Details On Confirmed Deal For WWE SmackDown To Leave Fox, Return To Cable

It's official — "WWE SmackDown" will leave Fox next year (as previously predicted by Wells Fargo) and return to the USA Network. The company announced the move this morning, with a new five-year deal bringing "SmackDown" back to cable starting in October 2024. Included with the announcement was the news that "SmackDown" will remain on Friday nights, and there will also be four WWE specials aired on NBC's broadcast channel each year.

"NBCUniversal has been a tremendous partner of WWE for decades," WWE President Nick Khan said. "We are excited to extend this longstanding relationship by bringing SmackDown to USA Network on Friday nights and look forward to debuting multiple WWE special events annually on NBC."

Despite the new agreement, a report from the Sports Business Journal, which broke the "SmackDown" news ahead of WWE's press release, states that WWE and USA Network parent company NBCU have yet to reach an agreement for "WWE Raw." With "SmackDown" returning to the network, however, NBCU reportedly remains a favorite to retain the rights to the company's longest-running show, though corporations such as Disney and Amazon are reportedly still interested in WWE rights.

The report does note that it's possible "Raw" moves away from Monday nights, which would obviously be a major shift, as the series has been a staple of Mondays since its inception in January 1993. While WWE will maintain some kind of partnership with NBCU through at least 2028, it's not yet certain that their catalog will remain available on the company's streaming app, Peacock, for the long haul. The streaming deal between WWE and NBCU, which saw the dissolution of the WWE Network in the United States in favor of Peacock, lasts until 2026.