SUMMARY
- A former WWE wrestler revealed on his YouTube channel that during his tenure from 2001-2005, RAW paid better than SmackDown.
- WWE announced a historic decade-long collaboration with Netflix, selling the exclusive airing rights of its flagship program RAW to the streaming platform.
WWE is the most famous professional wrestling promotion in the world. The Stamford-based promotion is often credited for making professional wrestling a global phenomenon. As of February 2024, it has a market cap value of a whopping $8.37 billion.
The Triple-H-led promotion has two main brands and one developmental brand. Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown are the major brands and NXT is a developmental brand. Well, fans often wonder which of these two main brands paid more to the wrestlers.
Maven Huffman, a 47-year-old WWE veteran, seems to have the answer for this. He has his own YouTube channel ‘Maven Huffman’ where he posted a video about which of the brands paid better. He has served his tenure at the Stamford-based promotion from 2001-2005.
After the 2002 draft, he went to the blue brand and spent a brief time there. According to Maven, SmackDown was a taped event those days and was not telecasted live. Whereas RAW was the live event. He said that pay depends on the number of people.
He said, “At this time Smackdown Drew less it just wasn’t as big of a draw that raw was so technically did we make less money” Since being a non-televised event SmackDown garnered fewer people and therefore paid less to the wrestlers. Maven was on SmackDown for a few months before he broke his leg and went out.
When he was brought back by the company, this time he debuted on RAW. He further said that money on the red brand was better than SmackDown. He said, “Getting back to the money aspect of it was it noticeably different slightly I mean you might make 5 to 10% more just for being on Raw.” explaining that RAW paid better than SmackDown.
RAW has found a new home after a $5 billion deal with Netflix
WWE announced a historic decade-long collaboration with Netflix and sold the airing right of its flagship RAW program. This deal will mark the change of the red brand moving from the television for the first time.
WWE Raw is coming to Netflix!
Starting in January 2025, @Netflix will exclusively stream #WWERaw (in the US, Canada, UK, & Latin America) every single week, all year long! https://t.co/SOSACjfp7w pic.twitter.com/lTdSXMep9K
— WWE (@WWE) January 23, 2024
Fans were seen talking about this all over the internet as this was a significant programming change. According to the deal, Netflix will begin airing RAW in January 2025 for the next 10 years.
WWE President Nick Khan and the Chief Content Officer Triple-H were seen praising the deal on social media. It is expected that Monday Night RAW will bring a lot of fans to Netflix given its rich history and recognition.
SmackDown has also found its new home in 2023
Last year in 2023 the Stamford-based promotion went into a deal with NBCUniversal to land the Friday Night SmackDown program on USA Network. Reportedly the deal was worth $1.4 billion and will start in October 2024 for the next five years.
BREAKING: WWE have officially agreed to a five-year domestic media rights partnership that will bring Friday Night #SmackDown back to USA Network beginning October 2024 🚨 pic.twitter.com/MIFzJOFrSP
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) September 21, 2023
The blue brand was previously signed with FOX for about $205 million per year. The new deal witnessed a forty percent growth in monetary benefits. WWE has landed deals worth Billions of dollars for its promotions and it will be exciting to see how these shows will transit on their new homes in the future.