokyo Dome.
Kidani told Tokyo Sports that next year they hope to attract 40,000 people for Wrestle Kingdom.
Ahead of tonight’s Raw debut on Netflix, WWE and Netflix lit up the Los Angeles skies last night with a drone show featuring several logos of WWE Superstars.
The show started with large WWE and Netflix logos which then morphed in the new Raw logo. The logos of Jey Uso, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, John Cena, Steve Austin, and the WWE championship were all on display in colorful lights.
The light display was done to the tune of the song Pure Water by Mustard & Migos.
The biggest “surprise” was the Stone Cold Steve Austin skull but several insiders have revealed that Austin is not scheduled to be part of tonight’s broadcast after talks fell through.
Nearly 16,000 fans already have tickets for tomorrow’s Raw from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, ready to witness a new era ushered in on Netflix.
The show will be a complete sell out by the time the show starts and this will be one of the most-attended Raws of 2025.
The gate is also go to be astronomical considering tickets for this particular Raw sold for a lot of money where even the cheapest ticket was considered highly expensive.
The cheapest standard ticket available at the moment is $1,832.50 while the cheapest verified resale ticket is $376.04 which is behind the stage at the very top of the arena. Limited tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com.
The Rock has confirmed that he will be showing up on Raw tomorrow night live from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood for the Netflix premiere.
In a post on Instagram, Johnson said that besides having his three daughters, his Samoan High Chief title, High Chief Seiuli, is one of the greatest honor of his life.
He said he made a commitment 20 years ago to his Highness High Chief Maleatoa Tunamafili II and to the people of Samoa to carry his Samoan, Polynesian, and Black culture around the world with great respect, pride, kindness, mana, humility, and warrior spirit.
The Rock noted that he can’t wait to soon return back home to Samoa, but, before that happens, there’s a stop that he needs to do.
“Until then, I’ll come back home to @WWE tomorrow night as we make history on @Netflix and begin a new and exciting era,” The Rock wrote. “Tomorrow night is dedicated to my grandfather, the High Chief Peter Maivia, my grandmother, Lia Maivia and my dad, Rocky “Soulman” Johnson and my ancestors who have ALL paved the way.”
Dynamite in 2024 suffered a hit in its weekly viewership, getting an average of 701,365 viewers, down from the 864,269 average of 2023.
Viewership never hit 900,000 once in 52 weeks, as the million viewers remained elusive. The show has not seen a million viewers since February 22, 2023.
The most-watched episode of Dynamite came on January 17 with 891,000 viewers tuning in but things went downhill from there, with the show breaking some unwanted records.
The October 8 episode has the least-watched record with just 329,000 viewers. This was on a Tuesday and went head-to-head with NXT. AEW lost all three shows that went against NXT in 2024, including when they were in their regular Wednesday slot and NXT moved to Wednesday due to the election.
In 18-49, once a strong a demo for Dynamite, the show fell to a 0.23 average in 2024, down 0.06 from the 0.29 average of 2023. Their biggest number also came on January 17 with a 0.33 and their lowest was on October 8 with just a 0.10.
This was the second year in a row that Dynamite had a drop in viewers compared to the previous year.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be one of the presenters at tonight’s Golden Globes which will air on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
His Moana 2 movie is a nominee in the Best Animated Motion Picture category.
Johnson has not been officially announced for the Raw on Netflix premiere the following day but the Golden Globes are in Beverly Hills, just 12 miles away from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood where WWE will kick off a new era.
The Final Boss might stick around to leave his mark on possibly the biggest Raw ever!
JoJo Offerman, the widow of former WWE Superstar Bray Wyatt, did ring announcing for a dark match before the start of AEW Collision last night which was held in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Offerman did not do announcing during Collision and did not appear on the broadcast. It’s unclear at this point if that was a one-time thing or a preview of things to come.
She is a former Raw ring announcer herself, having done the job for two years between 2016 and 2018. Offerman was also part of the first season of Total Divas on E!
The Young Bucks are champions in Japan once again, winning the vacant IWGP Tag Team titles at Wrestle Dynasty in a triple tag match that also included United Empire and Los Ingobernables de Japon.
The Bucks won after hitting their Meltzer Driver on Great-O-Khan. It was their first match in Japan since 2019 when the duo joined their friends to start All Elite Wrestling.
This is their second stint with the IWGP Tag Team titles after winning them for the first time in June 2018 at the Dominion 6.9 in Osaka. On that day, they beat Evil and Sanada also of Los Ingobernables de Japon.
Their first reign lasted 113 days and they lost them to Guerrillas of Destiny, the team of Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa, at the Fighting Spirit Unleashed show in Long Beach, California.
