WWE fans have been given their first look at Monday night’s arena set-up for the huge Raw debut on Netflix.
The streaming giant plays host to its first ever live edition of Monday Night Raw on 6th January after an epic build-up of almost a year.
Back in January 2024 Netflix announced it had bagged the rights to WWE’s flagship weekly show in a deal reportedly worth around $5bn.
It means Raw’s run on linear television is over after more than 30 years, the programme having grown incredibly since its 1993 debut when The Undertaker headlined in New York City in front of barely 3,000 fans.
Come Monday evening – or Tuesday morning for those of us here in the UK – up to 18,000 could be jammed into California’s unique Intuit Dome for the launch of a whole new era of WWE action, just six months after it opened following a $2bn build.
It promises to be a remarkable show, with legends including John Cena, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels all rumoured to be involved, in addition to a set of high-profile matches featuring the present-day roster.
As of Monday morning, four major bouts had been slated, headlined by the Tribal Combat clash between Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa, and the Women’s World Championship match between Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley.
In one of the most well-built contests of the last year, CM Punk and Seth Rollins will finally lay hands on one another, while another grudge outing features Jey Uso going up against Scot Drew McIntyre.
The show will have a new sound, too, after it was confirmed Michael Cole would return to the announce desk on Raw to team up with on-off partner Pat McAfee.
They’ll be the commentary team for Raw, while popular red-brand commentator Joe Tessitore heads to SmackDown, which also moves to Netflix – for International fans – from this week.
WWE have done a typically superb job of hyping the affair, and on his X account, Head of Creative and Chief Content Officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque stoked the excitement levels by giving a tantalising glimpse of what awaits fans in attendance.
Having dominated so many episodes of Raw during his in-ring days as a multi-time former world champion, The King of Kings is now the mastermind of everything fans see on screen and in arenas as he weaves together storylines and a hugely talented roster.
In a video showing him looking around the Intuit Dome as the Raw set was being put together, Levesque can be seen wearing a headset as he speaks with key figures including WWE President Nick Khan.
The camera shows the towering tiers of seats as well as the huge ‘Raw’ logo that dominates the skyline of the arena.
“Cannot wait to watch the show on Netflix,” read one reply to the video, another adding: “This is gonna be the coolest looking arena show WWE has ever done.”
“It looks good I like the new entrance ramp,” pointed out a further viewer, while another exclaimed: “Holy s*** Paul! Looks amazing…!”
While wrestling fans still have a few hours to wait to watch wrestling live on Netflix, they’ve still been able to fill their boots with content since WWE content started dropping on the steaming platform on New Year’s Day.
A raft of archive pay-per-views, TV shows and new features have all already proved a hit.