WWE turns off the top rope
Changes to World Wrestling Entertainment’s TV schedule are flying faster than a Superman Punch from Roman Reigns, as three of pro wrestling’s biggest shows are moving to new (and old) networks. CableTV.com has all the death-match details on your favorite WWE wrestlers’ new TV arenas.
WWE Friday Night SmackDown returns to USA Network
This is no kayfabe: WWE Friday Night SmackDown has exited FOX and moved back to its previous cable home on USA Network, beginning Friday, September 13, superstition be damned. Switching networks is nothing new for SmackDown: Since 1999, the show has aired on UPN, MyNetworkTV, Syfy, and USA, bringing it full squared circle in 2024. As always, SmackDown will remain a two-hour event.
WWE Monday Night Raw drops USA Network for Netflix
In the most significant programming switch-up, WWE Monday Night Raw will leave its decades-long home, USA Network, for the stream-ier pastures of Netflix in January 2025. Before that, Raw will cut its three-hour runtime down to two on October 7, which the show will stick with until its final USA airing on December 30. So far, there’s been no news if Raw will revert to a three-hour format on Netflix.
WWE NXT goes to The CW
Focus up, jabroni: After five years on USA Network (and various stints on Syfy, Hulu, and WWE.com), WWE farm-league wrestling showcase NXT will jump to broadcast TV on Tuesday, October 1, on The CW. This solves The CW’s Tuesday-night programming challenges for the foreseeable future because, like the other WWE shows, NXT is a 52-week-a-year workhorse. As for NXT events like No Mercy, keep reading …
WWE Premium Live Events stay on Peacock
Previously known as PPV (pay-per-view) events, PLE (premium live event) specials like SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, and NXT’s No Mercy will still stream exclusively on Peacock—thank the wrestling gods for a slice of stability. But this could change when Peacock’s contract ends in early 2026, and WWE opts to move its PLEs and catalog to Netflix alongside Raw. Not that WWE will drop NBCUniversal entirely …
WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event might return
Several pro wrestling news sites have reported that NBC and WWE may partner up for the first time since 2008 to bring back Saturday Night’s Main Event, a seasonal broadcast special dating back to the late ’80s. At this point, the comeback is just in the rumor stage (the sweet spot for pro wrestling news sites), and neither NBC nor WWE have confirmed the floated December 2024 premiere.
WWE Main Event and NXT Level Up stay put on Hulu and Peacock
The oft-forgotten WWE Main Event, a one-hour series launched in 2013, will still stream Wednesdays on Hulu and be available on-demand later on Peacock. The show features lower-tier matches taped before Raw on Mondays, which kind of undercuts the “Main Event” title, but no one’s ever accused WWE of underselling anything. Likewise, the similar NXT Level Up will continue to stream Fridays on Peacock.
Bill Frost has been a journalist and TV reviewer since the 4:3-aspect-ratio ’90s. His pulse-pounding prose has been featured in The Salt Lake Tribune, Inlander, Coachella Valley Independent, Las Vegas Weekly, and many other dead-tree publications (see BillFrost.tv). In addition to being a Senior Staff Writer at CableTV.com, Bill is a syndicated streaming TV columnist forSalt Lake City Weekly and other alternative weeklies, and host/producer of TV Tan Podcast. By night, Bill cranks a Flying V with his band at the bar.
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