WWE CCO Paul "Triple H" Levesque says WWE will see less censorship when Raw moves to Netflix. Screen grab: ‘The Pat McAfee Show’
By Ben Axelrod on

On multiple occasions since it was first announced, Paul “Triple H” Levesque has referred to WWE Raw‘s upcoming move to Netflix as a “game-changer.”

Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday, the WWE chief content officer explained one of the ways in which his company’s presence on the streamer will affect its on-air product, pointing to the less restrictive nature of the platform.

“Right now, just as an example of us being on Fox and if the crowd chants, ‘Holy s**t’ or something much worse, they just take that audio — sometimes they take the picture and the audio off and it’s just a black screen,” Levesque said.

McAfee — who provides color commentary for Raw — noted that one such moment happened earlier this year in a highly anticipated segment involving The Rock, in which Fox repeatedly cut the visual feed because a “Die Rocky die” sign could be seen on-screen.

“We won’t have those issues with Netflix,” Levesque continued. “The ability to be live globally, the ability to have everything seen all at once, everywhere — it’s a game-changing moment. I think in many ways, not to disparage other partners because we want to be everywhere, but that’s sort of where the world is heading, is streaming services. You see the NFL sticking their toe in the water, the NBA is, every sport is.

“I think it’s why this Netflix deal for us was so game-changing. I think everybody’s going to be watching us in January, especially those other sports. From a business side, they’re going to be watching to see what we do, what we do differently and how that’s received.”

News of Raw being uncensored on Netflix will surely be welcomed by wrestling fans, many of whom have expressed a desire for the product to be less kid-friendly. While the “Attitude Era” of the late-1990s and early-2000s pushed boundaries in terms of language, violence and even nudity, WWE has largely adhered to TV-PG guidelines in the years since.

The pro wrestling giant, however, has quietly gotten back to pushing the boundaries in recent years — at least as far as its TV partners will let it. Come January, however, that won’t be an issue, with Netflix providing a platform for Raw to be as uncensored as it’s ever been.

[The Pat McAfee Show]

About Ben Axelrod

Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.

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