How to watch Smackdown in 2025 after WWE moves to Netflix

In January, perhaps the biggest wrestling news of the year occurred (except for all the headlines from the Vince McMahon scandal), when it was announced that WWE had entered into a new groundbreaking television rights deal with Netflix. Raw will move to the streaming giant in January 2025. After thirty years on television, most of which in the United States, the red brand’s Monday evening show will take a risk and move to streaming. So what about Smack down? This is where it gets equally interesting. Depending on where you live, you’ll now also be able to watch the blue brand’s Friday night show on Netflix.

UPDATED: 2025/01/03 5:00 PM EST BY SHAWN VAN HORN

American fans will be watching WWE SmackDown on the USA Network for at least the next few years, but for international viewers, the big change has come. While Raw is high-profile for Netflix on January 6, the January 3 episode of SmackDown will actually air there first for viewers outside the United States. That’s not all either, as a series called WWE SmackDown Vault and many past episodes are now available.

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NetflIx will stream WWE Raw starting January 2025

WWE and Netflix have a five-year deal

Raw and Netflix logos in front of a WWE crowd

The WWE Raw-Netflix deal was announced in January 2024.
The deal with Netflix is worth $5 billion.
Triple H said Raw would not be censored on Netflix.

On January 23, 2024, WWE, TKO and Netflix announced that Raw was leaving the familiarity of the USA Network for a new challenge at Netflix. The deal was worth a whopping $5 billion.the streamer paying $500 million per year for ten years. This doubled the $250 million WWE receives from the United States to broadcast Raw.

Starting January 6, 2025, no matter where you live, you will only be able to watch Raw on Netflix. Fortunately, it doesn’t matter what subscription level you have. While we think that the show will last between two and three hourshe was revealed to be TV-14and Triple H declared that he would no longer be censored. WWE is pulling out all the stops for the premiere episode, with John Cena, Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes all set to appear. Things get more complicated, however, when it comes to knowing where to find SmackDown in January.

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SmackDown moved from FOX to USA Network

NXT left the United States for the CW

WWE SmackDown and a famous WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes

SmackDown has been getting great ratings on FOX, thanks in part to the storyline of The Bloodline.
FOX dropped SmackDown due to disappointing ad revenue.
The quality of SmackDown in the United States has not declined.

Every WWE show has moved this year. NXT was a big success for USA Network on Tuesday nights, but just recently they moved to CW, which brought a new look to the developmental show.

In 2019, SmackDown made its own big move by moving from cable to network television on FOX. This led to a huge increase in ratings, thanks in part to The Bloodline’s storyline, but because FOX didn’t get the ad revenue they had hoped for, they dropped the Friday night show. On September 13, the show returned to USA Network, and although this led to a sharp drop in viewership, the quality of the show did not miss a beat.

SmackDown gets extra hour on USA Network when RAW moves to Netflix

When Raw moves to Netflix in January, it appears USA Network will give the third hour it spent on the red brand to SmackDown.

International viewers will be able to watch SmackDown on Netflix

The WWE Network is coming to an end

American viewers will watch SmackDown on USA Network for the next five years.
SmackDown, NXT and Premium Live events will all be on Netflix for fans outside the US
The entire WWE library won’t be available on Netflix yet.

If you live in the United States, for the next five years, SmackDown will be back on the USA Network. However, if you live outside the US, that’s where things get interesting, because starting in January, it’s not just Raw that’s on Netflix. Everything is. This includes SmackDown, NXT and Premium Live events. According to Netflix themselves:

Netflix will be the new exclusive home for Raw in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Latin America, among other territories, with other countries and regions to be added over time. Likewise, as part of the deal, Netflix will also become the home for all WWE shows and specials outside of the United States, to the extent available, including Raw and other weekly broadcasts of WWE – SmackDown and NXT – as well as the company’s Premium Live events, including WrestleMania. , SummerSlam and Royal Rumble. WWE’s award-winning documentaries, original series and upcoming projects will also be available on Netflix internationally starting in 2025.

A more recent press release stated that the WWE Network would no longer be available after January 1st. While American viewers have been watching WWE PLEs and past shows on Peacock over the past few years, fans outside the United States still use the WWE Network. the promotion’s own streaming service, founded in 2014. According to Netflix:

Netflix will bring together electrifying WWE content in one place, including weekly shows, Monday Night RAW, SmackDown and NXT, PLUS Premium Live (PLE) events such as WrestleMania, Royal Rumble and SummerSlam. Many WWE highlights, along with historic PLEs and select programming, will be available on Netflix starting January 1… If you’re already a Netflix subscriber, you’re all set. If you are not a Netflix subscriber, you will need to subscribe so you don’t miss anything. We can’t wait for you to experience WWE on Netflix in January. (h/t Sports Illustrated)

International fans can now officially watch SmackDown on Netflix

January 3rd SmackDown will air on Netflix

SmackDown has officially moved to Netflix internationally.
Netflix has a series called WWE SmackDown Vault.
Select episodes of older SmackDown episodes will be available to watch.

For American fans, SmackDown won’t see the big change as Raw takes place on January 6, but if you live outside of the United States, Friday, January 3 is when everything will change. This episode of SmackDown is the first on Netflix. While WWE viewers in the United States have noticed that Netflix added WWE Raw content on January 1 with selections named “Raw Vault”, “Raw Is Netflix”, “Best of Raw 2024” and “Raw Classics” (which is hosted by Big E), there is more online for international fans.

According to Sports IllustratedWWE SmackDown Vault is on Netflix, as is WWE NXT Vault. The WWE SmackDown vault description reads:

“From the origins of the Attitude Era to the present day, these matches and milestones spanning more than 25 years reinforce what it means to establish SmackDown in WWE.”

According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider:

“The Raw Vault has been added to Netflix both domestically and internationally. We are receiving emails from readers pointing out that some episodes are not there. This has always been the plan. They will add new content every month in This area. Internationally, the SmackDown and NXT vaults will be similar with new content added regularly. They’re not going to put everything up at once. pay for new content.

As proof, Johnson reported that international viewers can currently see all episodes of SmackDown from 2022 to 2024. While you can’t see any episodes from 2009 to 2021, there are a selection of episodes from other years. Netflix owns 13 of the 20 episodes of SmackDown that premiered in its first year in 1999. They also have 10 episodes from 2000 and another 27 from 2000 to 2008. Over time, expect Netflix to stream every episode, just like the WWE Network.