It’s a milestone that may remain unbeaten for quite some time. With nearly 70,000 attendees at Cowboys Stadium and over 108 million viewers tuning in live globally, the Jake Paul–Mike Tyson event emerged as one of 2024’s most groundbreaking successes.

Notably, it wasn’t broadcast on pay-per-view (PPV). The event’s overwhelming success can be attributed to an unprecedented deal between Paul’s promotions, Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), and Netflix. The streaming giant boasts well over 200 million subscribers across the globe. Thus, its reach ensured an unparalleled audience as the event unfolded on November 15. Continuing this trend of streaming-first events, WWE joined forces with Netflix for the premiere of its weekly show, ‘Monday Night RAW’. However, reports suggest that the WWE show struggled to replicate the success of the Paul-Tyson event.

WWE RAW: Failing to close the gap?

Online entertainment channel ‘The Bread Batch’ shared an intriguing comparison. A promotional poster featured viewership statistics for both Netflix events. WWE’s ‘Monday Night RAW’ displayed 4.9 million global viewers, while the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson event boasted a staggering 125 million viewers.

“RAW’s Netflix debut had 4.9M watching globally in comparison to 125M watching Paul vs. Tyson,” read the caption on the Instagram post. Featuring four fights, ‘Monday Night RAW’ took place on January 6 at Inglewood, California’s Intuit Dome.

Legends such as ‘The Rock,’ ‘The Undertaker,’ and Hulk Hogan made their appearances at the event where the main fight took place between CM Punk and Seth Rollins. ‘Tribal Combat‘ saw Roman Reigns defeat Solo Sikoa. The Women’s World Championship saw Rhea Ripley drub Liv Morgan. Using pinfall, Jey Uso secured a win over Drew McIntyre.

This episode of RAW marked a significant shift in WWE’s strategy. The promotion appears eager to shift from traditional cable broadcasts to over-the-top (OTT) digital streaming platforms like Netflix. It also began an emotional chapter in WWE history with John Cena’s farewell tour.

However, not everyone welcomed the comparison between the two Netflix events. One Instagram user aptly commented, “Comparing a weekly episodic show to a massive once-in-a-lifetime event?”

Still a monumental achievement

Despite the criticism, WWE RAW’s debut on Netflix achieved some remarkable statistics. The January 6 episode was watched by 2.6 million viewers in the United States. Reportedly, it is 116% higher than WWE RAW’s 2024 average US viewership of 1.2 million households. This marked the first time RAW crossed the 4 million viewer threshold since January 2018. Likewise, it was the highest-watched episode since March 2015.

On the other hand, the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson event shattered records in the world of combat sports. It broke the gate record for an MMA/boxing event held outside Las Vegas, with average ticket prices hovering around $304 and total live gate revenue exceeding $18 million.

Not everything went smoothly, however. Netflix suffered a major outage during the November 15 broadcast, leading to widespread complaints. Despite this setback, the event exceeded all expectations and became a monumental success both in terms of viewership and business impact.

What do you think? Should more events follow in the footsteps of the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson show and opt for streaming platforms to reach wider audiences?