WWE Adjusts Thanksgiving Week Schedule, SmackDown Black Friday Episode to Be Taped in Advance – WWE has locked in its schedule for Thanksgiving week with a key adjustment that will give its roster and staff a rare holiday break. According to WrestleVotes Radio, the company will tape the Black Friday edition of SmackDown ahead of time rather than airing it live.

To accommodate this, WWE will hold a double taping in Denver, Colorado, on Friday, November 22. That night’s event will feature a live SmackDown for the November 22 broadcast, followed immediately by the taping for the November 29 show. This will allow talent and crew members to spend the Thanksgiving holiday weekend at home.

WWE has faced criticism in the past for running events on major holidays. One notable example came when the company aired a live RAW on Christmas night from the Allstate Arena in Chicago. Despite backlash, that show was a sellout. In recent years, under TKO’s profit-focused strategy, WWE has scaled back on house shows but continued to prioritize televised programming and major tours.

Thanksgiving has deep roots in wrestling history, particularly with Jim Crockett Promotions and the NWA, which turned the holiday into a wrestling tradition with Starrcade throughout the 1980s. Similarly, Christmas shows have been a staple in wrestling, with WWE still running its annual holiday tour across North America during the week between Christmas and New Year’s.

The pre-taped SmackDown airing on November 29 will serve as the final episode before WWE Survivor Series, which takes place the very next night, Saturday, November 30, in San Diego, California.

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WWE Thanksgiving Week Schedule

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