Backstage News On WWE SmackDown & AEW Dynamite Running Head-To-Head On New Year's Day

New Year's Day 2027 will be a historic day in the world of professional wrestling as for the first-time ever, "WWE SmackDown" and "AEW Dynamite" will go head-to-head. It was recently announced that All Elite Wrestling will be running its annual New Year's Smash edition of "Dynamite" on Friday, January 1, meaning that AEW's flagship show will go up against a taped episode of "SmackDown" that will air on the same night. 

Despite WWE's efforts to counterprogram AEW and go out of its way to load up shows that go against AEW shows, it seems that the company isn't going to make any special arrangements for New Year's Day. According to WrestleVotes Radio on Fightful Select, WWE has no plans on reshaping its taping schedule for the end of 2026, and has no intentions of airing a live "SmackDown" against "Dynamite," and will instead stick with the taped episode that will be filmed on December 28 at the Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida, immediately after the final episode of "WWE Raw" for 2026.

The main reason for this according to WWE sources is that it allows the talent to have New Year's Day off to enjoy celebrations with friends and family, and regardless of what AEW might have planned to kick off the new year, WWE isn't going to change its schedule just to try and beat "Dynamite" in the ratings. The ratings for that New Year's Day episode of "SmackDown" have been discussed internally, and some in WWE believe it will actually draw lower ratings than usual, even without the AEW competition, primarily due to it still airing in and around the holiday season. However, the fact that WWE isn't going to change its schedule is a sign of confidence that the show will outdraw "Dynamite" in the ratings, even with lower viewership than usual.