WWE Reportedly Treating Several Upcoming TV Events Like PLEs Due To Late Royal Rumble

January is always an exciting time for WWE fans, as the annual Royal Rumble event usually kickstarts the road to WrestleMania, but in 2025, that journey will begin a little later than usual. For the first time in history, the Royal Rumble will take place in February, specifically February 1 at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, leaving a two-month gap where the company will hold no Premium Live Events, as the final PLE of 2024 will be Survivor Series on November 30.

However, that doesn't seem to be an issue given everything that is set to happen during that time. Fightful Select has been told by WWE sources that the January 6, 2025 episode of "WWE Raw," the show's premiere on Netflix, is not only expected to be a big one, but that it is "being talked about as being of the quality of a PLE." WWE sources believe that it will be one of the biggest episodes in "Raw" history, and that the Netflix deal could go down as one of biggest deals in WWE history, so the company wants to make that first episode count, as they see it as their next leap in popularity.

The show, which is set to take place at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California, will see a whole host of WWE stars, including John Cena as he kicks off his retirement tour, and potentially stars from "WWE SmackDown," although Fightful weren't able to confirm if "SmackDown's" inclusion is still planned. Loading up "Raw's" debut on Netflix is also part of WWE's strategy to have major events on all their platforms in consecutive months, with the return of "Saturday Night's Main Event" acting as December's major show to bridge the gap between 2024 and 2025.