WWE Network Launches on Peacock With Missing Features

WWE Network on Peacock officially launched yesterday, but appears to be significantly worse than the standalone WWE Network in terms of both content and functionality, at least at launch.

As of now, there is no ability to pause, fast forward, rewind, or restart live broadcasts. That also means that people coming in late won’t be able to watch from the start. According to Dave Meltzer, “Those at Peacock say that they anticipate making live pause, restart controls, and scrub bar previews available before SummerSlam.”

There have also been complaints about the quality of search results, including the inability to search for specific matches or wrestlers. Regarding that, Meltzer says, “entity-based discovery is on the product roadmap, and they are anticipating offering searching by the name of the performer by September.”

Some people have also complained about random 30-45 second ads that show up in the middle of matches. The $4.99 “Peacock Premium” version says it has ads, and people will need to sign up for the $9.99 Peacock “Premium Plus” for no ads. PWInsider’s Dave Scherer chimed in:

Well @peacockTV you are going to be dealing with a lot of IRATE WWE fans when they switch over to your version of @WWENetwork. Popping commercial breaks in the middle of matches, with no rhyme or reason, is not what we signed up for when we took your Premium offer. Fix that.

— Dave Scherer (@davescherer) March 19, 2021

The vast majority of old WWE Network content is also not available on Peacock at launch, but Peacock has promised that the entire WWE Network library will be available “by SummerSlam,” which takes place in August.

The old WWE Network is still available for now, but will be shut down in the US on Sunday, April 4, and Peacock will be the exclusive place for WWE Network content in the US after that date.