Last month, WWE announced it had secured a new five-year media rights deal for WWE SmackDown starting in 2024 which will see the blue brand move back to NBCUniversal’s USA Network for the first time since 2019. The new deal leaves the future of both WWE Raw and WWE NXT uncertain as The Hollywood Reporter noted last month that SmackDown moving back to the channel will “also mean the end of Raw and NXT on USA.”
In the wake of the new deal’s announcement, Sports Business Journal reported that there is potential for Raw to move away from Monday nights as their regular broadcast slot for the first time ever as part of a new deal but noted that nothing concrete has been decided as of yet. A few weeks on from that report, TKO Group Holdings CEO Ari Emanuel confirmed the possibility whilst touting the flexibility of both WWE and UFC during an interview at the Bloomberg Screentime conference yesterday.
“We got a 40% increase for SmackDown. We have Raw which is the number one package available,” Emanuel stated. “There’s three rights coming available to market, three big rights: WWE Raw, UFC, NBA. We are involved in two of them. There’s six buyers. Plus, I would say, WWE Network which is up in ’26, maybe 25-26. So, you cannot undervalue the WWE and UFC for the following reasons: One, we do not have a season. One of the biggest issues that will happen with s-mods and networks is churn. We’re 52 weeks a year and we’re flexible.
You want us Thursday night? You want us Tuesday? I don’t have any of those scheduling issues. That churn issue, because we’re the full year, is so much different from any other sport because then people churn out. That’s one of the issues with sports, not in a bad way, [you sign up for the NFL] and then the package is over and then you leave. We do not have that. Our fans are loyal, they stick around and they move.”
Following Emanuel’s comments, insider X account WrestleVotes reported that Endeavor as a whole is open to the potential of Raw moving to another night: “Regarding the rumors of RAW moving nights, Endeavor is definitely open to it, which they have stated. I can from a backstage (off camera) standpoint, there are tons of people who RAW to continue on Mondays as is. Time will tell.”
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If you use any quotes from this article, please give a h/t to Haus of Wrestling and credit Bloomberg Screentime.