History of WWE SmackDown
The history of WWF/E SmackDown!, began with the show's debut on August 26, 1999, in Kansas City, Missouri. The show was originally broadcast on Thursday nights but moved to Friday on September 9, 2005, before returning to Thursdays on January 15, 2015.
In its WWF/E SmackDown! history, SmackDown has been broadcast from 162 arenas, in 147 cities and towns, in seven countries (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Iraq in 2003 and 2004 for Tribute to the Troops, Japan in 2005, Italy in 2007, and Mexico in 2011). Prior to switching to the current live format, taped episodes premiered a few hours earlier in Ireland and the United Kingdom and a day earlier in Australia, Canada, and Singapore than the United States, due to time differences. The show celebrated its 15th anniversary on October 10, 2014,[10] and its 1,000th episode on October 16, 2018.
Original format (1999–2001)
The early set included an oval-shaped
Brand extension (2002–2005)
In March 2002, WWE underwent the "brand extension",[12] a process in which WWE divided itself into two branches.[12] The two divisions, Raw and SmackDown!, would compete against each other. The brand extension was made public during a telecast of Raw on March 18, 2002, and became official on the April 1, 2002, episode of Raw. Michael Cole was joined in commentary by Tazz on April 4, 2002, until June 9, 2006. Cole and Tazz also appeared as the commentators on February 22, 2001, through June 28, 2001, and August 2, 2001, through November 15, 2001.
WWE's "
On June 9, 2006, Tazz left the SmackDown! brand to join the new ECW brand, leaving the color commentator position vacant. However, on June 11, 2006, at ECW One Night Stand, Layfield revealed that he was the new color commentator for SmackDown!, a position he held until December 21, 2007, when he left to make his return as an in-ring competitor on Raw, and Jonathan Coachman replaced him afterwards. Eventually, Coachman was released by WWE the following year and replaced by Mick Foley.
Changing channels (2006–2010)
The CW (2006–2008)
On September 22, 2006, Friday Night SmackDown! debuted on
On April 20, 2007, SmackDown! celebrated its 400th episode.[12] Ratings success soon followed as on June 8, 2007, SmackDown! made CW history by making a three-way tie with CBS and ABC in the key ad demographic (adults, 18–49) by drawing a 1.5 rating each. Two weeks later, on June 22, 2007, SmackDown! again made CW history by tying the network for first place in the key ad demographic (adults, 18–49) and being the second-most-watched network program at 9 p.m. for the night. The CW had not performed as well at any time slot since America's Next Top Model the previous March. The following week, on June 29, 2007, SmackDown! helped CW to claim the top spot in the key demographic (adults, 18–49) for Friday. CBS got the overall lead, but CW got top spot for the adults 18-49 by registering a 1.4 rating followed by CBS and NBC at 1.3, ABC at 1.2, and Fox at 0.9.[15][16] Two weeks later, on Friday, July 13, 2007, SmackDown! made network history by placing first in the 18-49 demographic and becoming the most watched show at the 9 p.m. hour on network television. This was the first time anything has placed this well on CW. SmackDown! became a hit show on Friday nights winning the demographics for young males and ranking second on the demographics (18-49) for Friday nights.
Jim Ross became the new play-by-play announcer for SmackDown, while Michael Cole (SmackDown! commentator for nine years from its launch in 1999 until June 23, 2008) was drafted to Raw. In August 2008, Tazz returned to SmackDown as color commentator, due in part to Mick Foley's departure from WWE. A couple of months later, in late 2008, Tazz let his contract expire, so he was replaced by Todd Grisham, who was the color commentator on Raw.
MyNetworkTV (2008–2010)
SmackDown debuted on MyNetworkTV in the United States on October 3, 2008, featuring performers from the Raw, SmackDown and ECW brands. SmackDown also debuted with a new theme-song. The premiere episode on MyNetworkTV attracted 3.2 million viewers. While the viewership dropped, SmackDown pulled the highest ratings to date for MyNetworkTV and pushed the network to fifth place, ahead of its former network The CW. The premiere was also first place in male 18-49 demographics.[17]
On March 20, 2009, SmackDown celebrated its 500th episode.
NBCUniversal (2010–2019)
Syfy and end of brand extension (2010–2015)
As made public on April 12, 2010, SmackDown moved to
On December 10, 2010, the NXT color commentator Josh Mathews became the new lead announcer for SmackDown, a position he held until February 22, 2013, when he left to become the new color commentator the following week until May 24, 2013. On February 4, 2011, Booker T made a return on SmackDown as a commentator replacing Striker.
