There’s a very clever and tactical reason behind Netflix overly censoring the WWE product on its platform.

When WWE RAW moved to Netflix in 2025, there was hope and optimism among fans that the show would now be less PG than in the last few years of the Vince McMahon era. After the Ruthless Aggression era ended, WWE wanted to move into a more kid-friendly version of the product.

The Vince McMahon regime sought this as the opportunity to bring in new eyeballs as the average age of viewers significantly increased. The chair shots to the head were gone, blood was gone, and the spicy Diva segments that a lot of us grew up watching were also gone.

However, with the advent of Netflix and the OTT platforms, PG rated television was no longer a thing. The monopoly of the TV networks dictating how a programme needs to pan out or how decent a show must be were gone. WWE was one of the first companies to embrace the Netflix boom and capitalise on it with a new deal for its flagship show, Monday Night RAW.

The opening night saw Roman Reigns main event the show, and it was build up as nothing short of a PPV. To many it seemed that WWE had hit the jackpot with Netflix – the money was huge, there would be a lot of freedom with timings, and how the product would be showcased. But one year and nine months down the line, fans have been mightily disappointed.

Real Reason Behind Netflix Censoring WWE RAW And Other Shows

Netflix’s censoring of WWE is a meme at this point. You know that if there’s something that’s remotely censorable, it will be censored and there’s not stopping it. It started a while back with blood in one of the segments, and then moved on to Brock Lesnar’s t-shirt that said, “Talk sh*t, get hit.” Before that it was about meaningless cuss words that you’re likely to hear almost all the time even at home.

The funniest thing about all this is that Triple H himself said there would be much more freedom when RAW moved to Netflix as the OTT platform hosts a lot of shows and movies that are not rated PG. It was obvious that the promotion would never go back to the Attitude Era levels, but there would be some leeway. Those hopes have been dashed quite viciously and this week’s edition of the show was further proof.

This week’s edition of WWE RAW saw Royce Keys and his yet unnamed group attack The Usos in a backstage segment. With blood spilling everywhere, Netflix censored out everything on the show, even the entirety of Jey Uso’s face and all the blood lying on the floor. Jimmy Uso’s face and arms were also censored, while Netflix did the same with Solo Sikoa.

What was hilarious was that the OTT platform not only censored out Jacob Fatu saying “motherfu*ker” but also bleeped out Roman Reigns saying “bi*ch.” It’s insane to think that a platform that has nudity in a lot of its shows, is censoring out “bi*ch.”

But is this just Netflix’s doing? The answer is no. There’s a deeper reason behind this.

TKO Does Not Want To Drive Away The Kids

The real reason is a bit more complicated and has to be understood from TKO’s perspective.

Remember I talked about Vince McMahon turning WWE PG to reach the younger audience? Well TKO wants to do the same. The blood and gore is great for attracting an older audience who have their own free will to watch whatever they want on these OTT platforms. But when it comes to Netflix, the kids have a lot less say.

Too much gore and blood and cuss words? The end result will be parents asking their children to turn the programme, or worse lock them out of Netflix.

WWE’s core audience is now ageing. Pro wrestling in general is struggling to attract the kids. The past generations were drawn to wrestling via their family and friends, but nowadays most parents don’t introduce their children to the product and it’s not a thing of discussion among friends groups either.

As the current audience nears the end of what advertising and marketing experts call ‘consumer life cycle’, it’s important to grab the attention of those who are younger, but for them to be watching RAW on a Monday night, their parents would have to be completely on the same page. That is not the case with too much blood and gore.

A continued mature rating and 18+ category, ultimately harms WWE, they will never be recommended to the youngsters, and the niche product will be completely overshadowed by other things. So the company tries to play it safe, the cussing is obvious but blurred, the blood is present but censored.

You can tell your friends about this hip new thing you recently started watching, but then there’s never too much for parents to complain about or Netflix to moan about.

A huge business tycoon like WWE rarely does things on simple whim and fancy, and there are always deeper, more succinct meanings to their actions. As far as Netflix is concerned, the censoring is a bit of everything, for everybody, of all age groups.

Is it doing the product any favors? Probably not. If anything, it’s doing more harm than good, because now WWE RAW looks like a goofy mess with everything being pixelated like Japanese you know what.