WWE has launched on Netflix in the UK with a bang - bringing thousands of new and returning UK viewers to professional wrestling with the largest amount of new and archived programmes and live events available in one place for British fans for a long time. Netflix's UK top ten has had wrestling shows in it daily since WWE joined the platform earlier this month - and some of the biggest stars on the roster think this is only the beginning.
Brits of a certain age will remember when the then-WWF (they changed the name in 2002 after a long-running row with the World Wildlife Fund charity ended in court) became huge in the UK. The brand was one of Sky’s most eye-catching early imports - a world away from what armchair wrestling fans were previously used to courtesy of names like Big Daddy appearing on ITV ’s World of Sport, culminating in wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker becoming household names and Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart and British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith headlining Summerslam ‘92 at Wembley Stadium, breaking the record for audience capacity at the time.
But a lot has changed since those days. Match results in wrestling are now openly acknowledged to be pre-determined, wrestlers like The Rock and John Cena have become breakout movie stars and the athleticism and strength of the men and women at the forefront of it all is next level. Meanwhile the week-by-week storylines that power the feuds have been bordering on cinematic thanks to stars like Romans Reigns and the Bloodline and Cody Rhodes finally finishing his underdog story.
