Netflix VP Says They Don’t Often Talk To WWE Regarding Standards Of Blood Or Cursing

WWE has been on Netflix for nearly two years now, with Raw airing in the United States and all WWE content airing internationally.

Viewership for Raw has been steady, with roughly 2.4 million views globally each week.

Gabe Spitzer, Vice President Global Live Sports and Entertainment for Netflix, recently spoke with Richard Deitsch of the Sports Media podcast, and was asked how the partnership is going.

“We’re almost two years in and this was our first big live sports entertainment deal. I’ve been a fan for a long time. Great partners over there with people like Paul Levesque, Lee Fitting, and Nick Khan. They’ve been great partners. We’re thrilled with the results so far. We knew in the US, with something like Raw, having that every week, there was going to be that passionate and loyal fanbase that was going to show up. They have come in expected ways over to Netflix. It ticked every metric we hoped for on the US side. The place where we’ve been surprised, in a good way, that will continue to grow is outside of the US. That’s really where we see the potential and continue to grow this partnership. In the US, we have Raw only; outside of the US, in most countries around the world, we’re the home for all of WWE. It’s been cool to see as different countries have come online; Italy came online this past year, and they did a big PLE in Italy. They’re working with us and saying, ‘What are the countries you want to continue to grow and how can we boost that viewership?’ They’re going back to Australia; they’ve been to Europe; they’re going to Mexico for a big Raw. That’s been the cool evolution of the partnership. Beyond the loyal and passionate viewers- and there are a lot of them- to see how we can bring new fans around the world,” he said.

Asked if they have conversations with WWE regarding too much blood or cursing, Spitzer replied, “Not often. Obviously, there are ratings standards that anyone has to adhere to. We’re Netflix so we try to be a little looser on that. The place where we’ve had conversations with them around locations has also helped us…there have been examples where, with the Raw coming up in a couple of weeks, it’s leading to a big Roman Reigns championship match after this tournament they’ve done, the ability for us to promote three to four weeks out for a big Raw, starting off the year with Bron Breakker vs. CM Punk. That’s the type of conversation we’ve had where you potentially go to this city, or if there’s a big matchup, can you let us know three, four, five weeks in advance so we can start promoting that outside of the PLEs. They’ve been very receptive of that.”

Fans have been upset that Netflix has blurred blood or edited cursing or other lines that may have pushed the boundaries.

On the August 31 episode of WWE Raw, Netflix blurred out the bloody faces of The Usos in a backstage attack.

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.