IWE SmackDown

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Revision as of 10:38, 1 December 2014

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)

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

On-air personalities

Champions

See also: List of current champions in IWE

Authority figures

Commentators

Ring announcers

(*) 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

See also

• IWE Roster

References

External links