3 disastrous moments from FOX's WWE SmackDown era

The September 6, 2024, episode of WWE SmackDown will mark the final time the blue brand will air on FOX as it moves to the USA Network starting next week. Due to the time the Friday show spent on its current network, there were several downs just as much as there were ups.

WWE SmackDown landed on the FOX network in October 2019 and housed some of the most memorable moments in the company's history. It featured The Rock and Becky Lynch teaming up against King Corbin, The Bloodline's story, Rey Mysterio punching Dominik Mysterio for the first time, and much more. However, some moments occurred that most fans won't want to remember.

For this list, we will look at three disastrous moments that happened on WWE SmackDown during its stay on FOX.

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#3. Bray Wyatt challenging John Cena for WrestleMania 36

Before COVID-19 shut down the world, WWE was preparing for its traditional live WrestleMania 36. Weeks before the event, John Cena announced that he wouldn't be participating in the event to let other talents shine. Those plans changed when Bray Wyatt appeared and issued a WrestleMania challenge to Cena.

At this point, Cena already had his 'part-time' status after spending more time in Hollywood and wasn't the most present in the lead-up to WrestleMania 36. Which meant less confrontation between both men and relied mostly on Bray's segments, on the other hand, some fans thought the build-up could have been longer. The Firefly Funhouse match also received initial criticism, but fans grew to love the cinematic match after a few years.

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#2. Kofi Kingston's championship reign immediately ended on the first night of WWE SmackDown on FOX

After years of hardships, Kofi Kingston finally became the WWE Champion at WrestleMania 35 by defeating Daniel Bryan (AKA Bryan Danielson). A lot of fans were emotionally invested in the champion and rooted for him to succeed, unfortunately, everything ended in a flash on SmackDown's first night on the network.

Fans had been wanting to see Brock Lesnar challenge Kofi for the title, which eventually took place on the October 4, 2019, episode of the Friday show. Much to the shock of many, The Beast defeated The New Day member in only seven seconds after a single F5.

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#1. Roman Reigns' dog food storyline

Roman Reigns is not just WWE SmackDown's biggest superstar, but arguably in the company's recent history. The Original Tribal Chief was the brand's top champion since 2020 before being dethroned in 2024, but things didn't always work out well for him on the brand.

As many may remember, fans weren't particularly fond of the former Big Dog since splitting up with The Shield, but in December 2019, his character reached a low point when he was involved in a dog food storyline with King Corbin and Dolph Ziggler (AKA Nic Nemeth). Although The Big Dog got his revenge after some help from The Usos, it's still not remembered fondly by the superstars involved and fans.