Smackdown
SmackDown! is a professional wrestling show that airs in the USA on the UPN Network. It is produced by World Wrestling Entertainment, formerly known as the WWF.
The SmackDown! talent will typically perform four shows in a week. WWE generally tapes its Tuesday night show for UPN to air on Thursday night of the same week.
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 Prime Time TV. However, this didn't pan out, and instead SmackDown! became a complementary show to RAW.
Brand Extension
In early to mid 2002, World Wrestling Entertainment underwent something they called the “Brand Extension”. In a nutshell, this meant that the two WWE Television shows (RAW and Smackdown!) would become competition for each other. This came about when the then WWF purchased their two biggest competitors, WCW and ECW.
The Brand Extension would bring about a change like nothing the WWF/WWE has seen before. Wrestlers would become “show exclusive”, wrestling for their specific show only. This at the time excluded the champions as originally, the WWF/WWE titles would be defended on both shows. However, in later 2002, Brock Lesnar, the at the time WWE World Champion, refused to defend the title on RAW, causing the title the become Smackdown exclusive. Following that, both shows then got their own exclusive titles.
The Smackdown brand has a sister show, Velocity, broadcasting Saturday nights on Spike TV. It consists of B-Talent matches and recaps of last Thursday's show.
The Current Smackdown! Titles
1: This is the original WWE World Championship Title. It became Smackdown exclusive when the champion Brock Lesnar refused to defend it on RAW.
2: These are completely new Tag Team Titles. The original WWE World Tag Team Titles became RAW exclusive.
3: This title originally was the WCW World Cruiserweight Title. The WWE adopted it and dropped their own World Light Heavyweight Title in favor of it. It also became Smackdown! exclusive.
4: The original WCW US Heavyweight was once disbanded when it was unified with the WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Title. However, the title was revived for the along Stone Cold of RAW reintroducing the Intercontinental Title for RAW.
Recent Happenings
1: John "Bradshaw" Layfield won the title after Mr. Angle reversed Eddie Guerrero's victory at The Great American Bash 2004.
2: René Duprée (René Goguen) and Kenzo Suzuki defeated Paul London and Billy Kidman (Peter Gruner) to win the WWE Tag-Team Championship on Smackdown! (September 7, 2004, aired September 9)
3: Spike Dudley (Matthew Hyson) defeated Rey Mysterio (Óscar Gutiérrez) on Smackdown! (July 27, 2004, aired July 29)
4: Booker T (Booker Huffman) won the title in an eight-man elimination match on Smackdown! (July 27, 2004, aired July 29) Other participants were (in order of elimination) Charlie Haas, René Duprée (René Goguen), Kenzo Suzuki, Billy Gunn (Monty Sopp), Luther Reigns (Matt Wiese), John Cena, and Rob Van Dam (Rob Szatkowski).
Roster
"Owner(s)/ General Manager(s)"
Past "Owners/ General Managers"
Current Smackdown Wrestlers
Past Smackdown Wrestlers
(since brand extension)
Referees
Other On-Air Talent
- Michael Cole (Sean Coulthard) (Smackdown play-by-play commentator)
- Tazz (Peter Senerca) (Smackdown color commentator)
- Josh Matthews (Josh Lomberger) (Velocity play-by-play commentator)
- Bill DeMott (Velocity color commentator)
- Hugo Savinovich (Spanish-language play-by-play commentator)
- Carlos Cabrera (Spanish-language color commentator)
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External Links