In August 2011, the brand extension came to an end, resulting in Raw talent appearing on SmackDown and vice versa. In late 2011, Super SmackDown Live, a live episode of the show was broadcast on a Tuesday. The title was revived for future live episodes.
The October 14, 2011, episode made SmackDown the second-longest-running weekly episodic television series of American television history (behind Raw, which surpassed that mark on August 2, 2005). On April 1, 2012, at WrestleMania XXVIII, John Laurinaitis became general manager of both Raw and SmackDown after Team Johnny defeated Team Teddy. However, on June 17, 2012, at No Way Out, after Cena defeated Big Show in a steel cage match, Laurinaitis was fired by Mr. McMahon. On the August 3, 2012, episode of SmackDown, Mr. McMahon named Booker T the SmackDown General Manager. In addition, Booker named Long and Eve Torres as his assistants. John "Bradshaw" Layfield returned to WWE in September 2012 and became a commentator for the show as well. On January 18, 2013, SmackDown celebrated its 700th episode. Vickie Guerrero became general manager on July 19, 2013, but was fired the following year. The show is also run frequently by WWE chief operating officer Triple H. Past episodes of SmackDown are now viewable on the video streaming website Hulu along with episodes of Superstars and ECW.[20] On October 10, 2014, SmackDown celebrated its 15th anniversary.[10] The 15th season premiere opened with a new theme, "Centuries" by Fall Out Boy. To help celebrate the 15th anniversary, Stephanie McMahon came out first, then Laurinaitis and Long, respectively, the latter of which kept one-upping each other for the main event of the night until McMahon decided to keep the 15-man tag team match that Long suggested, on the condition Laurinaitis and Long be the captains of each team like at WrestleMania XXVIII.[21] Long's team won the match.[22] On December 16, 2014, SmackDown aired its 800th episode, which aired live on USA Network, featuring the main event between Dolph Ziggler and Seth Rollins.[23]
Return to Thursday nights (2015)
The show's return to Thursday nights – something that was rumored as early as August 2014[24][25] – was made official by Syfy and WWE on November 6, 2014.[26][27] The return to Thursday nights was expected to help attract a younger audience to Syfy, as well as more premium advertising dollars from marketers, who tend to spend more to promote their products, especially film releases, on the night as consumers head into the weekend.[28] The last SmackDown airing on Friday nights had 2.43 million viewers with a 0.7 share.[29]
After the broadcast on the finale of SmackDown, Layfield left SmackDown to join Raw, where he served as a commentator, alongside Cole and Booker T from January 5, 2015, to July 25, 2016,
On April 2, 2015,
USA Network (2016)
On January 7, 2016, SmackDown started airing on
Move to Tuesday nights and second brand extension (2016–2019)
On May 25, 2016, it was revealed that SmackDown would move to Tuesday nights and air live instead of the previous pre-recorded format, and that the brand split would also return.[75] Vince McMahon named Shane McMahon the commissioner of SmackDown,[76] and Daniel Bryan was revealed as the new SmackDown General Manager.[77] On July 22, 2016, general manager Daniel Bryan revealed the new SmackDown logo on his official Twitter page.[78]
Immediately following the
On April 10, 2018, SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon announced that Daniel Bryan was back as a full-time WWE Superstar after his in-ring return at
From June 24, 2019, WWE implemented an order from Vince McMahon that there would be no wrestling during commercial breaks to Raw and SmackDown. An exception was during split screen viewing of both the match and commercials. This led to matches having breaks and restarts, and best of three falls matches with relatively quick falls.[83][84]
Fox and return to friday nights (2019–present)
On May 16, 2018, The Hollywood Reporter, citing sources familiar with the situation, reported that NBCUniversal was planning to renew its rights to Raw, but that WWE was offering SmackDown separately to other broadcasters. On May 21, it was reported that WWE was nearing a five-year deal with Fox (the parent network of former SmackDown broadcaster MyNetworkTV) beginning in October 2019, valued at $205 million per-year, tripling the amount paid by NBCUniversal and USA Network.[85][86]
On June 27, 2018, WWE officially announced that SmackDown would move to Fox beginning October 4, 2019, also returning the show to Friday nights.[87][88]
With their transition to Fox in October 2019, changes were made to the logo. Additionally, the show dropped "Live" from the title and returned to referring to it as Friday Night SmackDown.[89]
Notes
References
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{{cite web}}
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{{cite web}}
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