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Revision as of 05:57, 10 July 2005
WWE SmackDown! is a professional wrestling show that airs in the USA on UPN and in Canada on The Score Network. It is produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The SmackDown! stars will typically perform four shows in a week. WWE generally tapes its Tuesday evening show for UPN to air on Thursday evening of the same week. However, once or twice a year, the show may be broadcast live. SmackDown! will move to Friday nights starting in the Fall 2005 season.
The current theme song of SmackDown! is "Rise Up" by Drowning Pool.
Show history
Pre-brand extension
WWF SmackDown! (as it was originally known) was set up to compete against WCW's Thursday night show, Thunder. In the spirit of the WWF's Attitude Era, the show was originally planned to be two hours of WWF Divas in primetime TV. However, this did not work out, and instead SmackDown! became a complementary show to RAW.
SmackDown! first appeared in May 1999 using the Raw is War set, however at the time it was considered a "one off." However as 1999 continued, the WWF found itself experiencing a meteoric rise as new wrestling fans tuned in week after week to catch Raw is War. In August 1999 SmackDown! debuted on UPN. Like WCW Thunder, SmackDown! was recorded on Tuesdays and then broadcast on Thursdays. So popular was the new WWF show that WCW pulled Thunder forward to Wednesdays in the hope of holding on to fans rather than lose them to the WWF. SmackDown!, like Thunder, made heavy use of the color blue, earning it the nickname "The Blue Show" amongst wrestling fans.
The original SmackDown! theme was not performed by a band, unlike Raw is War; instead, the WWF created a fast-paced theme that was a mixture of techno and rock. The first SmackDown! set was also unique as it featured an oval-shaped Titantron, entrance and stage which made it stand out from other wrestling sets which had traditionally used rectangular Titantrons and so on. An added feature to the original set was the ability for the Titantron 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 catchphrases "Layeth the smack down." In August 2001, as part of celebrating SmackDown!'s 2nd anniversary, the show received its current logo and set, and a new theme tune performed by Marilyn Manson (which was also used by RAW several years earlier).
The September 11, 2001 event was cancelled due to the terrorist attacks. On September 13, 2001, SmackDown! was broadcast live as the first major and televised event since the attacks as thousands were in attendance. The ring ropes are usually blue for the SmackDown! shows but were red, white and blue for this night; these colors were commonly used during the 1980s. The remained that way, with an American-Flag on the mini-tron, for two weeks.
Brand extension
In early to mid-2002, the WWE underwent something they called the “Brand Extension”. This meant that the two WWE television shows (RAW and SmackDown!) would become competition for each other. This came about after WWE purchased their two biggest competitors, WCW and ECW. The brand extension was publically announced during a telecast of WWF RAW on March 25, 2002, and became official the next day.
The Brand Extension would bring about a change like nothing the WWE had seen before. Wrestlers would become “show-exclusive”, wrestling for their specific show only. At the time this excluded the champions as originally, the WWE titles would be defended on both shows. However, later in 2002, Brock Lesnar, then the WWE Champion, refused to defend the title on RAW, causing the title to become SmackDown!-exclusive. Following that, both shows then got their own exclusive championships.
In January, 2005, The Oakland Tribune reported that Leslie Moonves, co-President and co-Chief Operating Officer of UPN's parent company, Viacom, announced that SmackDown! will not be renewed on UPN after Viacom's contract with the WWE expires in 2006. This article was later revealed to be in error; Moonves was in fact saying that SmackDown! may not be renewed, as opposed to will not be renewed .
The SmackDown! brand has a sister show, Velocity, broadcasting Saturday nights from 11:00 PM-12:00 AM Eastern Standard Time on Spike TV. It consists of low-card matches and recaps of last Thursday's SmackDown!. If SmackDown! is cancelled on UPN at the end of the 2005-2006 season, it is unknown if or how this would affect Velocity; Spike TV is also owned by Viacom.
On March 10, 2005, Viacom announced that they would not seek to extend their deal to air WWE programming on Spike TV, most notably RAW, when it expires in September 2005. This presumably covers Velocity, which also airs on Spike TV, however SmackDown! will continue to air on UPN at least until the contract to air that show expires in 2006. It is possible that WWE's "lame duck" status with Viacom on Spike TV is what prompted its moving SmackDown to the Friday night death slot for the Fall 2005 season. Sources within WWE were reportedly caught unaware by the move.
