WWE makes things official with Twitch

Twitch and WWE are making things official.

The two have signed a multiyear partnership for “live and exclusive content” across WWE’s flagship channel (which is rebooting as part of the deal) as well as “popular WWE Superstar channels,” according to a press release.

Part of that live, exclusive content is a weekly companion sidecast to Monday Night RAW, where a “rotating cast of hosts” and WWE stars will offer behind-the-scenes content like backstage interviews. That sidecast kicks off tonight at 8 p.m. on WWE’s channel, which has just under 140,000 followers.

The channel will also “serve as an alternate live streaming feed for all of WWE’s premium live event press conferences,” WWE said.

WWE has a contentious history with Twitch–not because of any beef between them, but because in 2020, WWE barred its wrestlers from having their own Twitch channels…unless they agreed to give the org a cut of their earnings.

Multiple stars publicly criticized the policy, and in 2022, the wrestlers, WWE, and Twitch all agreed to a three-way revenue split that reportedly gave the “vast majority” of revenue to wrestlers and Twitch, with WWE taking a smaller cut. The agreement also allowed WWE stars to stream “with almost no restrictions,” per Fightful Select.

Stars like Zelina Vega and Dakota Kai, who have tens of thousands of followers each and whose channels were shuttered from 2020-2022, have since returned to streaming on Twitch.