Night one of last year’s WrestleMania was headlined by a star-studded tag team match pitting The Rock and Roman Reigns against Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. Night two was the culmination of Cody Rhodes’ multi-year arc, with the face of the company finally “finishing his story” by defeating stalwart champion Roman Reigns and capturing the Undisputed WWE Universal Title.
While both bouts were memorable, Rhodes/Reigns 2 surpassed even the loftiest of expectations, much of the intrigue was about the story behind the story. The off-screen machinations that eventually led to Cody dethroning Reigns were made public in WrestleMania XL: Behind the Curtain, an hour-long WWE-produced documentary that broke kayfabe by revealing the real-life drama surrounding the main events of WrestleMania 40.
If Behind the Curtain was an appetizer, WWE: Unreal is the savory entree wrestling fans have been waiting to devour.
Opening Shot: The series begins with an introduction by the narrator, WWE’s Chief Content Officer and former 14-time World Champion Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who offers a thesis statement as to why now is the perfect time for WWE: Unreal.
“Back 20, 30 years ago, you never talked about somebody outside their character. The world has changed,” Triple H says. “We’re gonna lift the curtain. We’re gonna show you things you’ve never seen in this show. For the first time ever, we’re gonna show you how the story unfolded before your eyes.”
The Gist: WWE: Unreal is a five-episode docuseries that takes fans into the famed WWE writers’ room. Starting with the first episode of Raw on Netflix and culminating at WrestleMania 41, the series follows the stories of WWE Superstars Cody Rhodes, John Cena, Rhea Ripley, CM Punk, Jey Uso, Bianca Belair, Chelsea Green, Charlotte Flair, and Xavier Woods — as well as the creative team tasked with crafting long-term angles for television and premium live events.
Episodes range from 53 to 64 minutes in length.
What Show Will It Remind You Of? The best comparison is WrestleMania XL: Behind the Curtain, the aforementioned WWE-produced documentary that details all the behind-the-scenes chaos surrounding Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, The Rock, and the WrestleMania 40 main events.
Our Take: I thoroughly enjoyed WWE: Unreal, but your mileage may vary based on your expectations. When it comes to the WWE, a billion-dollar global entity, you almost always see what the company wants you to see. Anything that deviates from their plan — like the ad-libbed burns between Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair — becomes just another part of the story.
The most interesting aspect of WWE: Unreal is when we’re allowed to enter the writers’ room, which happens all too infrequently considering the premise of the series. Looking at an early draft of WrestleMania 41 and listening to different pitches about who should win the Royal Rumble is the type of behind-the-scenes footage I want to watch. Wrestling fans love alternate plans. We already know what happened; give us the juicy deets on the almosts and maybes that never panned out.
I don’t know how successful WWE: Unreal will be at attracting a new audience, but this longtime fan loved all the backstage interactions between former real-life rivals CM Punk and Triple H, watching the creative team prepare to push Jey Uso, and the detailed explanation of the John Cena heel turn.
It’s hard to find a TV show or movie that doesn’t overstay its welcome, but I’d watch five more episodes of WWE: Unreal tomorrow.
Sex and Skin: Nothing more than what you’d see on an average episode of Raw or SmackDown.
Sleeper Star: “Shh. It’s Chelsea Green!” Many non-wrestling fans are at least somewhat familiar with Cody Rhodes, John Cena, Charlotte Flair, CM Punk, and Bianca Belair, but WWE: Unreal introduces the world to the comic relief of the WWE: fan favorite Chelsea Green.
The self-proclaimed “Hot mess” is pure money, and one of my favorite moments from Unreal was WWE SVP of Creative Writing Ed Koskey’s jokey pitch for Chelsea to win the Royal Rumble in a hilariously unconventional fashion:
“Horrible option. You get entrant 29 in there. They come in, and there [are] only two women. They end up doing a double elimination, so whoever’s number 30 automatically wins: Chelsea Green.”
I’m 1000% on board for this at the 2026 Royal Rumble.
Bonus Sleeper Star: I’m also giving William Regal a scene-stealer shoutout for his kindness towards Christopher Park (aka Abyss) at the end of the first episode. Park, who was the match producer for the Punk/Rollins main event during Raw’s debut episode on Netflix, was visibly frazzled after the bout went long.
As always, William Regal is a real man’s man.
Parting Shot: The first episode of WWE: Unreal ends with the conclusion of the CM Punk/Seth Rollins main event match from the first episode of Raw on Netflix. “There’s opportunity right now for everybody on the card,” Triple H says in the closing moments. “We’re going to allow you to spread your wings. And if you hit it right and that connects with people, we’re gonna run with it.”
Most Pilot-y Line: Triple H sets the tone for the non-wrestling fans tuning in to see what WWE: Unreal is all about:
“People that aren’t fans think, ‘Isn’t that just a bunch of guys pretending to fight?’ I believe that our business is actually more complex than anyone understands. This is a calculated, coordinated production. Seven days a week. 365 days a year. The story never ends.”
Our Call: STREAM IT. Could WWE: Unreal have gone deeper and explored more of the backstage drama and alternate storylines that diehard wrestling fans obsess over? Absolutely. But the WWE is in the business of offering peeks behind the curtain, not lifting the veil of secrecy altogether.
Unreal was created to attract new wrestling fans, but there’s still enough behind-the-scenes intrigue to make this an absolute must-watch for the day ones.
All five episodes of WWE: Unreal are now streaming on Netflix.