WWE’s relationship with Netflix just got a pretty interesting shakeup behind the scenes. One of the executives who helped bring WWE to the streaming giant is leaving, and the man replacing her happens to be very familiar with WWE himself.
Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria is leaving the company after holding the position since 2023. Bajaria was instrumental in the negotiations that helped land WWE on Netflix, making her departure especially notable just a couple of years after WWE made its massive move to the platform.
Her exit comes during a bigger shakeup at Netflix. The company is laying off around six percent of its workforce amid stock declines and concerns over stagnant business without signs of substantial growth.
But here’s where things get interesting for WWE. Former Disney and Fox executive Peter Rice is taking Bajaria’s position, and Rice isn’t exactly a stranger to the wrestling business. Rice was one of the major players behind SmackDown moving to Fox. Back in 2018, when he was Chairman and CEO of Fox Networks Group, he was directly involved in trying to land WWE as soon as NBCUniversal’s exclusive negotiating window ended.
The morning after that window expired on May 16, 2018, Rice hosted a meeting on the 44th floor of Fox’s Manhattan headquarters. Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Stephanie McMahon, Rupert Murdoch, Eric Shanks and Larry Jones were all involved, with Fox making a serious pitch to WWE.
Ronda Rousey was also a major selling point at the time. Fox envisioned putting its promotional machine behind WWE across its different platforms, and those talks eventually produced a handshake agreement for SmackDown’s five-year deal running from October 2019 through October 2024.
So WWE is essentially losing one familiar face at Netflix and getting another one in a much bigger position. That doesn’t automatically mean Rice will be pushing for more WWE programming, though, especially since his previous experience includes seeing the entire SmackDown-on-Fox relationship play out from beginning to end.
There’s another reason this situation is worth watching. Raw and WWE’s premium live events have been doing good numbers on Netflix, even if they may not have reached some of the expectations people had when the deal was first announced.
Netflix’s behavior since landing WWE has also raised questions about how much weekly sports programming it actually wants. The company has shown more interest in major events than adding a bunch of regular weekly sports properties, and it didn’t outbid ESPN when the U.S. rights to WWE’s premium live events became available.
None of that means WWE is suddenly in trouble at Netflix, and there’s no indication right now that Rice plans to change anything involving the company. But the executive who helped bring WWE to Netflix walking out while one of the people who helped bring SmackDown to Fox walks in certainly gives WWE another situation to keep an eye on.
What do you think Peter Rice taking over could mean for WWE’s future with Netflix? Let us know in the comments below.
