TKO’s Mark Shapiro Addresses Why Netflix Didn’t Bid for WWE Premium Live Events

It turns out Netflix never even made an offer for WWE Premium Live Events — and TKO executives are now revealing why they were totally fine walking away.

During the Q2 2025 TKO earnings call, Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro confirmed that despite Netflix already housing WWE content internationally, they didn’t put up a bid for WWE’s PLE rights in the United States. Shapiro explained the decision like this:

“What made us feel okay with walking away from Netflix? And by the way, I’m not suggesting they made any offer at any level, but of course, they are a great partner and they have all of our content, for the most part, and the rest of the world outside of SmackDown. Why wouldn’t they have it here?”

He added that ESPN’s proven strength with sports audiences — and the confidence WWE’s fanbase would follow — sealed the deal.

“The ESPN proposition and whether our audience would travel was important to us… that gave us — I would say a firm confidence that we were going to be able to build off what we currently have.”

This comes after WWE announced its five-year, $1.625 billion deal to bring 10 annual Premium Live Events to ESPN’s new $29.99/month streaming platform starting in 2026. While speculation had surrounded Netflix as a potential partner, it turns out the streaming giant never stepped into the ring.

Meanwhile, TKO CFO Andrew Schleimer also confirmed WWE was able to ditch several expensive obligations that were part of the old Peacock deal — including original documentary content and hundreds of hours of in-house production.

Netflix sat this one out, and TKO’s fine with it. But with ESPN’s higher price point, fans will now have to decide whether they’re ready to follow WWE into its next streaming era.

Were you surprised Netflix didn’t try to land WWE’s biggest shows? Let us know in the comments below.