New details have emerged about the edits made to the Netflix replay of WWE Night of Champions, and according to a new report, the changes came from WWE itself.
At Night of Champions, held June 27 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Bron Breakker was busted open during his Steel Cage Match against Seth Rollins, bleeding from a cut near his left eye. On the Netflix version of the event, Breakker’s head was blurred at points to hide the blood, an edit that drew criticism from fans, especially since clips shared during the show, including by ESPN, showed the blood clearly.
According to PWInsider’s Mike Johnson, the edits were made by WWE, not Netflix. The report states the changes go beyond blurring. Some camera angles used during the live broadcast were replaced with alternate angles that keep Breakker out of frame, and in at least one spot, the replay cuts to a crowd shot for a few seconds rather than showing the action after Breakker begins bleeding.
The report also notes that WWE has made a habit of editing crowd audio on its Netflix replays. After Rollins put Breakker through a table with a superplex, the crowd’s “holy sh*t” chant was replaced with a “This is awesome!” chant, which is common for WWE’s replays.
WWE has historically handled bloody footage differently, typically converting it to black and white in videos and photos rather than blurring or reshooting around it. The most likely explanation is content standards: Netflix streams WWE programming worldwide, and different countries apply different rules and ratings to blood and violence, so sanitized replays would help the content comply across every market. WWE has done similar with older footage and chair shots to the head so none of this is new.
