WWE is adding a pay-per-view to their 2022 calendar. In fact, the pay-per-view will take place on the very first day of the 2022 calendar as the company announced a New Year's Day event during Friday's episode of SmackDown.
Bianca Belair successfully defended her SmackDown Women's Championship against Carmella. Following the match she introduced Atlanta Hawks' point guard Trae Young who announced that WWE would be bringing the crew to Atlanta. He teased they should call the event "New Year's Trae".
WWE then released a statement on WWE.com about the event. They wrote: WWE will kick off the new year at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Saturday, January 1, 2022, marking the first time in history that a WWE pay-per-view event will be held on New Year’s Day." They noted that the show will stream live at 8 pm ET exclusively on Peacock in the United States and on WWE Network everywhere else.
Scott Zanghellini, WWE Senior Vice President, Revenue Strategy & Development said: “We’re excited to deliver this pay-per-view to the people of Atlanta and the many that travel to the city to celebrate New Year’s.”
It's an interesting choice to add an event on New Year's Day. It's not only a holiday that could make for a challenging sell, but the event will take place on a Saturday. Whether that's a one-off, or it represents a pattern that WWE may look to more high-profile events on a Saturday in the future.
For two years now, WWE has held WrestleMania over two nights, a Saturday and a Sunday.
A Multi-Brand Event
The pay-per-view will feature stars from both Raw and SmackDown and WWE.com has announced names like Roman Reigns, Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre and other champions will be on hand. Interestingly, names like John Cena, Goldberg and other stars who have recently returned have not been listed.
The first-ever comes after rumors of a first-ever Queen of the Ring Tournament.