WWE SmackDown

Television series
German title	WWE SmackDown
Original title	WWE SmackDown
Country of production	United States
original language	English (AE)
Year (s)	since 1999
Production company	WWE
length	120 minutes
Episodes	1,079 (as of April 24, 2020) in 20 seasons
genre	Wrestling
Theme music	AC / DC - "Are You Ready"
idea	Vince McMahon
production	Vince McMahon ( Chairman , CEO ) Bruce Prichard (Executive Director) Kevin Dunn (Executive Producer)
Moderation	Michael Cole (Play-by-Play Commentator) Corey Graves (Color Commentator)
First broadcast	April 29, 1999 (USA) on UPN

WWE SmackDown (full title: WWE Friday Night SmackDown ) is an American wrestling show run by the WWE . The show ran live every Tuesday evening in the USA on USA Network , where Raw can also be seen live every Monday evening. Since October 4th, Smackdown has been broadcast live on Friday evening on the US broadcaster Fox Broadcasting Company . In Germany, ProSieben Maxx broadcasts a current episode for the German-speaking market every Saturday evening, optionally also in HDTV . It was previously broadcast two days after the USA Network live broadcast, from April 6, 2017 to September 26, 2019, on Thursday evenings in Germany. According to TV ratings, Smackdown has been the most successful wrestling show in the world since October 2019.

history

SmackDown was originally created in 1999 by the then World Wrestling Federation as a Thursday show and counterweight to the show of the competition, WCW Thunder . Because of the Thursday slot, the show was also known as Thursday Night SmackDown and quickly became a success. Since October 2019, according to TV ratings, Smackdown has been the most successful wrestling show in the world, it is increasingly becoming the flagship of the WWE wrestling league and even beats its big brother WWE Monday Night Raw and the rival leagues TNA Impact and AEW.

In order to get better ratings, the US broadcaster UPN , which was broadcasting at the time, postponed SmackDown to Friday evening from September 9, 2005, making the show Friday Night SmackDown . As this postponement was successful, SmackDown retained the slot on Friday night even when the show switched channels in the US.

WWE Velocity , which was the counterpart of WWE Heat on RAW, was introduced as the B-Show of SmackDown on May 25, 2002 . In this broadcast, the events of the previous SmackDown! Episode were initially summarized, from 2003 onwards, the less active wrestlers from SmackDown appeared there. On June 11, 2006, the final episode of Velocity aired on the WWE home page and the show was subsequently discontinued.

Since July 19, 2016, SmackDown has been broadcast live on Tuesday evening in the USA and is now called SmackDown Live . With the renaming, the roster split , which had been abolished in 2011, was reintroduced, which assigns the WWE wrestlers to the individual shows RAW and SmackDown . As a result, the SmackDown superstars are now performing exclusively for their show again. Previously it was possible for all wrestlers to appear in all WWE shows and to hold all titles independently of their roster. The WWE Championship , previously known as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship , has also belonged exclusively to SmackDown since the renewed split, as the then champion Dean Ambrose was drafted along with the title.

With the roster split , the two rosters will get their own large pay-per-view events back. WWE implemented this principle until March 2007, before the major events were opened to all roster. The first pure SmackDown PPV in 2016 was the re-launched show Backlash . The WWE Draft began on October 11th at Smackdown Live. From then on, the rooster split was implemented more consistently.

