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Today marks exactly one year since SmackDown premiered on FOX. It has definitely been a roller-coaster, with WWE's Blue brand experiencing many peaks and troughs over the past twelve months. The company's association with FOX was treated as a major deal, with the October 4th show being one of the most significant TV episodes in WWE history.
SmackDown has felt like the 'A-show' at times, hosting some huge moments and telling some engrossing stories. The show feels bigger than it was on the USA Network, for better or for worse. However, there were a lot of issues with it as well. SmackDown has been nowhere near perfect during its one year run on FOX.
There have been general patterns in the quality of the SmackDown product over time. Let's take a look at the roller-coaster of a year the Blue brand has had on its new home. It must be said, the show has vastly improved since the deal with FOX began.
Here are three positives and two negatives from the first year of SmackDown on FOX.
#5 (Positive) A packed premiere episode of SmackDown on FOX
The very first episode of SmackDown on FOX was built up to pretty nicely, with WWE treating it more like a pay-per-view than a weekly TV show. A lot of legends were present, either in the ring or in the crowd. One of the biggest appearances came from The Rock, who shared the ring with Becky Lynch, as the two of them roasted King Corbin.
While the show peaked with that start, a lot of stuff happened over the next two hours. Lynch teamed up with Charlotte Flair to win an all-Horsewoman tag team match against Sasha Banks and Bayley, while Kevin Owens vanquished Shane McMahon from WWE by defeating him in a Ladder Match.
The main event of SmackDown was extremely divisive, as Brock Lesnar wrestled his first TV match since returning to WWE in 2012. He won the WWE Championship from Kofi Kingston in nine seconds, before being confronted by a ghost from his past.
The shocking debut of Cain Velasquez gave SmackDown's premiere on FOX an emphatic conclusion, even if his run was a complete flop. The ratings of the show proved how much hype surrounded it, with an average of just under four million viewers.
#4 (Negative) SmackDown's habit of extending feuds past their expiry dates
SmackDown has had a lot of great storylines over the past year, but it has also had its fair share of mediocre ones. WWE needs to plan their stories in a way that they don't end up getting stale within weeks. This habit has led to a lot of irrelevant and unimportant developments on SmackDown.
The company must consistently keep things fresh to avoid viewers tuning out. The biggest example of this was the long rivalry between Roman Reigns and King Corbin. It began at the start of November and ended over three months later, with the pair wrestling each other at three different pay-per-views.
This was likely done to keep Reigns occupied before his Universal Championship program heading into WrestleMania, but WWE needs to be more creative than that, especially with their biggest star. Another feud that got increasingly tiresome was Jeff Hardy's series with Sheamus, which was borderline cringeworthy at times.
WWE has had long stories that developed nicely over time as well, like the Mandy Rose and Otis love story and the entire arc of Sasha Banks and Bayley. But generally, a lot of Superstars have lost a lot of momentum by wrestling the same people again and again.
#3 (Positive) SmackDown's ability to adapt to challenging circumstances
WWE has had to face a multitude of challenges over the past year. Not only did the COVID-19 pandemic enforce some major changes, but another issue also threw the company a huge curveball less than a month into SmackDown being on FOX. Following the Crown Jewel pay-per-view, a lot of the roster was stuck in Saudi Arabia due to the much-publicized travel issues.
As a result, they missed the next night's episode of SmackDown. However, the Friday night show adapted pretty well to the changes with a compromised cast. The NXT roster was called upon to stage an invasion on the show and begin the "brand warfare" angle heading into Survivor Series.
Headlined by Adam Cole and Daniel Bryan for the NXT Championship, the November 1st episode of SmackDown was one of the best of this past year. Another entertaining episode under challenging circumstances came at the start of the 'Pandemic Era', as SmackDown was the first WWE show to take place without any fans in attendance.
That first episode from the Performance Center had a certain charm to it, largely thanks to Triple H, although the setting grew extremely tiresome over the next few months. Some of the most memorable episodes of SmackDown on FOX came at times when WWE's backs were against the wall.
#2 (Negative) An awful winter period for SmackDown
The "NXT invasion" episode of SmackDown may have been exciting, but it was the only good episode of the show for a few months following the WWE Draft. The Blue brand's product from October until a month before WrestleMania was pretty mediocre for the most part. The roster was also uninspiring, although WWE could have booked the Superstars in a better way.
There were some bright spots, like the Otis-Mandy romance and Daniel Bryan's Universal Title chase against 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt. But a lot of the storylines just dragged, with SmackDown's habit of keeping them going beyond their expiry dates being prominent here.
Roman Reigns' feud with King Corbin was at least a month too long, while the Intercontinental Championship became a prop during Shinsuke Nakamura's title reign. Kofi Kingston followed up on his crushing defeat to Brock Lesnar by acting as if nothing happened. Even Bayley hadn't hit her stride as a heel yet.
Hardly anything of note happened on SmackDown during those four months, but the worst of them was the feud between Goldberg and The Fiend. The WWE Hall of Famer won this one-sided feud and entered WrestleMania 36 as SmackDown's top Champion. Thankfully, things would significantly improve after the 'Show of Shows'.
#1 (Positive) The excellent storytelling currently on SmackDown
It took SmackDown on FOX close to a year to become the best weekly wrestling TV show, but it finally did. The seeds of WWE's vision for the Blue brand were planted at the start of the 'Pandemic Era.' The WrestleMania rivalry between John Cena and 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt showed how good things could be on SmackDown, and the product further improved after Mania.
The biggest star on SmackDown is Roman Reigns. Ever since his return to WWE at SummerSlam, he has been exceptional. Reigns won the Universal Championship and partnered up with Paul Heyman, with his promos, movements, and mannerisms being near-perfect so far.
Reigns is in a brilliant feud with his cousin Jey Uso, and the two faced off against each other at Clash of Champions 2020, with the Tribal Chief emerging as the victor. They're set to square off again at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. However, there are other compelling angles on SmackDown as well. Sasha Banks and Bayley are set to clash over the SmackDown Women's Championship next week, after an excellent slow-burning story.
The two ruled over WWE during the summer and had a stellar run as the Women's Tag Team Champions before Bayley turned on her ex-best friend. The Fiend's looming partnership with Alexa Bliss is also really fascinating, as is Sami Zayn as the Intercontinental Champion.
The difference between SmackDown's storytelling quality and fan interest at the start of the year and now is incredible. They are like two completely different shows. While not perfect, the product that WWE is putting on for the Blue brand is definitely worthy of being on a huge network like FOX. This is what they paid for.
