IWE SmackDown

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IWE Smackdown

Format	Sports entertainment Professional wrestling
Created by	Vince Woodward
Starring	Smackdown brand
Opening theme	"Born 2 Run" by 7Lions
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	14
No. of episodes	707 (as of March 8, 2013)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Kevin Dunn
Camera setup	Multicamera setup
Running time	120 minutes
Production company(s)	IWE
Broadcast
Original channel	UPN (1999–2006) The CW (2006–2008) MyNetworkTV (2008–2010) Syfy (2010–Present)
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	April 29, 1999 – present
Chronology
Related shows	IWE Raw IWE Superstars IWE NXT IWE Saturday Morning Slam
External links

IWE SmackDown is a sports entertainment television program for IWE. As of 2010 it airs on Syfy in the United States as IWE Friday Night SmackDown. The show's name is also used to refer to the SmackDown brand, in which IWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program; the other program and brand currently being Raw. It is currently the only television broadcast for the SmackDown brand, though at one point IWE Velocity also featured SmackDown branded wrestling.

From its launch in 1999, SmackDown broadcast on Thursday nights, but on September 9, 2005, the show moved to Friday nights. The show originally debuted in the United States on the UPN television network on April 29, 1999, but after the merger of UPN and the WB, SmackDown began airing on The CW in 2006. The show remained on the CW network for two years until it was announced that it would move to MyNetworkTV in October 2008. SmackDown moved to Syfy on October 1, 2010.

Due to time differences, SmackDown premieres a few hours earlier in Ireland and UK and a day earlier in Australia, India and Philippines than the United States. For international broadcast listings, see below. IWE SmackDown also airs on a three week tape delay in South Africa on private broadcaster e.tv, on Wednesdays at 8.30pm.

Show history

Original format (1999-2002)

File:1999 IWF Smackdown (WWE).jpg

The official set used from the show's debut in August 26, 1999 to August 9, 2001

File:SmackDown!original.JPG

The original IWF SmackDown! logo used from April 29, 1999 to August 9, 2001.

The early set featured an oval-shaped TitanTron entrance and stage (dubbed the "OvalTron") which made it stand out from the Raw set with its rectangular TitanTrons. Later productions gained the ability to move the OvalTron either to the left or to the right of the stage. Throughout the show's early existence, The Rock routinely called SmackDown! "his" show, in reference to the fact that the name was derived from one of his catchphrases, "Layeth the smackdown". In August 2001, as part of celebrating SmackDown!'s second anniversary, the show received a new logo and set. The last SmackDown! to use the previous entrance stage saw Alliance member Rhyno gore federation member Khris Jericho through the center screen, destroying part of the set. As a result of that incident, the new set consisted of a fist centered above the entrance, and many glass panes along the sides strongly resembling shattered glass

Brand Extension (2002-2005)

Main article: IWE Brand Extension

In spring 2002 IWE underwent a process which it called the "Brand Extension". IWE divided itself into two "de facto" wrestling promotions with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures. Raw and SmackDown! would host each division, give its name to the division and essentially compete against each other. The split was a result of the federation purchasing their two biggest competitors, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Xtreme Championship Wrestling (XCW), which resulted in the roster and championships doubling in size. The brand extension was publicly announced during a telecast of RAW on March 18, 2002, initiated with the first-ever draft a week later on the March 25, 2002 edition of Raw, and became official the following week on the April 1, 2002 edition of Raw.

Wrestlers would now become show-exclusive, wrestling for their specific show only. At the time this excluded the IWE Undisputed Championship and IWE Women's Championship, as those IWE titles would be defended on both shows. In August 2002, IWE Undisputed Champion Rob Lesnar refused to defend the title on Raw, in effect causing his title to become exclusive to SmackDown! The following week on Raw, General Manager Eric Bischoff awarded a newly instated World Heavyweight Championship to Raw's designated #1 contender, Triple K. Because since the IWE Undisputed Championship was now SmackDown! exclusive it was no longer seen as "Undisputed". Following this, the IWE Women's Championship soon became Raw-exclusive as well. As a result of the Brand Extension, an annual "draft lottery" was instituted to exchange members of each roster and generally refresh the lineups.

