New Year’s Day SmackDown To Be Pre-Taped
SmackDown will not be live on New Year’s Day.
PWInsider reports that SmackDown will be taped on Dec. 29 at at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA.
This follows the report from Sept. 5 that stated the New Year’s Eve edition of Raw will be taped on Dec. 28. Local advertisements for SmackDown list a Fatal Four Way for the WWE Championship between AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, Samoa Joe and The Miz along with Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte for the Smackdown Women’s Championship as the two headlining bouts. As always, the card is subject to change and both matches could be dark matches to take place after the television portion finishes up.
No word yet if WWE will run live events on Christmas Eve (Monday) and Christmas (Tuesday). If you recall, last year WWE held Raw live on Christmas Day in 2017, upsetting many in the company. The show averaged 2.70 million viewers and a 0.84 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic. The New Year’s Day edition of Raw drew 2.87 million viewers and a 0.97 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic.
