The WWE is now on Peacock — the only place to get a WrestleMania 37 live streams. This is the big meta-news in the pro wrestling fandom at the moment, and it creates a little bit of confusion on the road to WrestleMania 37, the first Peacock-exclusive PPV (at least for the Raw and SmackDown stars).
So, when will the WWE Network stop working? What's the deal with Peacock's WWE content? We've got all the details on what it's lacking — and the sweet offer that will save you 50% on your first four months of Peacock. And we'll explain it all faster than you can say "New! Day! rocks!"
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Oh, and this news is just for those in the United States. For the time being, the WWE Network will continue to operate internationally, though I would not be surprised to see WWE replicating this same experience in different regions and countries.
WWE Network shutdown date, details
The WWE Network shut down on Sunday, April 4, 2021.
That means our only option (in the States) for watching the 2020 and 2021 Hall of Fame ceremonies (April 6), NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver Night 2 (April 8) and both nights of WrestleMania 37 (April 10, 11) is to get a Peacock account.
WWE Peacock deal and deadline
While Peacock doesn't have everything WWE fans may want yet (more on that below), it's going to be our only option soon (unless you buy a VPN such as ExpressVPN to make it look like you're outside of the U.S.).
So, it's time to make this transition sting less by saving a lot right now. Peacock may be free, but you need Peacock Premium (which starts at $4.99 per month) to see WWE events. And WWE Network subscribers already know that this is half as much as they pay normally — you can save even more.
You can get Peacock for just $2.50 per month for the first four months — but this deal won't be available on WrestleMania 37 day. You don't need to have a doctorate in thuganomics (John Cena fans know) to know that this $100 is as much as the WWE Network costs right now. International subscribers will still be paying the full price.
WWE Network features that Peacock doesn't have
Right now, the big frustration among many fans is that Peacock is not there yet as a perfect substitute for the WWE Network.
— WWE Hall of Fame 2020-21: April 6
— NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Night 2: April 8
— WWE WrestleMania 37: April 10-12
As someone who watched Fastlane 2021 on Peacock, I can confirm the first frustration I saw others raise online: you can only tune into watch live shows from the current moment. There is no "start from the beginning" option, nor are there other controls that were standard on the WWE Network.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that Peacock anticipates "making live pause, restart controls, and scrub bar previews available before SummerSlam." Which means you better tune in for WrestleMania (and likely all other pre-August events) at the moment they start.
Peacock also lacks the deep search tools that the WWE Network offered, which made it easy to find content related to specific wrestlers. You also will need to manually fast forward and rewind to find matches, as the WWE Network's match markers (think chapters on a DVD or Blu-Ray) are not there anymore either.
Peacock cutting out the racist moments in WWE history
That timeline of "before Summerslam" has also been given as the timeframe for when the years of WWE's back catalogue of PPVs, TV shows and more will be on Peacock. Though every WrestleMania ever is already there — which led to a surprising discovery.
As the New York Times reports, racist and offensive segments in the history of WWE will not be preserved on Peacock. The NYT singled out the Wrestlemania VI match between Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown (a Black pro wrestler), where the former came out with half of his face painted black. This moment is no longer found on the regular WWE Network either.
This is one of the many segments that will not be on Peacock. Peacock parent company NBCUniversal stated that Peacock is "reviewing WWE content to ensure it aligns with Peacock’s standards and practices."
WWE on Peacock: Outlook
As someone who subscribed to the WWE Network since its inception in 2014, I was surprised to hear it wasn't going to last a decade. But seeing as how I don't want to pay for a VPN to hold onto it, I switched to Peacock weeks ago. Yes, the next months will have some growing pains, but the big discount on Peacock certainly helps with that.
Until Summerslam, we'll just have a little less WWE to watch than we used to — and hopefully the live event navigation kinks get ironed out sooner or later. That said, I think that search improvements will happen eventually. I assume that Amy Poehler fans will want to find all the episodes of SNL she appeared in, so it's not a tough sell to get Peacock to figure that out.
