WWE is going into 2024 with a bang.
The preeminent pro wrestling company’s 2023 calendar year is nearly complete. They wrapped up television tapings this week, as this week’s ‘Friday Night Smackdown‘ was taped last week. Many of the wrestlers have returned home, some even going back to their home countries, using an extended holiday break to their advantage.
That rest will undoubtedly amount to something. To begin 2024, WWE will roll out what it’s calling, ‘New Year’s Knockout Week.’
Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque, WWE’s creative head and former multi-time World Champion, revealed the plans on social media Friday night.
6 can’t-miss shows. 1 epic week.
We’re ringing in 2024 with WWE New Year’s Knockout Week: a full slate of @WWE programming to kick the new year off right.
It all starts one week from Monday with #WWERaw Day One and ends with #SmackDown: New Year’s Revolution…
Are you ready? pic.twitter.com/aqqH6UTIrs
— Triple H (@TripleH) December 22, 2023
The week begins on New Year’s Day with a special episode of ‘Monday Night Raw.’ WWE is noting the episode as ‘Day 1 Raw,’ a play from a previous Premium Live Event that took place on January 1, 2022. Then, on Tuesday, ‘WWE NXT‘ will present its latest installment of ‘New Year’s Evil.’ The promotion has run a New Year’s unique in each of the last few years (and multiple television specials as well, but we’ll get to that later). Finally, the first Friday Night Smackdown will air from Vancouver, British Columbia, titled ‘New Year’s Revolution.’ From 2005 to 2007, WWE ran that event as a Pay-Per-View special, so it brings some nostalgia with it.
That’s all to personally say: Why stop there?
It doesn’t have to happen constantly, but mixing it up with television specials would quickly boost an already increasingly compelling product. Ratings for WWE have been largely up across the board on its three shows. General interest in them is obviously growing, and their media rights deals have nearly all been renewed. When WWE has big shows lined up, and they have a stacked card, the shows do typically draw well. So adding some more window dressing to that with a catchy title, or a throwback to the past, would likely only enhance the ratings from that perspective alone.
To that end, it’s perhaps relevant to remember that they do have something of a plan carved out for this. A provision included in WWE’s new contract for Smackdown were said to be four TV specials on NBC. Those would have an even grander sense of hype, being aired on over-the-air television and all. But for its cable shows, taking a page out of their own playbook would behoove them.
NXT has had a healthy amount of TV specials over the past few years. They theme them out between ‘New Year’s Evil,’ ‘Spring Breakin,’ ‘Heat Wave,’ previously ‘The Great American Bash,’ and the incredibly popular ‘Halloween Havoc.’ NXT has tested the hypothesis of if more people would tune in for the titled episodes, and they’re typically proven right.
There’s really no reason not to. Since WWE appears to be putting this formula into place, one should probably expect more themed episodes going forward. The possibilities are both fun and exciting.
