WWE Fans Risk Losing Streaming Access in April Without This Switch

2 hours ago 6

Published Mar 15, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT

Chris is a Senior News Writer for Collider. He can be found in an IMAX screen, with his eyes watering and his ears bleeding for his own pleasure. He joined the news team in 2022 and accidentally fell upwards into a senior position despite his best efforts.

For reasons unknown, he enjoys analyzing box office receipts, giant sharks, and has become known as the go-to man for all things Bosch, Mission: Impossible and Christopher Nolan in Collider's news division. Recently, he found himself yeehawing along to the Dutton saga on the Yellowstone Ranch.

He is proficient in sarcasm, wit, Photoshop and working unfeasibly long hours. Amongst his passions sit the likes of the history of the Walt Disney Company, the construction of theme parks, steam trains and binge-watching Gilmore Girls with a coffee that is just hot enough to scald him.

His obsession with the Apple TV+ series Silo is the subject of mockery within the Senior News channel, where his feelings about Taylor Sheridan's work are enough to make his fellow writers roll their eyes.

For years, Peacock was the default answer to one simple question in the U.S.: Where do I watch WWE’s biggest shows? WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam — all of them lived there, and fans got used to that setup fast, but now, that setup is over. Disney and WWE announced last year that all WWE premium live events in the U.S. would move to ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service beginning in 2026, with ESPN becoming the exclusive streaming home for events like WrestleMania and SummerSlam.

That means fans who stay put with Peacock alone are going to lose access to the company’s biggest streaming events. ESPN’s new service launched in late 2025 and is now the platform WWE fans in the U.S. need if they want the full premium-event experience. MMA Fighting reported the WWE deal covers all premium live events on ESPN’s streaming product, while AP described it as the U.S. home for those tentpole shows. So if you are a WWE fan and you have not made the switch yet, April is the kind of month when that becomes a real problem instead of an abstract rights-deal headline. Peacock is no longer enough.

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What's Coming Up in WWE?

Right now, we're in the "season finale" part of the WWE calendar, with the next major event to take place being WrestleMania, the biggest show of the year. Following John Cena's retirement in December, there is a vacuum for who will be the face of the company going forward, and the two world champions on the men's side appear to be battling it out to fill that void. Cody Rhodes beat Drew McIntyre on Friday to become a three-time WWE Champion, while on the Raw brand, CM Punk has stepped up to lead the red team, and he will go one on one with Roman Reigns, the company's biggest star, in the main event of WrestleMania.