Marking one of the rarest occasions, there won’t be any live episode of WWE Raw, next week on Monday, December 26. Interestingly though, the WWE roster will still be on the road on that night after Christmas 2022 but the company won’t be hosting any TV taping on that night. Thereby, a special Best of 2022 edition from WWE programming will rather be aired.
As announced this past Monday, the upcoming December 26th edition of the red brand has been titled WWE Raw: The Absolute Best of 2022. Fightful Select has revealed some backstage details regarding why there will not live episode despite the WWE roster not being given the night off.
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WWE officials giving more time off to their talents
One source indicated to Fightful that WWE Officials were willing “to give production workers some additional time off.” Another source confirmed that while talent will be still on the road working live events on the day after Christmas, those shows will require fewer production personnel since they are untelevised.
Not the full set of crews across all the departments will have to work at the house shows but things would have been different if a WWE Raw was scheduled,
“Fightful had been inquiring about the status of the December 26 Raw since before the announcement, and spoke to some within the company following it. One talent indicated they hadn’t been told the reason and said that they were wondering themselves as to why, before updating and noted that it was likely to give production workers some additional time off.”
WWE Raw/Smackdown talents getting additional payments for Christmas shows
An undisclosed top talent reportedly told Fightful that WWE won’t be having any live television tapings from December 20 through December 28 which is a good move on their part for the talents. They wished that the superstars could have had a little more holiday time off. However, the top talent also noted that they will get paid well for working holiday dates for WWE Raw/Smackdown Live Events.
Card for upcoming WWE MSG event on December 26
Skipping WWE Raw, the next live WWE broadcast will take place on December 30, when the 16-time former world champion John Cena will be making his in-ring return to be in action on the final Smackdown of the year at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. As for December 26, a live event will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The match card for the night goes as follows,
– Kevin Owens & Braun Strowman vs. The Usos
– GUNTHER (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Ricochet vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Santos Escobar – Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship
– Bray Wyatt, Liv Morgan, Karrion Kross, Scarlett, & Hit Row to appear