Ahead of the premiere of “Monday Night Raw” on Netflix, WWE has unveiled the new cold open that will air at the beginning of the show.
The video is narrated by WWE chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque and delves into the history and rise of professional wrestling and its parallels with the history and rise of television.
“As television changed, so did wrestling,” Levesque says. “And together, they changed America. The truth is, a great swath of American culture is born of that eternal battle between the face and the heel,” with “face” and “heel” referring to the heroes and villains in wrestling storylines, respectively.
The video moves through a wide range of wrestling’s biggest stars ever, from legends like Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, and Andre the Giant, to modern stars like Roman Reigns, WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes, and Rhea Ripley.
“From television to streaming, from America to the world, ladies and gentlemen, presenting the all real ever fantastic never to end story of WWE,” the video concludes.
“Monday Night Raw” will air live on Netflix for the first time today (Jan. 6) beginning at 8 p.m. ET/7 pm CT.
Watch the full video below.
It was announced in January 2024 that “Raw” would be moving to Netflix in a deal valued at $500 million a year as Netflix expands its live streaming ambitions. WWE programming has been very family friendly for some time now, and Levesque previously said that it not going to change with the move to streaming.
“It’s a safe place for families, for kids, for everybody, to be able to view the programming,” Levesque said at a Netflix event in December. “That will not change.”