WWE comes to Peacock - the only place to watch a live stream of WrestleMania 37. This is currently the big meta-news in wrestling fandom, creating a bit of confusion (at least for Raw and SmackDown stars) on the road to WrestleMania 37, the first Peacock-exclusive PPV.
So when will the WWE Network stop functioning? What will happen to Peacock's WWE content? What is missing from Peacock, and what about the 50% discount on the first four months of Peacock's deals. And, "New. the day.
Oh, and this news is for Americans only. For the time being, the WWE Network will continue to operate internationally, but I wouldn't be surprised if WWE replicates this same experience in different regions and countries.
The WWE Network will close on Sunday, April 4, 2021.
This means that the only way to watch the 2020 and 2021 Hall of Fame ceremonies (April 6), NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver Night 2 (April 8), and both nights of LesslMania 37 (April 10 and 11) is to get a Peacock account.
Peacock does not yet have everything WWE fans want (more on that later), but it will soon be the only option (unless you purchase a VPN such as ExpressVPN to make it look like you are outside the US).
So it's time to make this transition less stingy by saving a lot now; Peacock may be free, but you'll need Peacock Premium (starting at $4.99/month) to watch WWE events. And WWE Network subscribers already know that this is half of what they normally pay.
Peacock costs just $2.50 per month for the first four months. You don't have to have a PhD in thug economics to know that this $100 is about the same as it costs the WWE Network right now (John Cena fans know this). International subscribers would still pay the full rate.
The big complaint among many fans right now is that Peacock is not yet the perfect replacement for the WWE Network.
As someone who watched Fastlane 2021 on Peacock, I can confirm the first complaint I've seen others raise online: there is no "from the start" option or other controls that were standard on the WWE Network.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that he expects Peacock to "make live pause, restart controls, and scrub bar previews available before SummerSlam." That means you'd better tune in the moment Lesslemania (and probably other pre-August events) begins.
Peacock also lacks the deep search tool that the WWE Network offered, which made it easier to find content related to specific wrestlers. Also gone are the WWE Network's match markers (like chapters on DVDs and Blu-rays), which require manual fast-forwarding and rewinding to find matches.
The "pre-Summerslam" timeline is also indicated as when the WWE's back catalog of PPVs, TV shows, etc. will appear on Peacock. However, all previous Lesslemanias are already there: ...... This led to a surprising discovery.
As the New York Times reports, racist and offensive segments of WWE history are not preserved in Peacock; the NYT picked up on this in a match between Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown (a black professional wrestler) at Lesslmania VI, The former appeared with half of his face painted black. This moment is no longer seen on the regular WWE Network.
This is one of many segments that will not air on Peacock; Peacock's parent company, NBCUniversal, stated that Peacock is "reviewing WWE content to ensure it meets Peacock's standards and practices". "
As someone who has been a subscriber to the WWE Network since its inception in 2014, I was surprised to hear that it wouldn't last 10 years. But seeing as I don't want to pay for a VPN to keep it, I switched to Peacock a few weeks ago. There will be some growing pains over the next few months, but Peacock's big discount will certainly help with that.
Until Summerslam, I'll only be watching a little less WWE than before - and I'm hoping the live event navigation kinks will be worked out sooner rather than later. That said, I think the improved search functionality will happen eventually. Amy Poehler fans will want to find all the SNL episodes she appeared in, so I don't think it will be hard to get Peacock to fix that.
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