WWE News: ‘Raw’ to Netflix, Dwayne Johnson Owns ‘The Rock’

WWE has made a lot of news today (Jan. 23) starting with its flagship show Raw.

Per a press release from the wrestling giant, Raw will begin airing on Netflix beginning in January 2025. This is the first time in its 31-year history the show won't be airing on linear television.

Raw on Netflix will impact viewers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Latin America. Additionally, for non-U.S. countries, Netflix will also feature SmackDown, NXT, all documentary/original series and all of WWE's premium live events.

Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said in a statement, "We are excited to have WWE 'Raw,' with its huge and passionate multigenerational fan base, on Netflix. By combining our reach, recommendations, and fandom with WWE, we’ll be able to deliver more joy and value for their audiences and our members."

The Raw news is huge, but so is the latest addition to the Board of Directors of TKO Group Holdings, Inc., the parent company of WWE.

In a press release from TKO, Dwayne Johnson is the newest addition to its Board of Directors, effective on Jan. 23. On top of that, the actor/wrestling icon now owns the rights to his nickname, "The Rock."

Johnson said, in part, in a statement, "Being on the TKO Board of Directors, and taking full ownership of my name, ‘The Rock’, is not only unprecedented, but incredibly inspiring as my crazy life is coming full circle ... I’m very motivated to help continue to globally expand our TKO, WWE, and UFC businesses as the worldwide leaders in sports and entertainment — while proudly representing so many phenomenal athletes and performers who show up every day putting in the hard work with their own two hands to make their dreams come true and deliver for our audiences. I’ve been there, I’m still there and this is for them."

The 2023 Royal Rumble is tomorrow (January 28), and it marks the official kickoff of WrestleMania season aka: "The Road to WrestleMania."

There's ample speculation abound for the men's and women's Rumble matches, from who's going to win to surprise appearances. However, the Royal Rumble card has other attractions. For example, Kevin Owens will take on Roman Reigns in a match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Bianca Beliar will defend the Raw Women's Championship against Alexa Bliss. We'll also find out what exactly a "Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match" is when Bray Wyatt and LA Knight face off.

With this in mind, we're looking at the history of the match/event. Thanks to research from Wrestling-World.com, here are some surprising statistics about the Royal Rumble you may not know.

WWE's YouTube channel is full of videos about current events in the promotion as well as archival matches. Several Royal Rumble matches are available to watch in their entirety. So, which Royal Rumble match has the most views? It's the men's match from 2017, which has over 128 million views and was won by Randy Orton.

The Royal Rumble match has existed since 1988, meaning many past and present WWE superstars have made multiple appearances. But which wrestler has been in the Royal Rumble the most? That's gotta be Kane...and Isaac Yankem...and Fake Diesel! Glenn Jacobs, the current Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, was best known as Kane in WWE, but before he became the Big Red Machine, he was the creepy dentist Isaac Yankem DDS and the infamous Fake Diesel. Between all three personas, Jacobs has appeared in 20 Royal Rumble matches.

Eight wrestlers have won the Royal Rumble twice: Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Brock Lesnar, Batista, John Cena, Randy Orton and Edge. However, there is only one wrestler that has won the Rumble three times making him the wrestler with the most victories. If you knew that wrestler was "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, give us a "Hell Yeah!"

Austin won the Royal Rumble in 1997, 1998 and 2001. The entire 1997 Rumble match is below in its entirety.

Sure, winning the Royal Rumble is impressive, but so is managing to stay in the match for long periods of time. In the three+ decades of its existence, Chris Jericho has logged a cumulative time of 4 hours, 59 minutes and 33 seconds in the Royal Rumble match. With Jericho now with AEW, he's certainly not going to be adding more time to that total any time soon. (If he did, that would truly be one of the most shocking appearances in Rumble history.)

Just behind Jericho is Randy Orton with a cumulative time of 4 hours, 34 minutes and 33 seconds in the Royal Rumble match. Orton has been out with a back injury since May 2022, but there are no signs of him returning. Then again, anything can happen during WrestleMania season.

Considering he's been in the most Royal Rumble matches, Glenn Jacobs (Kane/Isaac Yankem DDS/Fake Diesel) has the most over-the-top-rope eliminations in the match with 46. In the 2001 Royal Rumble alone, Kane eliminated 11 entrants. It was a record that stood for 13 years until Roman Reigns broke it in 2014 with 12 eliminations. Braun Strowman went on to eliminate 13 entrants in the special "Greatest Royal Rumble" event in Saudi Arabia in 2018, which featured 50 instead of 30 entrants. Brock Lesnar is the current recognized single-match elimination record holder. He eliminated 13 entrants in the 2020 Royal Rumble.