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WWE is making some significant moves in the streaming space. It wasn't long ago that the wrestling giant moved its flagship show, "Monday Night Raw," to Netflix, leaving the USA Network (although not entirely; the company's Friday show, "Smackdown," is still on USA).
The company has now announced a partnership with ESPN for its Premium Live Events (PLE) starting in 2026. These were previously known as Pay-per-Views (PPV), but now that WWE includes them in its streaming deals, this term is no longer accurate.
The deal is worth an average of $325 million annually for five years, totaling $1.6 billion over the life of the agreement.
Previously, these events aired on Peacock (which also has the WWE back catalog of events).
This is a significant shift for WWE and ESPN, as ESPN has traditionally focused its major events coverage on "real" sports like the NFL, whereas WWE is primarily an entertainment entity (it refers to itself as sports entertainment in many instances).
WWE to ESPN — what this means for you
If you're a Peacock subscriber used to watching WWE programming on the streamer, you're going to need to shift to ESPN's $29.99 per month service (much more expensive than Peacock, which can be had for as little as $10.99).
While it sounds pricey, it's important to remember that it was just a few years ago that WWE events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam and the like were $50 or more each on traditional PPV.
The move officially takes effect in 2026, so don't cancel that Peacock subscription just yet. Survivor Series and the other smaller WWE PLEs are still slated to air there, and the Royal Rumble in January will be the first event to drop on ESPN.
If you enjoy WWE's long pre- and post-shows, those will also stream on ESPN.
The one thing that wasn't mentioned is where WWE's back catalog of past events would end up. Currently on Peacock, WWE has a wealth of older wrestling content available, including its own and promotions it has acquired over the years. Presumably, ESPN also wants this content, but it's not mentioned in the press release.
We've reached out to ESPN and WWE for comment and will update this piece if we hear back.
This comes hot on the heels of Disney (ESPN's parent company) announcing that it's doing away with Hulu to bring things together into the Disney Plus app.
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