Brits have been given a major Netflix warning that could see them fined £1,000 if you plan to watch John Cena’s final ever Summerslam this weekend.
The warning is in place this coming weekend (2 and 3 August) and affects over 17 million users of the streamer. Netflix remains the most popular streaming service in the world with over 301 million subscribers, around 60 million clear of Amazon Prime.
Anyone in the UK however who is hoping to watch one of John Cena's final ever appearances in the WWE on Netflix this weekend however could be breaking the law without realising.
The streamer announced themselves in the live-sports space with the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fight which was viewed by over 65 million households at its peak concurrent viewership.
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Netflix made an even bigger splash, however, when they became the worldwide home of the WWE in a £4 billion deal and the home of Raw and all the WWE’s Premium Live Events in the United States.
Why is this John Cena’s final ever Summerslam?
Summerslam, WWE’s second biggest event of the year, will be split across two nights for the first time in the company’s history.
The main event of the second night, this Sunday, will see John Cena wrestling at the event for the final time ever in a rematch with heated rival Cody Rhodes.
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Earlier this year, John Cena announced that he was retiring from wrestling and that ‘the last time is now’.
With a legendary heel turn along the way alongside Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Cena won a record-breaking 17th world title at WrestleMania earlier this year, beating Rhodes.
Cena announced that his retirement tour would include 36 dates across the world, a run that we are now halfway through, making this his final ever Summerslam.
Speaking about his decision to retire in Netflix's new WWE documentary WWE: Unreal, Cena explained that while he'd love to continue wrestling, his body was simply not able to go any further.
Why could you face a £1,000 fine for watching the event on Netflix?
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Essentially, anyone in the UK watching it could get themselves into very serious trouble.
That is, if you have yet to sort out that pesky TV license.
The BBC have previously confirmed to LADbible that Netflix live events fall under TV licensing laws in the UK.
As such, the more than 17 million subscribers in the UK could fall foul of these rules if they try and watch either evening of the two-night event without first getting their TV license sorted.
This is a very common crime and sees a number of people hauled before a magistrate each year and forced to pay fines up to a maximum of £1,000.
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The BBC also clarified in their guidance that this does not apply to on demand programmes, and solely applies to Netflix’s live content.
Essentially, if you want to watch John Cena’s final showing at one of the year’s biggest events before he rides off into the sunset – sort your TV license out first or expect an angry letter through the mail.
WWE Summerslam 2025 will be available to watch on Netflix this weekend, 2 and 3 August.
Michael Slavin