One of WWE’s biggest broadcast deals is officially coming to an end, but some might think it was inevitable.
For months, there had been talk that WWE could soon have a new streaming home once its current agreement expired. Now, a new announcement has made that move look a whole lot more likely.
Back in May, Dave Meltzer talked about WWE’s television future in Japan on Wrestling Observer Radio following the changes to New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s ownership. According to Meltzer, WWE’s deal with ABEMA was expected to end before the close of 2026, with Netflix lined up to take over.
“WWE was on ABEMA, which is a streaming service… Gabe Spitzer of Netflix had mentioned just the other day that WWE would be going on Netflix before the end of the year in Japan. So it’d be when this contract is up. So they were losing Japan, and Netflix was getting it.”
At the time, that was just the expectation. Now, WWE’s current broadcast partner has made it official.
ABEMA announced that it will stop carrying RAW, SmackDown and every WWE Premium Live Event after September 30, with the September 29 episode of RAW set to be its final WWE broadcast.
“We will be discontinuing the distribution of WWE content (RAW / SMACKDOWN / all PLE events) on ABEMA as of Wednesday, September 30, 2026… Thank you to everyone who has watched WWE on ABEMA until now.”
The partnership has been in place since 2023, when ABEMA became WWE’s exclusive home in Japan.
The deal brought RAW, SmackDown and every Premium Live Event to the platform with Japanese commentary, marking WWE’s return to a major Japanese broadcaster after its two-decade run with J Sports ended in 2021.
The timing is interesting because WWE isn’t the only company changing where fans in Japan watch wrestling.
AEW is also leaving NJPW World later this year, with weekly programming moving to MyAEW instead. Between that move and WWE’s expected switch, it’s pretty clear that things in Japan are changing as far as wrestling content is concerned.
With that said, WWE still hasn’t officially confirmed Netflix as its next home.
But with ABEMA now confirming the end of its deal, and Meltzer reporting Netflix was next in line, that move looks more likely than ever. 【お知らせ】
ABEMAにて配信しておりましたWWEコンテンツ（RAW / SMACKDOWN / 各PLE大会）につきまして、2026年9月30日（水）をもちまして配信を終了いたします。
中継においては9月29日（火）のRAWが最後となります。
これまでABEMAでWWEをご視聴いただいた皆様、誠にありがとうございました。…
— ABEMAプロレス (@Abema_wrestling) August 25, 2026
Want to get the latest wrestling news direct to your phone? Join our WhatsApp community by clicking here.
