Netflix To Air WWE Events In Japan Starting October 1

WWE will soon have a new home in Japan.

On Tuesday, WWE announced that they have reached an agreement with Netflix to air their weekly content, RAW, NXT, and SmackDown, in Japan starting on October 1. This news comes months after they initially announced that their distribution rights with ABEMA will end on September 30.

This news broke during Monday Night RAW on the September 14, and was subsequently announced on WWE Japan’s Twitter account. This news seemed to confuse fans on social media, as some believed this meant that they were attempting to gain a foothold into the country’s scene, like they did last year when they bought AAA.

It’s worth clarifying that this is absolutely not the case as this announcement was simply about distribution. WWE has aired on different channels in Japan over the past 3 decades, most notably with J SPORTS from the late 1990s to 2022. Then they moved to ABEMA in 2023, where they will last until September 30, as previously noted.

As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on WWE’s move to Netflix in Japan as soon as we hear more.