WWE Shakeup: SmackDown To Leave Fox For USA Network, Monday Night Raw Reportedly Out Too

WWE will no longer be laying the smack down every Friday night on Fox. The sports-entertainment company announced that the wrestling promotion's SmackDown program will head to the USA Network.

The move most likely means the end of WWE's Monday Night RAW program on the USA Network. That contract, along with the WWE's NXT program, expire next year. The implications are huge as RAW has been the staple of not only the WWE, but the wrestling business since its debut in 1993.

Fox purchased the WWE SmackDown rights in 2019 for $1 billion. The new rights agreement is expected to be worth around $1.4 billion - a nearly 40% increase. In addition to the SmackDown move, the WWE will also air four NBC primetime specials. The WWE has had a streaming agreement with NBCUniversal's Peacock network since 2021 meaning RAW could head there, or to other places such as Amazon Prime.

BOTH SMACKDOWN AND RAW WILL HAVE NEW SPOTS

The move also shows a "changing of the guard" if you will from Monday Night RAW being the organization's main programming focus to SmackDown. Fox saw some of its highest ratings in years this past Friday when The Rock returned to SmackDown in electrifying fashion with the program averaging 2.6 million viewers at one point.

The shift from Fox to the USA Network - which obviously is on a channel that is part of the declining cable viewership - is an interesting one. The network has to know that they aren't going to be able to bring in as big of ratings as they did on Fox, especially on a Friday night where overall TV viewership declines.

The WWE recently merged with the UFC to form a new publicly traded sports and entertainment company called Endeavor Group.