Why WWE Is Airing One of Its Most Anticipated Shows on YouTube

Two pro wrestlers—both named El Grande Americano—will have a mask vs. mask match this Saturday at AAA Noche de Los Grandes in Monterrey, Mexico. Despite being stylized as luchadores, neither performer—Chad Gable nor Ludwig Kaiser—is actually Mexican. But the buildup to the match has been both surreal and electric, earning overwhelming praise from fans and critics alike.

A match of such magnitude would have made sense on one of WWE’s monthly Premium Live Events (PLEs) on ESPN’s streaming service. Having built nearly a year’s worth of anticipation, the match would have fit right in on WrestleMania, WWE’s biggest show of the year.

And yet, the first clash between the Grande Americanos will air on YouTube, where WWE has been putting all of its content from AAA, the Mexican promotion it purchased in April 2025. To many, the idea of giving away such a long-awaited event for free might be surprising. But WWE’s recent track record shows that YouTube has become a key component in how WWE builds interest around its biggest storylines

Digital Push

The main WWE YouTube channel, which was launched nearly 20 years ago, has 113 million subscribers. For most of that time, the channel served as the pro wrestling giant’s primary platform for showcasing clips, show recaps, old matches, and exclusive content.

Over the last couple of years, however, WWE has been building out new channels, including ones for its WWE Vault, WCW, NXT, and several individual talents such as Cody Rhodes, Stephanie McMahon, and The Undertaker, as part of a podcast partnership with Fanatics. All told, a WWE rep told Front Office Sports that its YouTube channels cumulatively had more than 12 billion views over the past year.

The growth of the WWE Vault, which launched in 2024, has surprised Steve Braband, WWE’s head of digital.

“The success of that came with no new resources [needed],” Braband told FOS. “We tapped into a few people that were passionate about our archive, saw the engagement on our main channel, and just moved our whole vault to this page. We’re about to hit the four-million sub mark—and it shocks me every week how some content does.”

Drawing Numbers

As of mid-May, the Vault page had 133.6 million hours viewed over the previous year, representing 131% year-over-year growth. The talent channels for Rhodes, McMahon, and The Undertaker have also been growing at a rapid clip—since they launched last year, they’ve cumulatively amassed 820,000 subscribers and nearly 300 million views.

In addition to accumulating views, WWE uses its YouTube pages to drive interest in its PLEs. Produced video packages, such as A.J. Styles’s retirement tour and the CM Punk/Roman Reigns road to WrestleMania playlist got fans excited for their matches.

“We followed Penta at WrestleMania this year as well,” Braband said. “The longform edits that we’re putting together [like this] continue to overperform and it’s a content type that we’re doubling down on.”

WWE’s social and YouTube teams are integrated, with Braband reporting to Lee Fitting, WWE’s head of media and production. In other words, emphasizing YouTube is a top priority for the company’s on-screen product.

“We’re able to all share ideas across the board within production and social—we’re not just on our social island,” Braband said.

A New Territory

A major indicator of WWE’s YouTube vision comes via this weekend’s match in Mexico.

Without a traditional TV rights deal in place in the United States, WWE has placed the bulk of its Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide content—including PLEs—on YouTube since purchasing the promotion last year. WWE took a similar approach with the PLEs for its developmental NXT promotion after its contract with Peacock expired, before reaching a deal to air them on The CW in April.

AAA’s weekly show, Lucha Libre AAA, has averaged more than 200,000 viewers across the WWE and AAA YouTube channels, and this past Saturday’s program—the “go-home” show before Noche de Los Grandes—had over 541,000. Since WWE announced the acquisition of AAA, the channel has seen 200% year-over-year viewership growth, and it recently surpassed the two-million-subscriber mark. WWE Español, a separate channel, had its most-watched month ever in April, with over 70 million views.

WWE also sees YouTube as more than just a place to rack up views.

“We’re looking at it as a way to share content, create good content, drive business goals, but also remember how YouTube is connected to the whole Google sphere of it all,” Braband said. “It’s a marketing tool. You’re able to show off this brand and grow it and grow new superstars.”

The engagement has been highlighted by the dueling Grande Americanos, who are in a storyline that might have seemed too silly to work on paper but is being executed brilliantly within the confines of the pro wrestling genre. Ever since Gable’s Grande Americano confronted Kaiser’s version of the character at the Royal Rumble, fans have been waiting for them to officially square off with their respective masks on the line. This Saturday, they’ll finally do just that—and they won’t be hard to find.