By: Mark Aguilar
In early 2024, it was announced that Netflix struck a $5 billion, 10-year deal to stream WWE’s Monday Night ‘Raw’ in the U.S. and other premium live events internationally.
This was a monumental moment in wrestling, as it signaled the revival of professional wrestling within mainstream media. Arguably, professional wrestling is as popular now as the heights it reached in the late 90s and early 2000s during the Monday Night Wars between the WWE, then known as the WWF (World Wrestling Federation), and WCW (World Championship Wrestling). Today, there has been a surge in popularity for wrestling, and that’s thanks to the many changes that have come to the wrestling industry over the years.
After the WWE defeated their competitors WCW in 2001 and bought out the company, there was no longer a major wrestling promotion competing with them.
Although the WWE thrived during the 2000s, a time dubbed the ‘Ruthless Aggression Era’, the company began to lose popularity in the late 2000s. This was due to many reasons, but a huge factor was the rating of its weekly television series ‘Raw’ and ‘Smackdown’ going from TV-14 to TV-PG. Fans felt that the edge and grittiness of the stories and wrestling were gone, and the company began focusing too much on being family-friendly.
Dubbed the “PG Era” between 2008 and 2014, the WWE would lose many of its longtime fans during this time. The only other alternative for professional wrestling at the time was Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), which still heavily trailed the WWE in ratings and popularity.
In 2014, the WWE launched its streaming service called the WWE Network. This was a groundbreaking moment, as fans no longer needed to purchase the monthly pay-per-view events that could range between $40-$70 every month. Starting at $9.99 a month, fans could subscribe to the network and access the large catalog of previous WWE events and upcoming pay-per-views, now dubbed, premium live events. This new era is often dubbed the ‘Reality Era.’
While these changes in the company were happening, the shows began to get better in quality. The company started listening to fans more, which was evident with the famous Daniel Bryan storyline in 2014. Bryan was a fan favorite wrestler who the company did not view as a draw for them.
The fans would reject other wrestlers that the company tried pushing on them, mainly Batista after he won the 2014 Royal Rumble, and would continue chanting Bryan’s name at random during shows. The company was forced to change direction, making a storyline out of it on television and eventually having Bryan win the world title at the main event of WrestleMania.
The company continued to persist, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, where they would still put on shows in an empty arena without fans.
There was one constant throughout this time, which was Vince McMahon. McMahon led the WWE (previously known as WWF) against its war with WCW, led the company during its many eras, and had total control over each storyline and every aspect of the company he co-founded with his wife, Linda McMahon.
McMahon has been involved in many controversies during his time at WWE. Between the steroids scandal that almost destroyed the company, the deaths of many wrestlers, and other abusive allegations made towards McMahon, he always remained in control. In 2023, McMahon sold his company to Endeavor for $9.3 billion and formed a new company, TKO Group Holdings, Inc., which now owns the WWE and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
After this sale, McMahon took a back seat when it came to booking the shows. In early 2024, McMahon became involved in an ongoing sex trafficking lawsuit and has since cut ties with the WWE and TKO. Creative control went to WWE legend Paul Levesque, also known as Triple H. His new direction in booking shows valued long-term storytelling and quality of stories over anything else.
Levesque has ushered in a new era at the company, making many changes from the McMahon era. Between striking the multibillion-dollar deal with Netflix, hosting live events more often outside the U.S., bringing in new talents from other wrestling promotions, and even collaborating with other wrestling promotions, the WWE continues to evolve. Wrestlers like Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, and Jey Uso are among those who have thrived and have helped bring the WWE to where it is today.
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