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By Ella Jay/Feb. 4, 2024 3:39 pm EST
WWE recently announced that its weekly flagship show — "WWE Raw" — will be moving to the Netflix streaming platform in several regions, including the United States, in January 2025. In the meantime, "Raw" will continue airing on the USA Network until October 2024, when its current American television rights deal expires. Once this agreement ends, however, "Raw" will be temporarily void of a broadcasting home. On a recent episode of the "83 Weeks" podcast, former WCW President Eric Bischoff shared his prediction on where "Raw" may land during the final quarter of this year.
"Best guess, Peacock. What else is there?" Bischoff said. "I mean, there may be other options and alternatives that we're just not aware of because we're not in the day-to-day business and talking to folks, but from where I'm sitting right now, that just seems to be the most obvious choice by default if nothing else. Peacock could be happy. Why not? It's good for them WWE. It would serve WWE's interim challenge, and it sets people up to get used to watching Raw on streaming. Who knows, but that's, to me, the only obvious choice."
In 2021, WWE signed a multi-year agreement with Peacock that would provide the outlet with exclusive streaming rights to the WWE Network in the United States. Since then, WWE has transferred much of its media library, including past episodes of "Raw," to Peacock, making Peacock a potential broadcast option for WWE to consider as they look ahead at the future of "Raw." According to Bischoff, there is another route that WWE could also explore.
"Maybe they would opt to go dark and just build anticipation. The absence-makes-the-heart-grow-fonder factor kicks in, and they get even more tune in than they might otherwise, so that's also an option," Bischoff said.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "83 Weeks" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
