WWE Partners With Twitch

WWE earlier today announced that it has formed a multi-year collaboration with Twitch.

This partnership will allow WWE to provide new material to its Twitch channel in addition to repeating content that is already being streamed on the company’s other social media channels. According to the press release, this collaboration will feature “live and exclusive content,” such a sidecast for Monday Night Raw, which will start today evening at 7 PM CT. 

This comes after a decision made by WWE during the pandemic to bar its contractual superstars from receiving payments from outside services like Twitch, where a number of them had already established presences and some had even done so before joining WWE.

Under the direction of Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the chief content officer of WWE, this rule was changed last year, providing the company’s well-known stars greater opportunities to expand their brands and express themselves outside of television shows. A rotating cast of hosts will direct the weekly viewing experience, according to WWE’s press release. WWE Superstars will frequently make appearances on it, along with other exclusive content like backstage interviews. As it seems WWE is trying to see what material will be featured on Twitch, it is unclear if NXT on Tuesdays and Friday Night SmackDown will also have sidecasts similar to Monday Night Raw. Press conferences for high-end live events, which are often held following the conclusion of these monthly concerts, will now also be aired live on Twitch.

With its ongoing UpUpDownDown programming, which shows different superstars competing in challenges in well-known video games, WWE already entered the gaming and streaming spaces. The connection with G4 ended last year when the network was shut down, but the corporation was also involved in other shows that featured superstars and G4 personalities joining together to vanquish rivals in various tasks. It is unknown who or what will be featured in the first Monday Night Raw sidecast, which will premiere exclusively on Twitch tonight at 7pm CT.