WWE: WWE EVP Chris Legentil on Plans for More International PLEs in 2025, WWE Reportedly Planning to Debut New Tribal Chief Championship, More News

WWE EVP Chris Legentil Comments on Current Plans for More International WWE PLEs in 2025

A recent episode of the Sports Business Journal’s Sports Media Podcast featured WWE Executive VP of Talent Relations and Head of Communications Chris Legentil as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Legentil’s thoughts about WWE’s move to Netflix being transformational for the company.

“We couldn’t be more excited. One of the things that maybe goes understated is, obviously in the States, Monday Night Raw moves to Netflix. Outside of the States, all WWE content moves to Netflix. That’s Raw, NXT, SmackDown, Premium Live Events. That’s all going to Netflix. We see that as transformational for the business.”

Legentil also gave his thoughts about WWE’s current plans to hold more international-based PLE events in 2025.

“This year alone, we did half of our Premium Live Events outside of the US. Look for more of that when we’re in partnership with Netflix because we’re going to be working with them hand-in-hand to select locations across the world where we can grow our audiences and hopefully gain subscribers for them.”

Legentil also gave his thoughts about what WWE has in store for 2025.

“We’re going to nail this Netflix transition. In partnership with their team, who has been amazing. They’re excited about this product, we’re excited about this partnership. We think, together, we’re going to be able to deliver for both subscribers and WWE fans.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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WWE Reportedly Considering Plans to Debut New “Undisputed Tribal Chief” Championship

WWE reportedly is currently considering plans to potentially introduce another new championship belt in the company within the near future, according to WrestleVotes Radio.

It was reported that their sources stated that WWE officials have held internal talks regarding the idea of introducing a new Tribal Chief Championship for the Bloodline storyline between Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa.

It was reported that this new championship would be similar in idea to the People’s Championship that was presented to The Rock during WrestleMania 41 weekend this past April.

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WWE News & Notes

During this past Wednesday’s RAW on Netflix Kickoff event at WWE’s headquarters building in Stamford, Connecticut, Michael Cole announced that the CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins match for RAW’s premiere show on Netflix on January 6, 2025 will be main eventing the show.

This past Wednesday’s WWE Speed show on Twitter featured Michin defeating Katana Chance to advance to the next round of WWE’s newest #1 Contender’s tournament for the WWE Women’s Speed Championship. Michin will be facing off against the winner of Zelina Vega/Natalya in the next round of WWE’s current tournament.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Wes Lee suffered a potential foot or ankle injury at this past Monday’s tapings for Main Event that was held prior to the start of RAW’s show in Boston, Massachusetts.

WWE recently released five new videos to their WWE Vault channel in YouTube. The first new video was a “The Rock returns to WWE for first time in seven years” from the February 14, 2011 episode of WWE RAW. The second new video was a Six-Man Tag Team match of The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family from the March 3, 2014 episode of WWE RAW. The third new video was a “FULL HOME VIDEO: WWE Hottest Matches – Savage & Sherri vs. Dusty & Sapphire, Roberts vs. DiBiase.” The fourth new video was a singles match of Tito Santana vs. The Undertaker from a WWE house show event in 1991 in Barcelona, Spain. The fifth new video was a WWE Championship Ladder match of The Rock vs. Mankind (c) from the February 15, 1999 episode of WWE RAW.

As noted before, Charlotte Flair has been out of action for WWE since December of 2023 due to a torn ACL, torn meniscus, and torn MCL injuries and underwent surgery this past January. Flair recently reflected on Twitter thanking NXT talent Lainey Reid for training with her to help prepare her for her upcoming return from injury. Flair stated “Thank you @lainey_wwe for the last few weeks. KEEP AN EYE on this ONE.“

In a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, Ivar gave his thoughts about the original plans for his and Erik’s return as the War Raiders was for them to return this past September instead of the following the month. Ivar stated “When I had this opportunity to do the singles run and it was going well, I had a conversation with Triple H where he said, ‘Hey, how about we start pulling back off of the heavy Viking stuff, slowly peeling some of those layers off so we can tell more stories with you.’ I’m like, Oh, that’s great. So as we started to do that I got hurt again. Then Erik and I were ready to come back. I think we were actually scheduled to return in Calgary at Raw. At the last second, they pulled our travel and said that we’re gonna hold off for now. Oh man, here we go. They’re like, ‘No, nothing bad. We want to hold off. We want to have better creative for you.’ And then the next week, we got a phone call, ‘Hey, how do you guys feel coming back as The War Raiders?’ And we were like yeah that sounds good. That sounds really good.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with The Roommates Show podcast, WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque gave his thoughts about The Undertaker’s surprise appearance and his involvement in the Undisputed WWE Championship match between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns at this past April’s WrestleMania 41 event. Levesque stated “It took us forever to get him to do that thing. A lot of that stuff comes together in the tail end. When I first called him for it, he’s like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t think I want to do it.’ I’m like, ‘80,000 people are going to go absolutely insane.’ It took us a little bit. Rock had to call him. Everybody had to call him to get him to finally acquiesce to do it. When he retired, he sort of wanted, ‘I’m just done.’ He didn’t come out with the hat and jacket. The hat and jacket are retired. ‘I’ll come out as me, but I’m not coming out as Undertaker.’ He just wanted it to be over.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recently released article, Variety named TKO executives Ariel Emanuel, Nick Khan, Mark Shapiro, and Andrew Schleimer to their 2024 Dealmakers List. Variety stated “Last year, Endeavor merged Ultimate Fighting Championship with World Wrestling Entertainment under the TKO Group Holdings banner. In January 2024, TKO’s leadership quadrumvirate closed a $5.2 billion, 10-year deal to make Netflix the exclusive home of WWE’s flagship show “Raw” in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Latin America and other territories beginning in January 2025. As part of the pact, Netflix will be the home for all WWE shows and specials outside the U.S. from that date forward, giving roughly 80% of international territories immediate access to 100% its content, with the rest of the globe filling out their WWE lineups as outstanding deals expire.“