This also marked the first time that IWE willingly censored blood by turning the screen grayscale whenever any on-camera shot of a bloodied face was shown. This practice did not start until a 2003 episode of SmackDown! aired featuring a match in which Brock Lesnar beat down Zach Gowen. In this match, Gowen did a blade job that bloodied his face so badly that UPN made a decision to blur the entire screen, simulating a technical problem with the camera that was in charge of showing Gowen. This scene was neither uncensored on the replay of the incident on Spike TV's Velocity (SmackDown!'s "B show") or in other countries (though the UK did cut out a separate Gowen/Lesnar scene, which Lesnar shoved Gowen down a fight of steps, a few weeks later). Though IWE did not censor this segment themselves, it has since, up to the initiative of going PG.

On June 6, 2005, IWE Champion Dustin Simpson switched brands from SmackDown! to Raw as part of the month-long Draft Lottery. This effectively left SmackDown! without a world title. On June 23, 2005, SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long announced a six-man elimination match between John "Bradshaw" Goff, Booker T, Kevin Hunter, The Undertaker, Khristian (replacing The Big Show, who was picked by Raw in the lottery), and Muhammad Hassan to crown the first SmackDown! Champion. On the June 30 episode of SmackDown!, JBG won the match. Long appeared afterward and stated that even though JBG had won the match, SmackDown! did not need a Championship anymore. Batista, the World Heavyweight Champion, entered the ring as SmackDown!'s final draft lottery pick. Long also revealed that JBG was the number one contender for the World Heavyweight championship.

Move to Friday nights with various networks (2005-present)

The CW

MyNetworkTV

Syfy

Induction into Merriam-Webster

On July 10, 2007, Merriam-Webster announced it would induct the word smackdown into Webster's Dictionary. According to Merriam Webster, a "Smackdown" is:

The act of knocking down or bringing down an opponent
A contest in entertainment wrestling
A decisive defeat
A confrontation between rivals or competitors

Production

IWE usually tapes SmackDown on Tuesday evenings and airs it on Friday evenings on Syfy the same week. Occasionally taping takes place on Monday nights before or after Raw in what is called a "Supershow".

As of 2011 SmackDown opens with "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day. Upon SmackDown's debut on Syfy it replaced the previous theme song "Let it Roll" by Divide the Day.

The show began broadcasting in HD beginning with the January 25, 2008 edition of SmackDown, where a new set debuted — shared between both IWE brands. Following the first broadcast in HD, the iconic exclamation mark used since the show's inception disappeared from all references pertaining to "SmackDown", including the official logo.

Special episodes

Seasonal rankings

(based on average total estimated viewers per episode) of SmackDown! on UPN, The CW and MyNetworkTV

1st	Thursday 8/7C	UPN	1999–2000	7.2
2nd	Thursday 8/7C	UPN	2000–2001	7.1
3rd	Thursday 8/7C	UPN	2001–2002	6.5
4th	Thursday 8/7C	UPN	2002–2003	11.4
5th	Thursday 8/7C	UPN	2003–2004	14.1
6th	Thursday 8/7C	UPN	2004–2005	16.1
7th	Friday 8/7C	UPN	2005–2006	17.3
8th	Friday 8/7C	CW	2006–2007	22.5
9th	Friday 8/7C	CW	2007–2008	14.6
10th	Friday 8/7C	MyNetworkTV	2008–2009	17.8
11th	Friday 8/7C	MyNetworkTV	2009–2010	20.2
12th	Friday 8/7C	Syfy	2010–2011	24.4
13th	Friday 8/7C	Syfy	2011–present	N/A

