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While companies like WWE and AEW will always have to compete with major sports airing throughout the week, 2024 is one of the biggest years for sports in recent memory. On top of the likes of the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB airing their seasons, events such as the European Championship and Copa America soccer tournaments (the latter of which has been hosted in the United States) have occupied people's viewing schedules, and the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris, France is set to disrupt wrestling fan's viewing habits in the same way that the Winter Games in Beijing did in 2022.
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The 2024 Summer Games begins on July 26, and will air across a number of NBC Universal stations until the closing ceremony on August 11. What this means for WWE in particular is that two of their weekly shows will be forced to find new homes for two weeks. According to Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, both "WWE Raw," and "WWE NXT" will air on SyFy while the Olympic Games take place, as the USA Network will be dominated by Olympic coverage. The shows in question are the July 29 and August 6 episodes of "Raw," and the July 30 and August 7 episodes of "NXT," with "WWE SmackDown" unaffected.
Fans will have to get used to watching WWE programming on different networks over the next few months, given the fact that all three of WWE's main TV shows will finish up their respective current media rights deals. In October, "NXT" and "SmackDown" will both move away from their networks, with "NXT" moving to The CW while "SmackDown" will move from FOX to USA. "Raw" will remain on USA until the end of 2024, but will officially move to Netflix at the beginning of 2025.
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