WWE started its own streaming business in 2014. For more than two decades, its television home has been USA Network, which airs WWE’s flagship show, “Raw,” every Monday night. (A second show, “Smackdown,” runs on Thursday nights.) USA, which is owned by NBC Universal, is one of the top-rated cable networks, in no small part because “Raw” is among the top-rated cable shows. The programming WWE doesn’t air on USA — premium content like WrestleMania — has historically consisted of pay-per-view events.

Around 2011, WWE started thinking about starting its own HBO-style cable channel, according to George Barrios, the company’s chief strategy and financial officer. (Barrios went to WWE from The New York Times Company, where he was the treasurer.) But by 2013, WWE executives had done research showing that wrestling fans — most of whom are not wealthy — were big users of broadband, watching shows from streaming services like Netflix and Hulu considerably more often than most people. They were also voracious watchers of YouTube. (Barrios said the WWE gets more YouTube views for its short-form content, such as highlights, than any other sports channel.) So the company decided to abandon the cable channel idea and develop a streaming service instead.

“We thought if this is where our consumers are going, we needed to be there as well,” Barrios said. Streaming has undeniable advantages over traditional television. The subscribers belong to WWE, not to a cable company, so it can market to them more directly. It can sell WWE clothing and paraphernalia directly from its app. The WWE Network allows it to make money on its popular archives. And it gets steady, monthly checks from its subscribers, rather than having to count on less-reliable pay-per-view revenue.

“They thought they needed one million subscribers to make it work,” said Brandon Ross, an analyst who covers the stock for BTIG, an investment firm. “For them, it was a no-brainer.” The WWE Network hit the million mark in 2015. WWE still offers its premium events on pay per view — so as not to lose fans who don’t yet have broadband — but that income stream is declining as more wrestling fans turn to the WWE Network.

What you won’t find on the WWE Network is either “Raw” or “Smackdown,” which remain on USA. But that doesn’t mean that USA executives aren’t nervous. In May 2014, a few months after the launch of its new streaming service, WWE signed a new rights deal with the cable network that was considerably lower than expected. Clearly, the lower amount was a result of USA’s fears that streaming would cut into its ratings. Wall Street panicked, and WWE’s stock dropped almost 50 percent in a day. Though the stock eventually recovered, McMahon lost his billionaire status for a while.

Today, “Raw” and “Smackdown” have a combined viewership of well over 10 million. That’s still a lot higher than the WWE Network’s 1.82 million subscribers. And WWE’s television rights remain its largest single source of revenue. But the ratings for “Raw” are down somewhat — as are the ratings for the entire USA Network — and if the WWE Network continues to gain subscribers at the pace it is on, it’s worth wondering how long WWE will remain committed to a cable network whose profits are dependent on an eroding business model.