FOX Cancels New Year's Eve Special That Had Replaced WWE SmackDown Show

FOX have reportedly cancelled its New Year's Eve Toast & Roast special, which was supposed to air instead of WWE Friday Night SmackDown on December 31.

A FOX spokesperson has told Deadline.com that the network has made the decision to cancel the special show due to 'the recent velocity of the spread of Omicron cases'. The show had been scheduled to be presented live from Times Square, New York, but the broadcaster has opted to prioritise the health and wellbeing of their cast and crew.

Fox are yet to announce a replacement for the show but WWE will not, at time of writing, be airing a live episode of SmackDown on New Year's Eve.

The promotion had originally planned to present SmackDown from the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina on Friday 31 December but opted to pull the event. The episode had been due to air on FOX Sports 1 but Vince McMahon and Nick Khan determined the show would do an especially poor rating, and decided against it.

In its place, WWE have been listed as airing an 2021 review style episode. It is possible that this could be now moved over to FOX as part of the replacement programming.