Report: NBCUniversal to renew WWE Raw, SD being shopped around
According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter Wednesday, NBCUniversal is looking to bring back WWE Raw at a hefty increase while declining to re-up WWE SmackDown, allowing the company to shop the Tuesday night staple around to other media outlets.
The report said that the Raw deal “is expected to close at as much as three times its current value” and would remain on USA Network. They added that Fox is a potential suitor for SmackDown, a network that had been rumored for months for Raw as well.
If accurate, this would follow the divide-and-conquer plan that UFC is currently incorporating as their deal with Fox is up this year. They recently announced 15 events are heading to new digital partner ESPN+ starting in 2019 but they have not announced a plan for a traditional broadcast/cable partner as of yet.
After a run on network TV, NBCUniversal brought SmackDown into the fold in 2010, first airing it on Syfy and moving it to USA in January 2016.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.