Backstage News On WWE Holiday TV Taping Plans

With the holiday season quickly approaching, new details have emerged on how WWE plans to handle its live and taped television shows in December.

According to PWInsider, "WWE SmackDown" will be live every Friday except for the December 23 broadcast on Fox. WWE will hold a double "SmackDown" taping on December 16 at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois. The December 16 episode will still air live, while the following Friday will be pre-taped that night. Similarly, WWE pre-taped the 2021 Christmas Eve episode in Chicago. "SmackDown" will return to the live format on December 30 from Tampa, Florida. 

The "NXT" brand will have a busy week starting with the "NXT" Deadline premium live event on Saturday, December 10. After that, "NXT" will air live on USA Network on Tuesday, December 13. Then, on Wednesday, December 14, WWE will hold a double taping at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, to pre-tape the episode for December 20 and December 27 to finish out the year. "NXT" will return with a live episode on January 6, 2023.

As for "WWE Raw," it's still unclear what the plans are for the Monday, December 26 episode. WWE is slated to have two holiday live events that night with a non-televised "Raw" event at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, while the "SmackDown" brand will be at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

There's a possibility WWE will hold a double "Raw" taping on December 19 in Des Moines, Iowa, however that has yet to be confirmed. Alternatively, PWInsider notes that WWE could "forgo the usual Raw format" for the day after Christmas.