Smackdown!

Stephanie Mcmahon as General Manager of Smackdown for 4 Years

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WWE SmackDown is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). As of 2010 it airs on MyNetworkTV in the United States as WWE Friday Night SmackDown. The show's name is also used to refer to the SmackDown brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program; the other program and brand currently being Raw. It is currently the only television broadcast for the SmackDown brand, though at one point WWE Velocity also featured SmackDown branded wrestling.

From its launch in 1999, SmackDown was shown on Thursday nights, but as of September 9, 2005, the show moved to Friday nights. The show originally debuted in the United States on the UPN television network on August 26, 1999, but after the merger of UPN and the WB, SmackDown began airing on The CW in 2006. The show remained on the CW network for two years until it was announced that it would move to MyNetworkTV in October 2008. SmackDown is set to move from MyNetworkTV to Syfy in October 2010.

The show is also shown in Mexico on TV Azteca and in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Friday nights on Sky Sports 3 and Sky Sports HD; due to the time difference, SmackDown premieres a few hours earlier in Ireland and United Kingdom and a day earlier in Australia, India and Philippines than the United States. For other broadcast listings, see below.

Show history

Original format

SmackDown! (original title) first appeared on April 29, 1999 as a single television special on UPN.

WWF SmackDown! set used from August 26, 1999 to August 9, 2001On August 26, 1999, SmackDown! officially debuted on UPN, in Kansas City, Missouri. Like

The First Smackdown (WWF Smackdown Classic)

WCW Thunder, SmackDown! was recorded on Tuesdays and then broadcast on Thursdays. The new WWF show proved so popular that WCW moved Thunder to Wednesdays in the hope of holding on to fans rather than losing them to WWF. SmackDown!, like Thunder, made heavy use of the color blue.

WWF SmackDown! logo used from August 26, 1999 to August 9, 2001Uniquely, the first SmackDown! set featured an oval-shaped TitanTron (which was dubbed the "OvalTron"), entrance and stage which made it stand out from the Raw set and its rectangular TitanTrons. An added feature to the original set was the ability for the OvalTron to be moved to either the left or right of the stage. Throughout the show's early existence, top WWF superstar The Rock routinely called SmackDown! "his" show, in reference to the fact that the name was derived from one of his catch phrases, "Laying the smackdown." In August 2001, as part of celebrating SmackDown!'s second anniversary, the show received a new logo and set. The last SmackDown! to use the previous television set saw Alliance member Rhyno Gore WWF member Chris Jericho through the center screen, destroying part of the set. The new set consisted of a fist centered above the entrance.

Brand Extension

In April 2002, WWE underwent a process which it called the "Brand Extension". WWE divided itself into two "de facto" wrestling

WWF Smackdown Just Bring It

promotions with separate roste

WWF Smackdown 2000

rs, storylines and authority figures. Raw and SmackDown! would host each division, give its name to the division and essentially compete against each other. The split was a result of WWF purchasing their two biggest competitors, WCW and ECW, which resulted in the roster and championships doubling in size. The brand extension was publicly announced during a telecast of WWF Raw on March 25, 2002, and became official the next day show-exclusive, wrestling for their specific show only. At the time this excluded the WWE Undisputed Championship and WWE Women's Championship, as those

New WWE Smackdown!

WWE titles would be defended on both shows. In August 2002, WWE Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar refused to defend the title on Raw, in effect causing his title to become exclusive to SmackDown! The following week on Raw, General Manager Eric Bischoff awarded a newly instated World Heavyweight Championship to Raw's designated #1 contender, Triple H. Due to the fact that since the WWE Undisputed Championship was now SmackDown! exclusive it was no longer seen as "Undisputed". Following this, the WWE Women's Championship soon became Raw-exclusive as well. As a result of the Brand Extension, an annual "draft lottery" was instituted to exchange members of each roster and generally refresh the lineups.

Managers of Smackdown

• Stephanie Macmahon