Neither Raw nor SmackDown made Netflix’s top 10 in Japan during WWE’s first week on the service there, even on their first day of availability, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE programming moved to Netflix in Japan on Oct. 1. Dave Meltzer called it the biggest story of the week’s Netflix numbers, noting that Japan has historically been one of the top wrestling markets in the world and is still at worst No. 4. Raw has drawn significant viewership in 58 countries on Netflix, and Japan is not one of them.
Raw’s Oct. 5 episode, with Roman Reigns on the show, was down 3.5 percent in first-day Netflix numbers compared to the Sept. 28 episode.
Raw’s first-day rankings:
No. 1 in the U.S. (same as the prior week)
No. 2 in Australia (down from No. 1)
No. 2 in Canada (down from No. 1)
No. 2 in Mexico (same)
No. 2 in New Zealand (same)
No. 2 in the U.K. (same)
No. 4 in Italy (up from No. 7)
No. 5 in India (down from No. 3)
No. 6 in France (up from No. 7)
Raw was also the No. 1 show on Netflix for the day in the Bahamas, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago, giving it eight No. 1 finishes, up from four the week before.
SmackDown drew numbers similar to recent weeks on Netflix. For the week, it made the top 10 only in Canada and Trinidad & Tobago, ranking No. 6 in both.
Netflix is one of the biggest streaming services in Japan. The company said in 2024 that its subscribers there had passed 10 million. Japan’s paid streaming market grew 15 percent to $7.2 billion in 2025, with 67.3 million subscriptions, and Netflix led all services with 22 percent of revenue, according to a Media Partners Asia report. Amazon Prime Video had the most subscribers at 19.3 million, and the free, ad-supported service TVer drew the most viewing time.
Japanese viewers mostly stream homegrown content. Per the same report, Japanese dramas reached 73 percent of streaming viewers in Japan and anime reached 50 percent, while U.S. titles reached 22 percent. Netflix Japan’s top 10 on Oct. 9 included Japanese titles such as Detective Conan, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Vivant. Netflix also held the Japanese rights to the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
Analysis:
One week is too early to read much into this. WWE just moved over from ABEMA, and fans in Japan may need time to get used to finding the shows on Netflix. It may also show that WWE is not as ingrained in Japan as New Japan is, so interest starts lower. WWE is also competing for attention on a service where Japanese dramas and anime dominate.
Japan matters because WWE has wanted a bigger footprint there, and Netflix gives it the platform to build one. A big WWE event in Japan would be the clearest way to drive interest in the weekly shows there. Expect WWE to run shows in more countries, more often, now that Netflix carries it around the world.
