Netflix’s partnership with WWE keeps getting bigger, and the streaming company is already looking for the expansion of WWE content into even more countries.
Netflix officially became the new home of RAW in the United States in January 2025 after WWE signed a streaming deal with the company in 2024. Outside the U.S., Netflix also started streaming SmackDown, NXT, WrestleMania, and other PLEs in certain international markets around the same time.
Gabe Spitzer says WWE on Netflix will launch in Japan later this year
According to Netflix Vice President of Sports Gabe Spitzer, WWE programming has performed even better than expected since RAW moved to Netflix.
Spitzer recently appeared on The Main Event with Andrew Marchand podcast, where he spoke about Netflix’s growing relationship with WWE. He explained that Netflix sees huge long-term potential in the promotion and wants to help grow its audience around the world.
“It’s been above our expectations and I think, like I said, we know that audience is there in the U.S. and I think the win for both us and WWE would be continuing to grow that around the world,” Spitzer said.
Spitzer also explained that WWE is different from other traditional sports. One of the biggest points from Spitzer’s interview was Netflix’s focus on international expansion. He revealed that WWE content has recently launched in Italy and Germany, while Japan is expected to be added later this year.
“We see it differently because it is truly sports entertainment. It is a soap opera that has ebbs and flows throughout an entire year and when we started to talk to WWE, obviously, they have this incredibly loyal, passionate audience that will come for RAW which we have in the U.S. week in and week out but, I think they saw, in us, a platform that could help them grow around the world and they’ve been incredible partners in that sense. We have all WWE content outside of the U.S. so that’s WrestleMania, it’s RAW, it’s SmackDown, and we’ve just launched in Italy, in Germany. We’re launching in Japan later this year,” he said.
Japan has always been an important market for the wrestling promotion. Bringing WWE to Netflix in Japan could help the company grow even more internationally. It also fits the promotion’s recent focus on expanding its global business and reaching more fans outside North America.
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