WWE SmackDown is one of the two flagship programming by WWE alongside RAW. Also known as Friday Night SmackDown, the show has been airing live on television since April 29, 1999, as SmackDown!.
Upon its debut, it aired on UPN, and that too on Thursday Nights. It was moved to Friday Nights on the 9th of September in 2005. The event has aired on Fridays for the most part since then. It had once moved to Tuesday in 2016 before once again going back to its current schedule in 2019.
WWE SmackDown History
During the peak of Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW, the latter had also set up a secondary weekly programming named WCW Thunder which aired on Thursday Nights. This allowed the rival company to let out more content than WWE. In response, McMahon's company decided to create its secondary weekly programming.
On April 29, 1999, WWF SmackDown made its first appearance and officially debuted on UPN on the 26th of August that year. The name for the show was derived from "Layeth the SmackDown", which was a popluar catchphrase of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.
After WWE acquired WCW in 2001, its roster size had gotten too big because it had also acquired the majority of WCW's talent. As a result, it decided to split its roster into two halves between RAW and SmackDown. It organized the first-ever draft in 2002. The show was switched to Friday Nights in 2005.
Between 2005 and 2011, SmackDown switched between multiple TV deals and the brand extension was dropped that year. A few months later, SmackDown became the 2nd longest-running weekly episodic television programming only behind Monday Night RAW.
The show returned to Thursday Nights in January 2015. WWE announced the return of brand split in 2016 and the show was subsequently brought to Tuesday Nights and was renamed SmackDown Live! It remained on the Tuesday Nights up until 2019.
In 2019, the show was moved to Fox and shifted back to Friday Nights, where it currently airs.
Broadcasting History
| Channel | Period |
| UPN | August 26, 1999 – September 15, 2006 |
| The CW | September 22, 2006 – September 26, 2008 |
| MyNetwork TV | October 3, 2008 – September 24, 2010 |
| Syfy | October 1, 2010 – December 31, 2015 |
| USA Network | January 7, 2016 – September 24, 2019 |
| Fox | October 4, 2019 – present |
WWE SmackDown Results
WWE SmackDown takes place every Friday Night 8–10 p.m. ET on the Fox Sports. It has been the most viewed pro-wrestling weekly programming for a couple of years now and averages around 2 million viewers per episode. The blue brand features about 3 to 5 matches per episode and is known for the in-ring quality of these matches. The results for each and every epsiode of WWE SmackDown are updated here on Sportskeeda.
WWE SmackDown Roster
WWE Superstars are drafted into Raw, SmackDown, and NXT. You can click here to know about the current roster of Friday Night SmackDown.
WWE SmackDown Current Champions
Every WWE brand has its own set of champions. You can click here to know about the current champions of the programming.
