Paul "Triple H" Levesque has revealed that he no longer believes the Attitude Era is the biggest era for WWE. Appearing at a special launch event heralding the arrival of Monday Night Raw on Netflix in January for US audiences, and further programming for international territories, Triple H revealed exactly which era he believes eclipses the legendary period.
Alongside Levesque at the WWE and Netflix Lunch and Learn event (which ScreenRant's Joe Deckelmeier was in attendance for), Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria, Netflix Vice President of Non Fiction & Sports Brandon Reigg, WWE boss Nick Khan, and a host of WWE talent appeared. Triple H addressed Michael Cole, in as host, about the current state of play for WWE:
"You said earlier today, and I don't want to sound like I'm disagreeing with you, you said Attitude era was the biggest, most robust. I don't exactly how you said the era in WWE. I don't think that is accurate anymore. I think it's right now, and I think that the moment that we are going through right now, I was in the attitude era at the peak of it as you were. We didn't realize what it was in the moment. Having seen that, I see this and I see it way bigger. I see this as this different moment in time in the business and it being something different. And you mentioned the Triple H here, I don't think it's that. I think this at the end of it is going to be called the Netflix era. That's where the big change is."
So there we have it, acknowledgment from Triple H of the official name of the new era.
What The Netflix Era Means For WWE
From the same event, we already have confirmation that WWE Raw won't be changing its rating, despite rumors online of a more adult focus. But there were more interesting reveals about the direction of the newly-named Netflix Era. Levesque is particularly enthusiastic about making Netflix a "one stop shop" for WWE content and PLEs, while there is also talk of more unscripted WWE content, and crossovers.
Interestingly, Levesque also talked about giving WWE talent more time off for other projects or to recuperate, even if not injured. Nick Khan also underlined the likelihood of more international shows, with Raw and Smackdown leaving the US more frequently, as part of the brand's expansion in 2025:
'We started planting the seeds for that about a year and a half ago in doing, I would say, half of our live events (PLEs) from international territories. So I mentioned some of them earlier. You're going to see more of that in 2025. You're also going to see a run of raws and smack downs from international locations, which is not something that we've done frequently in the past."
Additionally, Triple H commented on the current fan response to WWE and the immediacy of reactions; something that will be dialled up massively once Netflix presumably brings the product to an even wider audience:
"Yeah, I mean it's everywhere and being live content like that, it's interesting to see those 24 hour numbers like the explosion of that moment between Roman Reigns and CM Punk immediately. But then, overnight as people start getting up and as people start coming into the program and watching it back and it blows up, but it's that immediacy of the world being connected all at once.
It is mind-boggling to me the moment of us hitting Netflix. And I don't think people understand truly what that means. So, outside of the US, when you have that moment, whereas a WWE fan and everything has always been either you have to go find it, or where's this programming? What is that programming? Where is the PLE going to be now? It's this one stop shop. And I think people are talking about it like, wow, this can be great when Netflix, I don't think they fully get yet that the rest of the world we're getting everything on that date all at once."
Our Take On WWE Coming To Netflix
As Triple H rightly says, the Netflix deal for WWE is an absolute game-changer. Broader audiences for PLEs who don't have to pay an additional PPV fee is a recipe for hugely inflated audiences: as the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight proved. But generally speaking, opening WWE up to more households, and potentiall lapsed fans is a marketing masterstroke that simply isn't possible with a conventional network TV schedule. It's right that the new era of WWE is proclaimed the Netflix Era, because it's going to be the single biggest thing to happen to the company in a long time.
WWE's Monday Night Raw will premiere on Netflix at 5 pm PT/8 pm ET on January 6
