WWE Home Video are pulling out of the physical media market after almost four decades in the industry.
The home entertainment market is in an odd place in 2023. While filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro and Christopher Nolan are singing the praises of the Blu-ray and 4K formats (and, purely anecdotally, it feels like physical releases are gaining a lot more traction in film-y circles in the face of streamers deleting content from their platforms) some distributors are pulling disc releases entirely.
That’s what’s happening over at Freemantle. Despite releasing VHS, DVD and Blu-ray editions of WWE programming for a whopping 36 years and having dedicated sections in many a local DVD shop, WWE Home Video’s final release will be the Crown Jewel 2023 2-disc DVD on the 18th December in the UK.
“With great sadness we must announce that WWE have taken the decision to withdraw from the Home Video category,” the company said in a statement. “No licensing deals will be renewed worldwide after 2023.”
“Everyone at WWE Home Video UK would like to thank all our collectors and fans for many years of support and passion.”
This really does feel like a bit of an end of an era – and probably a hefty blow to a segment of the physical media community.
Who knows, though – if all these disc-related things do keep growing in popularity, maybe we’ll see WWE on a DVD case again one day.
