After a barnstorming year, the world’s leading sports entertainment brand enters 2025 in a strong position. But amid the anticipation about John Cena’s retirement tour and the massive Netflix audience, there are still some unknowns on the horizon for WWE’s business model — some of which could shape the future of professional wrestling as we know it.

Here are the big questions to keep an eye on this year.

1. Will the Netflix deal meet expectations?

WWE’s $5 billion Netflix partnership might be the biggest deal in pro wrestling history, but that doesn’t mean it's a surefire bet. Indeed Mark Shapiro, president of WWE’s parent company TKO, admitted as much when he participated in a media conference organized by the investment bank UBS in December.

“We’re going to be big on Jan. 6 [the Netflix launch date],” Shapiro said. “[But] I’m worried about June. I’m worried about July. When we’re not the shiny new toy, when we’re not the newborn, how is Netflix going to treat us?”

WWE has plenty going in its favor, given Netflix’s growing ambitions to be a major player in live sports broadcasting. But the streaming giant is also known for being absolutely ruthless in harvesting viewer data to find out exactly what its audience of 280 million strong is up to.

Netflix’s executives will have clear metrics as to what the WWE deal is meant to achieve for them — whether that’s expanding new markets, reducing subscriber churn, or just turbocharging viewing hours. They will be closely monitoring their numbers to measure whether they’re getting their money’s worth.

2. Will the two-night model work for PLEs?

During the UBS conference, Shapiro also gave some interesting insights into the importance that TKO places on two-night events for PLEs. Right now, it’s only WrestleMania — the "Showcase of the Immortals" — that gets the two-night treatment, but that’s set to change this year with SummerSlam.

Why is TKO so keen on two-night events? The reason is simple. By turning a major PLE into a two-night event, WWE can demand a larger site fee (the amount that cities pay to host a WWE event). The argument goes that, as there are two nights, there will be twice as many hotel rooms booked, twice as many restaurant bookings and so on.

The commercial side of this proposition seems to be working out: Shapiro mentioned that TKO was pleased by the size of the site fee it agreed with New Jersey to host the two-night SummerSlam in August 2025. But will it work so well content-wise?

Under the five-match model favored by Paul "Triple H" Levesque, it’s not hard to see how WWE could stretch a second-night of action out of the typical PLE. But will the fans be so content to see the two Royal Rumble matches taking place on separate nights?

When SummerSlam rolls around, we should start to find out. By the time it arrives, we may also know whether 2026's Royal Rumble or Money in the Bank are also becoming two-night events.

3. Will Saudi Arabia extend the deal?

It’s no secret that the massive subsidies the WWE receives from Saudi Arabia have made a huge contribution to the company’s financial position (and now, post-merger, to the position of TKO).

WWE currently receives around $100 million per year to organize two PLEs in Saudi Arabia — that’s equivalent to around 8% of its entire annual revenue.

The current WWE-Saudi deal is set to expire in 2027. Given the time it takes to organize these kinds of events, we should probably expect to hear about an extension well before that point.

Both WWE and Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority have sounded optimistic about renewing the agreement. Saudi Arabia’s main money man, Turki Alalshikh, has even spoken about his enthusiasm for “enhancing” the current deal.

Given the importance of the Saudi revenue, TKO shareholders will be hoping that we hear more detail on that front in the coming year. I suspect it will be very high on the agenda in Stamford too.

4. Can the product rise to the occasion?

WWE’s creative output has been on fire these past few years. But that shouldn’t mean we should automatically assume the same will happen in 2025.

To state the obvious, the roster is pretty stacked at the moment. But that could present challenges of its own. Can WWE’s creatives balance the presence of John Cena and (we hope) The Rock, while giving adequate screen time to full-time talents like Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Becky Lynch, Liv Morgan, Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, etc.?

It’s a nice problem to have, admittedly. But that doesn’t mean those creatives won’t have to work hard to meet our expectations.

Arguably, the Netflix deal adds another challenge to the mix. Maximizing the Cena retirement tour — and giving a monster push to Logan Paul — may bring more eyes to the product, particularly among casual viewers, but it could lead to the program's overall direction feeling unbalanced.

The WWE fan base tends to get pretty grumpy when they feel talent is being pushed for nakedly commercial reasons. It’s the job of the creatives to add the heart and soul of the product and make us feel that those big PLE matches actually matter.

5. Will we see any WWE-UFC crossover?

Now that the WWE and UFC are owned by the same parent company (TKO), the chances of seeing talent crossing from one to the other — whether full-time or just a cameo — are higher than ever.

Both Nick Khan and UFC CEO Dana White have previously suggested they are open to some creative crossover, and TKO’s executives have also said they are interested in the idea of holding sister PLEs and pay-per-views in the same city over the same weekend.

Admittedly, we haven’t seen any big chances yet. There was Michael Chandler's brief appearance on "WWE Raw" to cut a promo on Conor McGregor (which felt like a genuine first), and more recently we saw Hulk Hogan walking Colby Covington out to the Octagon at UFC Tampa. UFC and WWE talent often pop up in the audience at their respective big ticket events too.

Perhaps 2025 will be the year that we see something more substantive.