WWE fans in agreement after surprise Macaulay Culkin appearance on first live Netflix show as The Rock and John Cena return

WWE has finally debuted on Netflix with the very first Monday Night Raw show broadcast live on the streaming platform to the living rooms of millions of households around the world.

And one of the biggest moments of the show had nothing to do with wrestling. Instead, it had absolutely everything to do with one of the world's favourite festive folk: Macaulay Culkin.

Last year, Netflix agreed to pay more than $5 billion (£3.98 billion) for the rights to Raw and other WWE content, such as its vast archive of footage.

Those in the US can only watch Raw on Netflix but for those outside of the States, it will also come with SmackDown and NXT, the streaming platform says.

All Netflix subscribers on different plans will get access to premium live events (PLEs) as they happen, including the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, and SummerSlam.

In the very first episode of Raw on Monday night (6 January), legends of the industry returned in a showcase at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.

Icons such as The Rock, John Cena, and The Undertaker rolled on in, with Cena saying he 'could not think of a better place to start' before setting his eyes on winning the Royal Rumble in February.

As for current talent, it was a star-studded event with the likes of Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins all taking to the ring in a three hour showcase to the world.

But it was a moment between all the matches and promos in the ring that saw the loudest 'pop' of the night - that's wrestling talk for getting a sudden, positive reaction from the crowd.

No, it wasn't The Rock's entrance or even Cena's return.

Instead, it was a guy we know best for being an eight-year-old defending his home from two bumbling criminals.

Enter the world of Macaulay Culkin. A lifelong wrestling fan, he was one of the many celebrities and WWE talent in the crowd that the camera focused on in the downtime between events, which included Ashton Kutcher.

In keeping with his cheeky demeanour that we know and love from Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Culkin at first hid his face behind a cap with the word 'Papa' on the front of it.

This was before revealing his face to the camera with a grin; a moment that saw the crowd go 'holy sh*t, that's Kevin!'.

Over on X (formerly Twitter), viewers praised the cameo.

Macaulay Culkin with damn near the pop of the night 🔥🔥🔥 #RawOnNetflix #WWERaw #WWEonNetflix pic.twitter.com/YtiGsVCbdy

— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) January 7, 2025

"Macaulay Culkin with damn near the pop of the night," one said with a bunch of fire emojis.

A second said: "That was an insane pop."

Others said the closeness of the appearance to Christmas might have been why it was such a welcome addition, given how much we associate the now 44-year-old with festivities.

"Fresh off the holiday season. Not surprised he got that pop," one said.