WWE has made a few changes to their schedule policy for major pay-per-view events, according to F4Wonline.com.
Beginning with the 2020 Royal Rumble Week in January from Texas, they are no longer holding the usual four events in the same arena that week – Takeover, the pay-per-view, RAW and SmackDown. The Friday Night SmackDown during Rumble Week is being moved to Dallas, TX, instead of Houston where the Rumble pay-per-view is being held at Minute Maid Park. As noted earlier, the Saturday night show before the Rumble will now feature a Worlds Collide special from the Toyota Center in Houston, instead of a WWE NXT Takeover event from that same arena. The Rumble pay-per-view will then be held on Sunday from Minute Maid Park in Houston.
While the pre-Rumble SmackDown will now be held in Dallas, the post-Rumble RAW will be held in San Antonio. These two shows were expected for Houston.
Regarding the Worlds Collide special that we noted earlier, it’s believed the event will feature NXT, NXT UK and 205 Live Superstars, but plans are still being worked out. The event will air live on the WWE Network that night, likely in the same timeslot that Takeover events usually air in.
WWE will still be holding Takeover events, but the schedule is being worked on now and will be released in the near future.
A WWE representative issued the following statement to PWInsider in response to the Worlds Collide event replacing Takeover that Saturday night: “That event will be Worlds Collide. The schedule of the 2020 NXT TakeOver Events will be out in the near future.”
Based on the reported changes, below is the updated 2020 Royal Rumble Week line-up:
* Friday, January 24 – SmackDown in Dallas
* Saturday, January 25 – Worlds Collide from the Toyota Center in Houston
* Sunday, January 26 – Royal Rumble from Minute Maid Park in Houston
* Monday, January 27 – RAW in San Antonio
Stay tuned for more details on Rumble Week 2020 plans, and if WWE plans on making similar changes for the other weekends that surround major pay-per-view events.
