With Monday Night Raw soon making the move to Netflix in WWE’s domestic American market – and more expansive programming deals between the streaming service and wrestling promotion in other countries beginning soon as well – many have wondered if a change to how the promotion does its shows will be seen.
Will a move to Netflix allow WWE to slip into its next Attitude Era? Will we see more vulgarity, blood and edgy scriptwriting than ever before?
If you’ve been looking forward to that, here’s some bad news: WWE President Nick Khan recently shut down any possibility of this, saying they’ll be selling the same product next month that they sold today, yesterday, and last week.
“We’re not changing the rating of our programming,” Khan said at a recent press conference for WWE’s Netflix launch, as first obtained by Sports Illustrated. “There’s some online chatter about, oh, it’s gonna be R-rated, or for us old folks, like X-rated. That’s definitely not happening. So it’s family-friendly, multi-generational, advertiser-friendly programming. It’s gonna stay that way. I would look for more global flair, especially as the relationship [with Netflix] continues to develop.”
Sports Illustrated noted that when asking Khan to expand upon his “global” comment, he mentioned there are some countries that both Netflix and WWE have considered a high priority. However, no specific areas were mentioned.
The Netflix era of Monday Night Raw will begin on January 5 with a card from the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. Along with talents like John Cena expected on the show, artist Travis Scott will make an appearance.