New Jersey Devils: What Happened To WWE Night?
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils have had most of their promotional schedule set for a majority of the season. Yet, without notice, one of the more popular days on the schedule just disappeared and was replaced with a bobblehead.
Everyone loves a bobblehead. It provides just a simplicity to the games we once loved. They depict our favorite players on our favorite teams and people come by our desks at work and can’t help giving it a knock on the head. The New Jersey Devils usually do really well with their bobblehead nights.
Earlier this season, on Star Wars night, the Devils gave away a Jedi Jack Hughes bobblehead. It was quite cool for those who are into the movie franchise.
Then, they announced a combination WWE Night and P.K. Subban “Subbanator” bobblehead night. After Subban was introduced with a Ric Flair robe, after part of the Devils mantra is yelling the “Woo” during games, it makes perfect sense to pair the two. The Subbanator bobblehead could be one of the better ones for the 9,000 fans who get it off the bat.
However, seemingly out of nowhere, WWE Night does not exist on the promotional schedule. Go ahead, take a look. Now, it’s just called bobblehead night.
We want to give the Devils the benefit of the doubt. This is Wrestlemania season, and the WWE Superstars may be busy. The Devils have been great with this in the past. In 2017, they got diehard Devils fan and former World Champion Edge to come greet the fans. The next season, they got the hottest ticket in the game in Becky Lynch. She was coming off some of the biggest heat in wrestling, and was on the cusp of being WWE’s biggest star. They let her take over the team’s Instagram stories, and it went pretty hilariously at times.
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This season, it looks like they aren’t doing it at all. The real question is, why?
We gave the Devils the chance to answer that question. We’ve asked them on multiple platforms to tell us what happened, but like a lot of things this season, there was no transparency. Instead, wrestling fans who always circle this date on the calendar now have no explanation why this night no longer exists.
In a season that has been full of nothing but disappointments, it seems hard they could find new ways to upset their fans. Those who were looking forward to seeing a superstar or two on their way to Wrestlemania now need to re-evaluate whether this is a night they want to see hockey.
Since the Devils didn’t tell us why this night was canceled, we’re put in a position where speculation can run wild. The Prudential Center welcomed All Elite Wrestling to work a show a little over a week before Wrestlemania. They signed up for the WWE’s biggest competitor to bring wrestling to WWE’s backyard (the company got famous in Madison Square Garden, and grew from the Tri-State Area to a nationwide powerhouse). Did Vince McMahon, who’s famously vindictive, pull WWE Night off the schedule because of the Prudential Center’s move to sign on with the competition?
Maybe the WWE didn’t want to sign on to a team that’s playing as bad as the Devils have. However, it’s not like last year was any better. However, at least they came in October when the hype was still alive.
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It’s just possible something came up for WWE. February 16th is the night of NXT: Takeover Portland. NXT is a brand of WWE and the Takeovers are their big events (also known as PPVs). Maybe WWE just didn’t want something to take eyes away from their big show. Why would they advertise something for hockey during a time when they want wrestling fans in front of a TV watching their own product?
The only issue there is you’d think they’d work out another date. If the WWE was the one who pulled from this, after years of a strong relationship, one would imagine they’d try to keep things good between them.
If they had to pull this off the schedule, for whatever reason, it’s unacceptable not to make a formal announcement. There are WWE fans who are going to go to this show and have no idea it was ended. That’s because the Devils just slyly dropped it off the schedule as if nobody would notice. Well, we noticed.