Why is SummerSlam on a Saturday this year?
SummerSlam 2021 will air on August 21st, a Saturday. This is due to WWE's switch to broadcast pay-per-view events on Saturday nights in the future.
The switch was confirmed in WWE's latest Q2 2021 Earnings Call by President Nick Khan that Saturday is the new day for pay-per-view events. WWE cited a gap in the sporting calendar for that particular weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada, where SummerSlam will take place.
The company also recently announced that they will host a pay-per-view event on the first Saturday in January in Atlanta, Georgia.
SummerSlam will take place from the brand new Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. It will be the second-time ever that SummerSlam has been held in a stadium. The first time was in 1992, when it was held at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
This year's SummerSlam card features a blockbuster main-event as Roman Reigns defends the Universal Championship against John Cena. The card will also see Bobby Lashley defend the WWE Championship against Goldberg, and Bianca Belair defend the SmackDown Women's Championship against Sasha Banks.
Other than SummerSlam, has WWE held other pay-per-view events on different days?
In 2004, WWE held its first-ever Taboo Tuesday pay-per-view event, a fan interactive which took place on a Tuesday night. It was a move away from the traditional Sunday night pay-per-views that WWE and fans had become accustomed to.
The Tuesday night pay-per-view concept lasted two years before the event was moved to a more traditional Sunday. From there, it was renamed Cyber Sunday.
Fans were able to vote for matches and stipulations they wanted to see, and were presented with the Monday Night RAW roster, led by Eric Bischoff at the time. WWE commentator at the time, Jim Ross, recently discussed the concept on his Grilling JR podcast as well as the legitimancy of the votes:
"I’m fully of the belief that it was on the up and up. I really am. If it wasn’t and people did enough forensic study and you’re exposed that your votes meant nothing, it kills the concept entirely going forward if you wanna go forward. If you wanna kill the concept of internet voting, then rig it. Somebody’s gonna find out about it. I really believe it was legit," Jim Ross said (h/t Wrestling Headlines)
Outside of the WrestleMania 36 and 37, WrestleMania 2 was the only other WrestleMania event to air on a day other than Sunday. It took place on April 7th 1986 and was aired from three different venues. The venues were in Uniondale, New York, Rosemont, Illinois and Los Angeles, California.