WWE and The CW Network have announced a new streaming partnership that will bring WWE NXT to ESPN Unlimited subscribers.
Under the deal, ESPN Unlimited will stream CW Sports content, which includes NXT. WWE also announced separately that NXT premium live events will air on the CW Network. The deal begins in the summer, though no exact start date has been provided. Variety reported the news.
ESPN vice president of direct-to-consumer strategy Emily Horowitz described the partnership as a value-add for subscribers. “We think this is a real value add for our Unlimited subscribers. Adding more content makes that product as attractive as we possibly can,” Horowitz said.
CW Network president Brad Schwartz outlined the reasoning behind choosing ESPN as the streaming partner. “We were hunting for a streaming solution, and the thing that we knew was that the world doesn’t need another direct-to-consumer product. We decided our strategy was not going to be adding to that challenge for people and that we were going to partner with somebody to do it. If you’re going to find a partner for sports, the worldwide leader in sports is a pretty good one to go with,” Schwartz said.
The deal adds more than 800 hours of live sports content to the ESPN app, including ACC, Pac-12, and Mountain West college football and basketball, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, WWE NXT, PBA Bowling, PBR Bull Riding, AVP volleyball, and the 2026 Arizona Bowl.
WWE PLEs currently air on ESPN Unlimited, with NXT joining that lineup as part of this new arrangement.
