Will the Big Netflix Gamble of WWE pay while John Cena and Cody Rhodes are fighting?

Millions of fight fans around the world are preparing for the long -awaited annual final of this weekend – Wrestlemania 41.

You just have to ask Oliver, seven years old, who spent his school holidays last week to wake up his father, Paul, at 6:30 am to count impatiently on the days.

It is even allowed to stand up until midnight to look at it, because, as One of the 17 million British households subscribed to NetflixThe family now has live access to the extravagance of Las Vegas of two nights.

This means that Oliver will finally be able to know if the champion 16 times John Cena, who is Recently returned from the hero to the bad guy As part of his farewell tour (leaving Oliver in shock), can defeat Cody Rhodes in a record victory before retirement.

All this is part of a $ 5 billion (4 billion pounds sterling) Mega-Deal Bringing the archives of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the biggest events at Streamer – with Wrestlemania now available live on Netflix in many international territories for the very first time. American viewers, however, will always look on the peacock of NBC, at least for the moment.

The 10 -year contract, which started earlier this year, connects WWE to a potential global audience of 700 million. It is at the heart of the vision of WWE chief content, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque to make the fight on a global scale and relevant for a new generation of fans of the era of streaming.

The issues are high. Wrestlemania, which started in 1985, is treated as a decisive test – not only for the global expansion of WWE, but for the potential passage of Netflix in live sports.

But will this successful label team partnership pay, or will it prove a (very) fight too far too far?

The Netflix / WWE agreement reflects changes in vision habits and also talks about WWE’s eagerness to be promoted by the “streaming wars winning”, said Wrestlenomics website -in -in -website Brandon Thurston, told BBC.

After years relying on cable wages at sight – which billed viewers with $ 60 milk (£ 45) per event – WWE launched its own network in 2014. The company took most of its internal à la carte events, aware that half of the revenues were lost against satellite companies.

This decision has borne fruit, explains Thurston, because the prices of payment events per view fell considerably to around $ 10 (£ 7.50), creating “a wider than ever audience”.

The Netflix agreement, according to Thurston, makes part of WWE plans to recruit globally, create larger international stars and amplify its live tournaments such as RAW, Wrestlemania and Smackdown on different markets.

Like WWE Levesque said to the podcast anklerNetflix “Simplicity” has changed the game situation: “No matter where you are in the globe, it is right in front of you. It’s a click, and you are on and you are”.

Fortunately also, as Levesque says Consult streaming on demand as the standard, alongside video platforms like YouTube and Tiktok.

It has certainly made a megafan to Oliver, and he is now able to watch the weekly Smackdown and Raw programs with his father. Previously, without TNT Sport subscription, its options were limited to the monthly events available on the WWE network.

“Now that WWE is on Netflix, he probably looks at him four times a week. This is his reference program,” said Paul.

“He really opened a huge door for him. What is great for me as a dad is that I was struggling when I was also his age, so it’s nice to share this trip with him”.

And it is far from being alone. THURSDAY, Magazine of the industry broadcast said that the move to Netflix had considerably increased engagement in the United Kingdom with the two shows, with RAW classified among the 10 best shows in the platform in nine of its first 10 weeks.

The image is less clear in the United States. Back in FebruaryMark Shapiro, head of the WWE parent company, TKO, told investors that the number of gross viewers was up 13% for the year to date compared to his previous house in USA Network – 38% of the opening evening is included.

However, The search for Thurston suggests that Raw and Smackdown Audience have since raised to the figures observed in the United States.

And the figures continue to fallNot to an alarming quantity, but certainly indicating that, potentially, weekly events on streamer may not be as much a growth area as the main live events.

Be that as it may, he considers the compromise as the sentence for Netflix in the long term – in particular with regard to the world beginnings of Wrestlemania tonight, which should break in streaming records.

When the former longtime CEO of WWE, Vince McMahon, imagined Wrestlemania over 40 years ago, he planned an event of Superbowl style songs to unite the commercial partnerships of the franchise and finish it more deeply in popular culture.

This is why the first Wrestlemania of 1985 was strongly promoted by the MTV and held at the Madison Square Garden in New York – with everyone from the Hulk Hogan wrestler to the actor A -Team MR T, the Popstar Cyndi Lauper and Muhammad Ali as an arbitrator.

“We were trying to make a statement on our business,” McMahon told Netflix in 2024, “all forms of entertainment are underway”.

And yet, despite the transformation of WWE into a media empire, McMahon has gone disgrace – First in 2022 then again in 2024, in the midst of various controversies – including a Sexual harassment trials. McMahon’s lawyer Jessica Rosenberg, denied complaints.

Thurston believes that McMahon’s tight grip on creative commercial decisions has also stifled the narration of WWE in recent years. Under Levesque, Thurston says that it has changed in favor of collaboration. He says that stories feel cooler, that gender representation has improved and that the attendance of American events is increasing.

For Jonny Pivaral, who grew up looking during what he calls the era of McMahon “Bra and Pantes Match” of the 2000s, evolution is welcome. “At the time, women were only eyes for the eyes,” he said. “Now they are presented at the same level as men.”

This quarter will be in the midst of display when Women’s wrestling scenarios occupy the stage in Wrestlemania. The best stars Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair and Iyo Sky must compete in a match in Triple Threate, while the female champion Tiffany Stratton Combatra the legendary Charlotte Flair – in a battle that highlights the growing value of the division.

Attracting new audiences, says Thurston, because the global WWE strategy now depends on the costs paid by cities organizing these events (including Wrestlemania), inside and outside the United States.

Finding a house on a streaming giant can be excellent news for WWE – but what does Netflix support partnership?

According to James English, managing partner of the Sports Marketing and Entertainment Agency Fuse, Netflix “indicates loud and clear that he wants to dominate” sports “”.

WWE streaming agreement is, he says, a major reason Netflix beaten expectations with its financial figures Thursday, offering income growth of 13% for the first quarter of 2025.

English considers Wrestlemania as the natural progression of their desire to use sport to attract viewers to “cultural moments”.

It started last November with Mike Tyson will face Youtuber Jake Paul In a hybrid influence-boxing fight which attracted 60 million households-perhaps benefiting from an intergenerational attraction.

This first foray into live sports attracted collision and stamp complaints, but the problems were widely resolved for the two NFL matches of Netflix on Christmas Day a month later, part of a new three -year agreement to show Christmas aircraft.

English says that unlike Apple or Amazon Prime, which bought packages from Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Premier League, the development of Netflix on the visualization of “the event” allows them to make the best use of their personalized advertising and interface data.

Wrestlemania illustrates this strategy. As “overall deal, live and focused on fans that mixes sports, entertainment and narration”, English says that Netflix could resist enormous profits from its WWE partnership.

The big question, of course, is whether the wider interest of Netflix public will last the rounds.

But this can be a bet that deserves to be taken – for all the people involved. Just ask Oliver and his father at midnight.