Report: Backstage Reaction To WWE Network-Peacock Deal

WWE Network will receive a major change in the coming months as WWE and NBCUniversal have reached a multi-year agreement which gives Peacock exclusive streaming rights to the Network in the United States. 

WWE Network on Peacock will launch on March 18 and the first event will be the Fastlane pay-per-view on March 21. The five-year deal is reportedly worth over $1 billion. 

People within WWE have been reacting to the news and Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Live that WWE Network employees were "freaking" when they found out.

Meltzer said: "I know that the employees of WWE Network are freaking because they had no clue about any of this... They just had a big staff meeting last week. Nobody had a clue. No hints, no nothing."

WWE Superstars have also been discussing the new situation with Fightful Select. One wrestler mentioned they hadn't heard the news, but their first impressions were that the deal would get more eyes on the product. A top name in WWE also said they believed the deal was a big move for the company, but they stated they "didn't care" which platform WWE programming is distributed on unless it affects their pay.