Watching WWE on Netflix these days is never dull.
The grappling giant bagged a humungous $5bn deal from the streamer for the rights to air Monday Night Raw in the US from January of this year.
In addition, Netflix also airs all major WWE Premium Live Events (pay per views in old money) such as WrestleMania and SummerSlam.
Outside of the US, though, the scope of the deal with the broadcasting giant is even bigger – in many countries, including Canada and the UK, all WWE shows are stationed there.
So while in the States, programmes like NXT and SmackDown still air via conventional linear television, across the pond it’s all Netflix, along with a sizable archive of content from yesteryear and new original programming to boot.
For wrestling fans, then, Netflix is turning into a bit of a haven – though the waters rarely appear to be calm for WWE themselves.
From the outset it’s been chaotic, with The Rock turning up on the debut Raw episode – and the subsequent airing of NXT – and putting in a surreal showing at best.
The feud between Rock, Cena and Cody Rhodes has hardly helped dampen the wildfire enthusiasm for the product, censors have struggled to keep up with obscene crowd chants and concerning injuries have derailed live matches in their tracks.
It’s perhaps no surprise that another week has brought more backstage chaos for those involved following dramatic scenes on both Friday’s SmackDown and Tuesday evening’s NXT.
Tongues have been wagging since Friday’s exchange between Charlotte Flair and Tiffanny Stratton went seriously off track, both wrestlers reportedly taking their in-ring exchange way off topic and landing themselves in trouble as a result.
The two meet for Stratton’s world title at WrestleMania and, in exchanging heated words to build the occasion, as is the wrestling tradition of generations, things were seemingly taken much too far.
Flair launched an unplanned attack on her opponent by mocking her voice before the champion referenced the legend’s recent divorce – her third – by claiming she would end up ‘alone’ and ‘0-3’ after WrestleMania.
Appearing riled by that, Flair then followed up with another unplanned jibe – that Stratton’s partner, WWE star Ludwig Kaiser was ‘in my DMs.’
A new report from Fightful has now detailed some of the backstage tension caused by those lines, none of which particularly landed with the live crowd.
“[When] Charlotte began mocking Tiffany Stratton’s voice, a number of people backstage felt like Tiffany Stratton ‘needed to fight back,’ but that going personal to that degree without it being cleared was ill-advised,” the outlet noted.
“Neither the line about Charlotte’s marriage, nor Charlotte’s Ludwig Kaiser line was cleared.”
WWE clearly took a dim view of it, too, with Fightful adding that: “Digital producers were instructed to edit the personal relationship references and Charlotte making fun of Tiffany’s voice from the Youtube editions. The general reaction backstage was some confusion when Charlotte emulated Tiffany, and general ‘oh s***’, when Tiffany and Charlotte got deeply personal.
“There was heat (anger) on both women for the situation, which was referred to as a ‘wreck.’”
Tuesday’s NXT, meanwhile, caused headaches of a different kind after an in-ring miscalculation appears to have resulted in a bizarre ending to one match.
Izzi Dame defeated Wren Sinclair to qualify for the upcoming NXT Women’s North American Championship match, but not in smooth fashion.
Nailing a Sitout Powerbomb on Sinclair, Dame appeared to break her own pinfall attempt at two, leading to the referee counting to three and calling for the bell despite the grappler being feet away.
There was confusion in the crowd and on live commentary, with announcers initially unclear as to whether the match had ended or not.
Closer inspection clearly showed the root of the issue; Dame appeared to hear the referee’s knees landing on the mat to make the count as the ‘one’ count – a theory supported by the fact cheers could be heard in the crowd at the ‘two’ count as some of those in attendance made the same mistake.
Social media criticism was, as a result, with a helping of understanding and sympathy, one saying: “The referee’s knee hit the floor and it really sounded like a one count. I’m not one to make excuses, but low-key it did sound like somebody smacking the mat. We gotta remember it’s scripted. This was most likely an honest mistake.”
Another added: “It takes a couple watches but then you realize if you listen close it does sound like a four count with the first count being the ref hitting the mat with her knee. Tough one for sure.”
A third, however, countered:: “It was a mistake but being scripted has nothing to do with it. Wrestlers know to hold the pin and watch the ref’s hand or wait for the bell. She did neither.”
With Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque at the helm creatively as the build to WrestleMania continues to gather pace, WWE is regularly producing compelling programme – even if the drama is perhaps a little more than they bargained for.
Mania airs from Las Vegas over the weekend of 19th and 20th April.