List of special episodes

episode	First broadcast	place	Quota	annotation
SmackDown! pilot	April 29, 1999	New Haven, Connecticut	5.8	Pilot episode.
SmackDown! Debut	August 26, 1999	Kansas City, Missouri	5.2	Show debut.
SmackDown! live	August 16, 2001	Salt Lake City, Utah	4.3	First live edition of SmackDown and the debut of the Fist stage .
SmackDown! 5th anniversary special	September 23, 2004	Phoenix, Arizona	3.2	The 5 year anniversary of the show.
SmackDown! Night of Champions	December 30, 2004	New Orleans, Louisiana	3.9	All championships were defended.
Friday Night SmackDown	September 9, 2005	Atlanta, Georgia	1.9	First edition on Friday.
The SmackDown! Special	November 29, 2005	Cincinnati, Ohio	2.35	A one-hour special broadcast on Tuesday.
SmackDown! 400th episode	April 20, 2007	Milan, Italy	2.5	The 400th episode of the show.
SmackDown All-Star Kick-Off	October 3, 2008	Green Bay, Wisconsin	2.9	Champion vs. Champion episode and debut on MyNetworkTV.
SmackDown 500th episode	March 20, 2009	Corpus Christi, Texas	2.7	The 500th episode of the show.
Decade of SmackDown	October 2, 2009	Boston, Massachusetts	3.77	The show's 10th anniversary.
SmackDown Live Syfy Premiere	October 1, 2010	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	1.7	The live premiere on Syfy .
SmackDown Christmas on USA	December 21, 2010	San Antonio, Texas	2.5	The show is broadcast live on USA Network on Tuesdays .
SmackDown 600th episode	February 18, 2011	San Diego, California	2.1	The 600th episode of the show.
SmackDown Milestone	October 14, 2011	Dallas, Texas	2.2	The show became the second-longest weekly episodic television broadcast.
SuperSmackDown LIVE! Christmas Special	November 29, 2011	Charlotte, North Carolina	3.7	A live version of the show hosted by Mick Foley .
SuperSmackDown LIVE: Blast from the Past	April 10, 2012	Hampton, Virginia	1.5	A live version of the show with an old school theme and performances by Hall of Famers and Legends.
SuperSmackDown LIVE: The Great American Bash	3rd July 2012	Corpus Christi, Texas	1.7	A live version of the show to celebrate Independence Day .
SuperSmackDown LIVE: Commercial-Free	December 18, 2012	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	6.17	An ad-free live edition of the show.
SmackDown 700th Episode LIVE!	January 18, 2013	San Antonio, Texas	2.88	The 700th episode of the show.
SmackDown 15	October 10, 2014	Boston, Massachusetts	2.67	The show's 15th anniversary.
Super SmackDown Live: SmackDown's 800th Episode	December 16, 2014	Grand Rapids, Michigan	2.03	The 800th episode of the show.
Thursday Night SmackDown	January 15, 2015	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	2.68	Weekly broadcast every Thursday.
SuperSmackDown LIVE! Christmas Special	December 22, 2015	Des Moines, Iowa	1.53	A live copy of the show aired on USA Network.
SmackDown USA Network Debut	January 7, 2016	Laredo, Texas	2.75	A live copy of the show aired on USA Network.
SmackDown Live	19th July 2016	Worcester, Massachusetts	3.17	The return of the Brand Extension and with this the show will be broadcast live every Tuesday. This is also the first draft that took place at SmackDown.
SmackDown Live's 900th episode	15th November 2016	Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania	2.75	The 900th episode of the show.
SmackDown Live's Wild Card Finals	December 27, 2016	Rosemont, Illinois	2.89	Last episode of the show in 2016.
2017 superstar shake-up	April 11, 2017	Boston, Massachusetts	3.10	Ten wrestlers, including nine from Raw , joined SmackDown .
2018 superstar shake-up	17th April 2018	Providence, Rhode Island	2.7	Ten wrestlers, including eight from Raw and two from NXT , joined SmackDown .
SmackDown 1000	October 16, 2018	Washington, DC	2.5	The 1,000th episode of the show.
2019 superstar shake-up	April 16, 2019	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	2.22	Twelve wrestlers, including ten from Raw and two from NXT , joined SmackDown .
Return to Madison Square Garden	September 10, 2019	New York, New York	2.06	The first Smackdown edition of Madison Square Garden for 10 years.
SmackDown's 20th Anniversary	4th October 2019	Los Angeles, California	3.89	First episode on Fox and returning on Friday night. At the same time also the 20th anniversary of the show.
2019 draft	October 11, 2019	Las Vegas, Nevada	2.89	The first night of the draft.

Charisma

country	Day	Channel
United States	Friday (Live)	Fox
Germany Austria Switzerland	Saturday (Live) Saturday (two hours - with advertising)	Sky sports ProSieben Maxx
	Saturday (one hour)	ProSieben Maxx

Web links

Commons : WWE Smackdown  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• WWE SmackDown Official Website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [1]
2. ↑ [2]
3. ↑ sport1.de: WWE Draft at SmackDown Live: This is how the restart works | Wrestling , accessed July 27, 2016
4. ↑ WWE website on "WWE Backlash"