For the first time ever, WWE announced next year’s pay-per-view schedule in advance. Usually, the idea is to announce shows a few months in advance but other than a couple things that are missing, just about the entire schedule is announced.
While events are subject to change, WWE announced the following shows:
– Saturday, Jan. 1 – Day 1 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta
– Saturday, Jan. 29 – Royal Rumble at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis
– Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3 – WrestleMania at AT&T Stadium in Dallas
– Sunday, May 8 – Pay-Per-View at Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, R.I.
– Sunday, June 5 – Pay-Per-View at Allstate Arena in Chicago
– Saturday, July 2 – Money In The Bank at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas
– Saturday, July 30 – SummerSlam at Nissan Stadium in Nashville
– Saturday, Sept. 3 or Sunday, Sept. 4 – Pay-Per-View at TBD location
– Saturday, Nov. 26 – Survivor Series at TD Garden in Boston
One thing that is missing is that the Saudi Arabia shows aren’t included. WWE said in their release that “pay-per-views taking place in February and October will be announced in the near future” so given past history, it is likely those Saudi Arabia shows will go there.
On top of three of the shows not having names yet, the September PPV is listed as happening on either September 3 or 4 at a location that’s to be determined. That’s Labor Day Weekend and AEW typically has All Out in Chicago so, while I want to make it clear that it’s not known this is the reason why things are up in the air on WWE’s end, it remains to be seen by either company whether or not shows will take place on consecutive nights or on the same night.
What I like about the schedule is that for one thing, fans can start preparing their travel plans way in advance, especially for the shows later in the year. We knew about a few of the upcoming and bigger shows already but with SummerSlam in Nashville and Survivor Series in Boston, it’s never too early to make travel plans.
Another is that there will be more stadium shows. Stadiums might have a different atmosphere because the noise escapes but there’s nothing like the visual of wrestling in a 60,000+ seat stadium full of fans. For all the talk about AEW and WWE, this is something WWE has over them at this moment so WWE should take advantage of that. There is a danger of doing it too often and it won’t be as special but limiting it to four of the “Big Five” shows and Saudi Arabia should keep that from happening.
The thing I like most is that more shows are on Saturday. This year, only Day 1 of WrestleMania and SummerSlam was on a Saturday but in 2022, at least six shows (including Day 1 of WrestleMania) will be on a Saturday. Sunday shows have been the tradition for decades but if WWE is going to market toward kids, it doesn’t make much sense to have a Sunday show and kids have to go to bed early because it’s a school night. Not to mention, many adults need to get up early to go to work and might appreciate a Saturday show as well.
All in all, this seems like a positive change on WWE’s end. Personally, I would like to see WWE’s and AEW’s Labor Day weekend shows on back-to-back days. I don’t know if that winds up happening but in an ideal world, I’ll take one on Saturday and the other on Sunday.
[WWE]
