Dave Meltzer Discusses WWE Raw Staying On USA For 4th Quarter Of 2024

WWE's upcoming deal with Netflix begins at the start of 2025, but the company's current deal with the USA Network to broadcast "WWE Raw" expires at the end of September, meaning that there could have been a three-month period where WWE's longest-running show would either air elsewhere or potentially not at all. However, the company agreed a deal with the network worth $25 Million to broadcast "WWE Raw" until the end of 2024, with the final episode of "WWE Raw" scheduled to air on cable television being on December 30. According to Dave Meltzer on "Wrestling Observer Radio," USA got a great deal. 

"They had budgeted zero dollars for that period," Meltzer said. "They thought that if they couldn't get it on, I don't know if they'd put it on YouTube or what. When they budgeted for the year, they budgeted zero dollars for Raw in the last three months of the year. So it's actually, when it comes to the financials and everything 25 Million more dollars than they expected, which is a steal though."

The deal did beg the question to some people of why Netflix wouldn't decide to pick the show up early instead of waiting for 2025. However, Meltzer noted that the streaming giant only wanted a deal that ran from the beginning of the year. 

"They wanted a 10-year deal, January to January, they had the ball in their court," Meltzer said. "They didn't want an October to October deal. They wanted a January to December deal. Obviously, they didn't want to pick it up early, because if they wanted to pick it up early they could have got it, but then the whole thing is that it's only for the United States."

Please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.