SmackDown! vs. RAW
At its inception, SmackDown! did not affect Raw's popularity as measured by television ratings, and fans welcomed the new show, quickly making it the highest-rated show on UPN. During the early history of SmackDown!, both shows featured the same talent, and despite the red/blue image dichotomy, promoted the same angles and pay-per-views. The largest difference between the two shows, Raw's being aired live and SmackDown!'s delayed airing, gave them slightly different flavors. Announcers touted Raw's airing live as an environment where "anything could happen," whereas WWE's ability to edit SD! in post-production led to a more polished product.
Since the Brand Extension, there has been much speculation as to which show was and would be the "dominant" brand. Originally, the two brands were united by a common WWE Undisputed Champion, who would appear on both shows. However, the September 2002 decision to make then-Champion Brock Lesnar exclusive to the SmackDown! brand necessitated the creation of another top-level championship for Raw, the World Heavyweight Championship. Since this title was not won in a match or tournament but simply awarded to Triple H, some fans considered this title to be less important, and that SmackDown! was therefore the dominant show. The placement of the WWE Championship match (Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle) at the top of the card at Wrestlemania XIX over the World Heavyweight Championship match (Triple H vs. Booker T) was more evidence for this. The World Heavyweight Championship match also received considerably less storyline buildup.
Since 2004, however, evidence has pointed toward Raw becoming the dominant brand. Chris Benoit, the 2004 Royal Rumble winner, switched brands from SmackDown! to Raw to challenge the World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania XX, making that championship seem more important than SmackDown's championship. The Raw main event has also top placement at the past two WrestleManias. Some point to Triple H's presence on the Raw brand to the shift in emphasis between the two shows since his real-life 2003 wedding to Stephanie McMahon, daughter of company Chairman Vince McMahon. However, in investor conference calls, CEO Linda McMahon has frequently stated the company's confidence in both brands and the brand extension itself.
While fans continue to speculate about supposed "favoritism" to Raw or SmackDown! by the company, citing examples such as those above as well as lopsided wrestler rosters and more or less interesting storylines, neither Vince McMahon nor any other members of WWE management has ever publicly expressed a preference for one brand or the other.
Current championships
| Championship Notes: | Current Champion(s) |
| World Heavyweight Champion | Batista |
| WWE Tag-Team Champions | MNM (Johnny Nitro (John Hennigan) and Joey Mercury (Joey Matthews)) |
| WWE Cruiserweight Champion | Paul London |
| WWE United States Champion | Orlando Jordan |
: The World Heavyweight Title was created by Eric Bischoff when Brock Lesnar refused to defend the title on RAW, it is currently on the Smackdown! brand after current champion, Batista, was drafted from Raw on June 30, 2005.
: These are completely new tag-team championships. The original WWE Tag-Team championships became RAW exclusive and renamed to the World Tag-Team Championship.
:This championship originally was the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. The WWE adopted it and dropped their own Light Heavyweight Championship in favor of it. It also became SmackDown! exclusive.
: The original WCW United States Championship was once disbanded when it was unified with the WWE Intercontinental Championship. However, the title was revived by Stephanie McMahon, along with Stone Cold Steve Austin reintroducing the Intercontinental Championship for RAW.
Roster
General Manager
- Theodore Long (July 29, 2004 - )
Current wrestlers
Male
Female
- Michelle McCool
- Melina (Melina Perez) (Manager of MNM)
- Torrie Wilson
Non-wrestlers/managers
- Theodore Long (General Manager)
- Candice Michelle (Candice Beckman)
- Sharmell Sullivan (Manager of Booker T)
Referees
Commentators / ring announcers
- Carlos Cabrera (Spanish-language color commentator)
- Tony Chimel (Ring announcer)
- Michael Cole (Sean Coulthard) (SmackDown! play-by-play commentator)
- Josh Matthews (Josh Lomberger) (Velocity play-by-play commentator/Velocity color commentator)
- Steve Romero (Todd Romero) (Ring announcer/Velocity play-by-play commentator)
- Hugo Savinovich (Spanish-language play-by-play commentator)
- Tazz (Peter Senerca) (SmackDown! color commentator)
Previous general managers/"owners"
- Vince McMahon (March 18, 2002 - July 18, 2002)
- Stephanie McMahon (Stephanie McMahon-Levesque) (July 18, 2002 - October 19, 2003)
- Paul Heyman (October 23, 2003 - March 22 2004)
- Kurt Angle (March 25, 2004 - July 22, 2004)
Past wrestlers
Further information: List of previous SmackDown! wrestlersVideo games
Main article: WWE SmackDown! (video game)SmackDown! has spawned a series of successful video games for the PlayStation consoles. Although the games bear the SmackDown! name, they feature wrestlers from both major WWE television shows. The latest installment of the series is entitled SmackDown! vs. RAW.