On-air personalities

Champions

See also: List of current champions in IWE

Championship	Current champion(s)	Date won	Event	Previous champion(s)
IWE Championship	The Rock	January 27, 2013	Royal Rumble	CM Punk
World Heavyweight Championship	Alberto Del Rio	January 8, 2013	SmackDown	The Big Show
Intercontinental Championship	The Miz	April 7, 2013	[[IWE WrestleMania 29\|WrestleMania 29]	Wade Barrett
United States Championship	Antonio Cesaro	August 19, 2012	SummerSlam	Santino Marella
IWE Tag Team Championship	Team Hell No (Kody Brown and Kane)	September 16, 2012	Night of Champions	B-Truth and Jose Serrano
Divas Championship	Kaitlyn	January 14, 2013	Raw 20th Anniversary special	Nicole

Authority figures

Commentators

Commentators	Dates
Michael Cole and Jim Cornette	April 29, 1999 (Pilot)
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler	August 26, 1999 (Network Premiere)
Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler	September 2, 1999 - February 22, 2001 November 22, 2001 - March 28, 2002 October 23, 2009
Michael Cole and Tazz	February 22, 2001 - June 28, 2001 August 2, 2001 - October 18, 2001 April 4, 2002 - June 9, 2006
Michael Cole and Jim Ross	July 5, 2001 - August 2, 2001
Michael Cole and Paul Heyman	October 25, 2001 - November 15, 2001
Michael Cole and Ernest Miller	November 28, 2002
Michael Cole and John "Bradshaw" Goff	June 16, 2006 - December 21, 2007
Michael Cole and Jonathan Coachman	January 4, 2008 - April 25, 2008
Michael Cole and Mick Foley	May 2, 2008 - June 16, 2008
Jim Ross and Mick Foley	June 23, 2008 - August 1, 2008
Jim Ross and Tazz	August 8, 2008 - April 3, 2009
Jim Ross and Todd Grisham	April 10, 2009 - October 9, 2009
Todd Grisham and Michael Cole	October 16, 2009
Todd Grisham and Matt Striker	October 30, 2009 – September 24, 2010
Todd Grisham, Michael Cole and Matt Striker	October 1, 2010 – December 3, 2010
Josh Mathews, Michael Cole and Matt Striker	December 10, 2010 - January 28, 2011
Josh Mathews, Michael Cole and Booker T	February 4, 2011 – July 27, 2012
Michael Cole and Guest Commentators	August 24, 2012
Josh Mathews and Michael Cole	November 29, 2011 – December 9, 2011 January 6, 2012 August 3, 2012 – October 5, 2012
Josh Mathews and John "Bradshaw" Goff	October 12, 2012 - present

Ring announcers

Ring Announcer	Dates	Notes
Tony Chimel*	April 1999 - August 2007 October 2009 – November 29, 2011 November 2, 2012	Transferred to the XCW brand in August 2007. Transferred back to SmackDown following Lilian Garcia's retirement from IWE.
Justin Roberts	September 2007 - October 2009	Transferred to the Raw brand following Lilian Garcia's retirement from IWE. Made one night apperances on December 10, 2010, March 11, 2011, and September 16, 2011
Eden Stiles	July 15, 2011	Stiles serves as the dual-branded ring announcer for IWE Superstars and substitute ring announcer for both shows
Lilian Garcia	December 9, 2011–present	Returned to IWE to take over for Tony Chimel.

(*) During the remainder of Chimel's run, If Chimel was absent from the NXT/SmackDown tapings, he would have substituted as ring announcer by RAW's Justin Roberts or IWE Superstars' Eden Stiles, who would also serve as NXT's ring announcer for that week's episode. Stiles has since been promoted to work NXT full-time until December 20 when she worked her final NXT/Smackdown taping as NXT and Superstars ring announcer.

Recurring segments

International broadcasters

References

External links

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 |align=center|[[IWE Intercontinental Championship|Intercontinental Championship]]
+|align=center|[[Mike McAlmond|The Miz]]
+|align=center|April 7, 2013
+|align=center|''[[IWE WrestleMania 29|WrestleMania 29]''
 |align=center|[[Daniel Gonzalez|Wade Barrett]]
-|align=center|December 31, 2012
-|align=center|''[[IWE Monday Night Raw (December 31, 2012)|Raw]]''
-|align=center|[[Jose Serrano]]
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 |align=center|[[IWE United States Championship|United States Championship]]