In January of 2024, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) announced that their flagship program, “Monday Night RAW” would be leaving cable TV behind and joining the world of streaming by moving to Netflix. The streaming juggernaut paid a whopping $5 million to join the WWE Universe, and at the time, I thought this was a great idea. After all, WWE is an internationally renowned corporation, with a global audience that has helped turn sports entertainment into a multi-billion-dollar industry.
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As the leading streaming service across all continents, it made perfect sense for WWE and Netflix to join forces … and then ratings numbers dropped like Mick Foley onto The Undertaker during their 1998 Hell in a Cell match. As a lifelong wrestling fan, I should know by now to always expect a swerve in WWE’s storytelling, but I never could have imagined that this “perfect deal” would turn out to be such a disaster.
To be clear, the product is some of the best it’s been in years. Storylines are enthralling (JOHN CENA FINALLY TURNED HEEL!), the physicality is unmatched with any other time in wrestling history, and the entire city of Las Vegas has been completely transformed for “WrestleMania 41.” It seems like every other day, I learn of a new friend who has gotten into wrestling (many have been converted thanks to the current “Titan Takedown” season of “Dimension 20,” where WWE superstars are playing D&D on Dropout). Given that it’s Mania Weekend, one would think that the numbers for “Monday Night RAW” would be through the roof, but according to longtime wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, there’s been a massive dropoff in viewership, and that’s based on the already cagey metrics Netflix is willing to provide.
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This isn’t just a bad sign for wrestling, it’s a bad sign for the entire entertainment industry and movie and TV fans everywhere.
Monday Night RAW viewership numbers have plummeted
When looking at the audience numbers of the April 7, 2025, episode of “Monday Night RAW,” Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (you won’t be able to see this without a subscription, sorry) reported that it seemed as if Netflix “had reached it’s second-lowest numbers in the U.S.” At the same time, the show was in the number 10 spot on their list of most-watched English-language television shows for the week, which should still be a good thing, right? Well, because folks like Meltzer are meticulous at documenting viewership numbers and even better at maintaining historical records of said data, he looked at the equivalent audience statistics from last year when “Monday Night RAW” was still playing on USA Network, and the comparison isn’t great:
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“Given that, the U.S. number based on percentages we know based on the early weeks looks to be 1,277,000 viewers as a +7 number and 1,021,000 as the same day number, which would be equivalent to the number we would have gone by for USA Network last year. It would be the second-lowest number to date for ‘RAW’ on Netflix. Last year’s comparison figure would be the ‘RAW’ after Mania (2,362,000 viewers) or a 56.8 percent drop. But that’s unfair because that’s what the 4/21 show should be compared with. The two weeks before Mania show last year did 1,729,000 viewers, so this looks to be a 40.9 percent drop.”
“WrestleMania” is airing later this year than it did before, which is why Meltzer is comparing the viewership numbers to two different dates. This means that “Monday Night RAW’ is still showing up in the top 10 most-watched shows on Netflix, despite potentially having over 40% fewer viewers than it did the year before. That is a terrifying reality, one that essentially proves that being one of the most popular shows on streaming still cannot hold a candle to the popularity of cable television shows — something that has already been proven by the success of shows like “Yellowstone.”
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There is no prize for winning the streaming wars
Accurate Netflix numbers are hard to come by, so if these are the facts wrestling pundits are working with, it’s even more terrifying to think that the viewership numbers are actually lower than current estimates. Streaming really has become cable but somehow worse, and I wish I had an answer as to how we un-f*** an entire industry.
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Not to simp for billion-dollar companies here, but I love professional wrestling, and I love the accessibility of streaming platforms. Wrestling saved my life when I was ready to give up fighting in the middle of cancer treatment, and streaming platforms like Netflix kept me alive during the quarantine era of the pandemic when my immunocompromised self wasn’t able to leave my apartment for weeks at a time. I have plenty of qualms with the way both of these entertainment landscapes currently function, but to act as if my life hasn’t been enriched by the existence of both would be ahistorical at best and a bold-faced lie at worst.
This is all to say that being critical of the performance of WWE on Netflix is not rooted in the blind hatred or immature animosity lobbied on social media from “fans” who celebrate a company’s failure as a “win” for the rival companies they like better.
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It’s been said that “to be the man, you gotta beat the man.” But winning the streaming wars doesn’t mean much if viewership numbers indicate Netflix is a midcard champion still fighting for a spot in the main event picture. What’s the value in winning a bidding war at Sundance for a fresh new horror movie if no one sees it? Nothing means nothing, and the cream will always rise to the top — but being the cream of the crop doesn’t matter if people are buying their crops elsewhere.
