WWE Raw Debut on Netflix: The Rock and John Cena Draw 4.9 Million Global Viewers

WWE Raw’s debut episode on Netflix was a huge hit, attracting nearly 5 million viewers worldwide, according to a statement from Netflix. The show received 4.9 million Live+1 views globally, which is calculated by the total number of hours the show was viewed divided by its runtime.

In the United States alone, Raw averaged 2.6 million households, a significant 116 percent increase from its average viewership of 1.2 million per episode in 2024. This debut episode on Netflix not only surpassed Raw’s average viewership on the USA Network in 2024 but also marked the highest U.S. viewership for any episode of Raw in the past five years, doubling the average audience aged 18 to 49 from the previous year.

After over 30 years on cable television, WWE’s flagship show made the move to streaming through a groundbreaking agreement with Netflix. In a deal worth $5 billion over 10 years, WWE granted Netflix exclusive rights to Raw, as reported by Joe Otterson of Variety last January.

The historic episode featured appearances from wrestling legends like The Rock, John Cena, and The Undertaker. The Rock kicked off the show with a promo, Cena began his farewell tour with a passionate speech, and other notable moments included CM Punk defeating Seth Rollins, Rhea Ripley winning the Women’s World Championship, and Jey Uso causing an upset by defeating Drew McIntyre.

Although Raw’s 4.9 million global viewers is an impressive number, Netflix pointed out that it doesn’t capture the full scope of the audience, as Raw is not available on Netflix in 92 countries and territories, including France, Germany, India, Italy, and Japan. Viewers in these locations continue to watch WWE programming on the WWE Network, but there may be potential for them to transition to Netflix in 2025, broadening the show’s viewership even further.