WWE has been holding monthly pay-per-view (PPV) events for decades, but it sounds like December 2021 will be one of the rare exceptions.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed what’s going on with WWE’s upcoming pay-per-view schedule:
“They do a pay-per-view every month. And originally there was gonna be a pay-per-view...in Chicago at the All-State Arena in mid-December. And the feeling is now that, doing 12 a year, and the December pay-per-view will actually be January 1st in Atlanta. The idea [is to do] January 1st rather than do mid to late December. And then they’re still gonna do the Royal Rumble as the January pay-per-view...”
“A lot of people were wondering when they moved the December Chicago date from being a pay-per-view to being a television taping, who’s gonna get the pay-per-view? And the answer is that there is no pay-per-view.”
WWE usually places the annual TLC event in mid December, a week or two before Christmas. Sometimes there are only three weeks between Survivor Series and TLC, and then a six week wait between TLC and the following month’s Royal Rumble.
This year’s December PPV (presumably TLC 2021) was originally scheduled for Dec. 12 in Chicago, three weeks after Survivor Series on November 21. The Day One PPV scheduled in Atlanta on Jan. 1, 2022, would have then taken place three weeks after the December PPV.
Based on what Meltzer is saying, WWE has instead opted to cancel its monthly December event for this year and treat the Day One show as its replacement. Given that Royal Rumble 2022 is taking place on Jan. 29, this gives a more balanced amount of time separating the PPVs from Survivor Series through Royal Rumble.
One clear implication of this decision is that TLC 2021 won’t be happening, unless WWE decides to use it as a theme for an upcoming episode of Raw or SmackDown.
How do you feel about WWE’s reported change to its PPV schedule? Are you bummed out about missing TLC this year?