WWE has been switching up where fans need to go to watch its shows a lot lately, and it’s not done yet. Starting in 2026, WWE PLEs will air on ESPN in the US. That means you’re going to need an ESPN or YouTube TV subscription if you want to watch them live starting next year, and combined with all of the other subs you’ll need to keep up with WWE, it’s going to cost a lot to be a loyal fan a few months from now.
You’ll Need At Least Three Paid Subscriptions To Keep Up With WWE In 2026
The news that WWE PLEs are headed to ESPN is a particularly bitter pill for fans who used the WWE Network. After years of paying $60 for PPVs, WWE started its own Network, charging us just $9.99 per month for live PPVs and the company’s entire back catalog. The Network is now long-dead, and starting in 2026, we’ll be paying three times as much per month for PLEs as an ESPN or YouTube TV sub costs $29.99 per month.
There are still WWE’s flagship shows to factor into the equation. Raw made its blockbuster move to Netflix earlier this year. That means, if you want to watch the red brand live or on demand, you need an active Netflix subscription. The cheapest Netflix tier costs $7.99. That’s the one where you have to suffer through ads. If you want to avoid dealing with Netflix’s ads, you’ll need to pay even more.
The good news is The CW is free in the US, which means it will continue to cost you nothing to watch NXT live each week.
Then there’s SmackDown, which, at least in the US, hasn’t made the jump to Netflix. SmackDown will remain on the USA Network through 2026 and beyond. There are various options available if you want access to USA, but the cheapest is a Peacock subscription. You’ll likely already know that, since WWE PLEs are on Peacock and will remain there until they move to ESPN, that the cheapest sub you can get for the service costs $10.99. Again, like Netflix, you’ll have to pay more if you don’t want ads.
Watching Raw, SmackDown, And PLEs In The US Will Cost Almost $50 Per Month
That means if you want to watch Raw and SmackDown every week, and tune in live or on-demand for WWE’s PLEs, you will need to have subscriptions to at least three services. The cheapest those three services are going to cost you each month will be $48.97, meaning WWE programming is going to cost just shy of $50 per month.
There have been fans complaining about WWE’s moves when it comes to where you can go and what you need to watch its shows, and when it’s all laid out in this way, it’s easy to see why. It’s even harder to take for fans in the US who have to watch those elsewhere get everything for one monthly fee. Raw, SmackDown, and PLEs are all on Netflix in UK and other parts of the world, and that isn’t going to be changing anytime soon.
