Report: WWE Had Heat With Wrestlers Over Christmas Show
It turns out wrestlers, like most other people, went to be with their families at Christmas.
WWE's holiday schedule was announced last week, with the promotion altering the 24 and 31 December episodes of SmackDown from a traditional taping schedule for the festive season.
Rather than airing live on Christmas Eve, SmackDown will be pretaped in Chicago, Illinois the week before. That the promotion is also running a live blue brand broadcast that night means live attendees will get twice as much wrestling for their money. Then, on New Year's Eve, SmackDown will take the form of a year in review show on FS1, having being preempted from its regular slot on FOX.
Writing in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer states that the Christmas Eve change is a product of heat WWE received for scheduling a Christmas show a few years ago. Wrestlers, understandably, wanted to be with their families for the holidays. The promotion ended up pulling that show, with the situation factoring into this year's move as well.
The 24 December episode will be taped after the live broadcast on 17 December, meaning the show will stretch from 7 PM to 11 PM.
WWE's Day 1 pay-per-view (1 January 2022) follows the year in review show the night before.