Hiya!

I would think a lot of professional wrestling fans in the Philippines got super excited when it was announced the WWE made a deal with Netflix to start broadcasting Monday Night RAW on the streaming service. This is because a lot of fans here in my home country have been left out of professional wrestling programming for a long time as there are no well-known streaming services which carry WWE or even AEW here. This was going to be our chance to actually keep up to date with what was happening on RAW. The WWE went all out making the world know about this big switch to Netflix as well.

Not only was the WWE going to broadcast RAW live on the streaming service, it seems they will also start showing Smackdown, NXT, classic matches as well as the pay-per-views on Netflix! After how fans experienced WWE programming on Disney+ here (hint: it was terrible!), this was more than welcome news and seemed too good to be true.

Sadly, yes. It is too good to be true because it turned out Netflix won’t be showing any WWE programming over here in the Philippines! I can imagine hundreds of WWE fans in the Philippines waking up on Tuesday morning in the hopes of watching the very first Monday Night RAW live when it broadcasts on Netflix only to find out it’s region blocked! That’s more than Netflix and the WWE breaking our hearts. It’s the two of them hitting us with steel chairs like an Edge and Christian con-chair-to, chokeslamming us through the Hell in the Cell roof like what Undertaker did to Mick Foley and then clamping a car battery to our sensitive nether regions like what Kane did to Shane McMahon. Okay, I’m being overdramatic but you get my point: it sucks!

Honestly, I can’t help but feel betrayed by Netflix and the WWE because they did make a big deal out of this. They kept hyping up the first episode of Monday Night RAW on Netflix as if it was going to be the most special thing and it was! The early card was stacked with things like the start of John Cena‘s “official” retirement tour, a Tribal Combat match between Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa, a Last Woman Standing for the RAW Women’s Championship between Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley and, finally, CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins. That last match looked like it was going to be fire because of the stellar promo work the two of them did… but nope! No RAW on Netflix for you, Philippines! So, no CM Punk vs Seth Rollins for you as well! Boo!

In reality, I do have an idea as to why Netflix cannot just broadcast the WWE programming all over the world like they do with their other programs. They still have to cater to copywrite and licensing rules for each country. At the same time, however, I don’t really see what’s holding Netflix back from just unleashing WWE programming throughout wherever Netflix is available.

A good example is, well, the Philippines! The only place where you can actually watch RAW and Smackdown is a streaming service only available here: Blast TV. We talked about Blast TV a while ago, detailing other streaming services which are available only in the Philippines. While it is a good streaming service, it’s no Netflix. Blast TV may show RAW and Smackdown but it doesn’t have the other WWE programs and definitely none of the “premium live events” as, simply put, it’s not Netflix! Not only that, I don’t think a lot of people here in the Philippines has even heard of Blast TV because, once again, they’re not Netflix! It’s just something you can get if you have a couple of specific Internet services, not some worldwide streaming conglomerate!

However, if I’m being honest, the blame probably lies with the WWE itself as they’re probably the one who isn’t allowing Netflix to show their programming in the Philippines and other countries not included in the package. This most likely has to deal with their previous WWE Network service before they decided maintaining a streaming service was too much work. They essentially outsourced the product to other local streaming services all around the world. The thing is, not every streaming service all around the world is made equal, which is why the Philippines got a really raw deal when the WWE “premium live events” were being carried exclusively by Disney+ here.

It’s weird because you would think Disney+ would have all the top-notch WWE stuff but it didn’t! It didn’t have RAW. It didn’t have Smackdown. It didn’t have NXT! It did show the pay-per-views/premium live events but there was a catch: you couldn’t watch them on demand! The only way to watch them on Disney+ was to watch them live. Seeing that the Philippines is a good 13 hours ahead of the United States, that means you have to wake up very early to catch most of them! That’s no fun! I don’t want to be yawning while watching a WWE pay-per-view because I’m sleepy! I wanna be yawning while watching a WWE pay-per-view because Jey Uso is taking on his brother Jimmy Uso in a boring match at Wrestlemania 40!

The thing that really grinds my gears is how it feels like they’re ignoring the Philippines as well as the other countries who will not be getting WWE programming when shows like RAW and Smackdown do move to Netflix. It’s not like there aren’t professional wrestling fans here or the myriad of other countries they’ve cut off. It’s not like we haven’t been loyal to the WWE or Netflix either. They can try to blame it on piracy but, when you don’t make it easy for us to watch the product through legitimate means, what do you expect?

Granted, all isn’t quite lost. As I mentioned, smaller streaming services in your country such as Blast TV in the Philippines may be broadcasting WWE programs like RAW and Smackdown. In fact, I urge you to try watching RAW and Smackdown on Blast TV because at least they’re supporting us in getting our WWE fix. There’s also the trick of using VPN services to trick Netflix into thinking you’re in one of the countries who the WWE allows to show RAW, Smackdown, NXT and the “premium live events” in. Heck, there’s a good chance that what Netflix is banking on! If this is the case, why do you have to make us jump through hoops and loopholes to watch the stuff we love?

Oh, well, at least Max has some AEW programming we can watch on that streaming service here in the Philippines, right?

Goddammit!

Byee!

What do you think of the bonehead decision of Netflix not showing WWE content in the Philippines and other territories? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!