| WWE SmackDown | |
|---|---|
| Format | Sports entertainment Professional wrestling |
| Created by | Vince McMahon |
| Starring | Raw Brand SmackDown brand |
| Opening theme | "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day[1] |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 13[2] |
| No. of episodes | 645 (as of December 30, 2011) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Kevin Dunn |
| Camera setup | Multiple-camera setup |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | UPN (April 29, 1999 – September 15, 2006) The CW (September 22, 2006 – September 26, 2008) MyNetworkTV (October 3, 2008 – September 24, 2010) Syfy (October 1, 2010 - Present) Internationally Syndicated (April 29, 1999- present) |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)[3] |
| Original run | April 29, 1999 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | WWE Raw WWE Superstars WWE NXT |
| External links | |
| Website | |
WWE SmackDown (also stylized as Friday Night Smackdown) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE. As of 2010[update] it airs on Syfy in the United States. The show's name is also used to refer to the SmackDown brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform on that program. It is one of the two television broadcasts for the SmackDown brand; the other one being WWE Raw, though at one point WWE 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.[4][5] SmackDown moved to Syfy on October 1, 2010.[6][7]
Due to time differences, SmackDown premieres a few hours earlier in Ireland and UK and a day earlier in Australia, India, Singapore, and Philippines than the United States. For international broadcast listings, see below.
Contents |
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".[8] 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 Chris Jericho through the center screen, destroying part of the set. As a result of that, the new set consisted of a fist centered above the entrance, and many glass panes along the sides strongly resembling shattered glass
In spring 2002 WWE underwent a process which it called the "Brand Extension".[9] WWE divided itself into two "de facto" wrestling promotions with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures.[9] 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 Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), 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 WWE Undisputed Championship and WWE Women's Championship, as those WWE titles would be defended on both shows.[9] In August 2002, WWE Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar refused to defend the title on Raw, in effect causing his title to become exclusive to SmackDown![9] The following week on Raw, General Manager Eric Bischoff awarded a newly instated World Heavyweight Championship to Raw's designated #1 contender, Triple H. Because since the WWE Undisputed Championship was now SmackDown! exclusive it was no longer seen as "Undisputed". Following this, the WWE 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 the WWE 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 Lesner 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/Lesner scene, which Lesner shoved Gowen down a fight of steps, a few weeks later). Though the WWE did not censor this segment themselves, it has since, up to the initiative of going PG.
On June 6, 2005, WWE Champion John Cena 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" Layfield, Booker T, Chris Benoit, The Undertaker, Christian (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!, JBL won the match. Long appeared afterward and stated that even though JBL 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 JBL was the number one contender for the World Heavyweight championship.
WWE's "lame duck" status with Viacom on Spike TV may have prompted its moving SmackDown! to the Friday night death slot for the Fall 2005 season. UPN received better ratings on Fridays than it did before with its movie night. In addition, UPN had been able to hold on to the ratings from Thursday nights, most notably with comedian Chris Rock's sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. In January 2006, prior to the announcement of the CW Network, it was announced that UPN had renewed SmackDown! for two more years.[10]
Following the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise, SmackDown! (renamed Friday Night SmackDown!) moved into Enterprise's former timeslot in the United States. WWE promoted this move with the tagline "TV that's changing Friday nights." Friday Night SmackDown! made its season premiere on September 9, 2005. The program still aired on Thursdays in Canada on the Score. In the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, their stations Sky Sports and Fox8 air SmackDown! on Fridays before the United States due to the time difference. This is the first time a major weekly WWE show airs internationally before it hits screens in the U.S.
The events of Hurricane Katrina affected the first edition of Friday Night SmackDown! in the U.S. due to the special fund-raising concert that aired on UPN at the same time that the first edition would have gone out, resulting in only the second hour of the show being shown on UPN. The first hour was instead streamed from WWE's website. Other countries, including Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and the Philippines received the full two-hour show. WWOR-TV (My 9, New York, New York) also aired both hours of the show on tape delay on Saturday, due to a previous commitment to broadcast the New York Yankees on Friday nights.
At the SmackDown! taping on January 10, 2006, Batista had to forfeit the World Heavyweight Championship because of a triceps injury. SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long decreed a Battle Royal for the vacant title. The winner was at the time Raw superstar Kurt Angle, who later switched to the SmackDown brand. In a break from their traditional role of acting as if SmackDown! is not pre-recorded, WWE.com had a photograph of Angle holding his new title on the main page. WWE also did this when Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to win the World Heavyweight Championship from The Undertaker and when The Great Khali won a battle royal after Edge's injury.
On the April 7, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, General Manager Theodore Long announced that the King of the Ring tournament would return after a four-year hiatus as a SmackDown!-exclusive tournament. The tournament ended at Judgment Day 2006 with Booker T as the winner, defeating Bobby Lashley in the final.
On June 9, 2006, Tazz left the SmackDown! brand to join the new ECW brand, leaving the color-commentator position on SmackDown! vacant. However, on June 11 at One Night Stand 2006, JBL revealed that he would be the new color commentator for SmackDown! He stayed in that position until December 2007 when he left SmackDown! to become an in-ring competitor on Raw. Jonathan Coachman replaced him afterwards. Eventually, Coachman was released by the WWE later in the year.
On September 22, 2006, Friday Night SmackDown! debuted on The CW Television Network, a joint venture between CBS Corporation (owner of UPN) and Warner Bros. Entertainment (a subsidiary of Time Warner, majority owner of The WB).
For four weeks before the official premiere (and in preparation for the impending removal of UPN in several markets by the debut of MyNetworkTV on September 5, 2006) of Friday Night SmackDown! on the CW on September 22, 2006, Tribune Broadcasting television stations in six major markets (including WPIX in New York City and KTLA in Los Angeles) aired WWE's Friday Night SmackDown! early in September 2006.[11] Two other future affiliates of The CW, WCWJ in Jacksonville, Florida and WIWB in Green Bay, Wisconsin, also aired SmackDown! in early September as well.
The transition to the CW caused an interruption in the broadcast of SmackDown! in the state of Utah beginning in June when KPNZ in Salt Lake City stopped airing all UPN programs early. As of 2009[update] KUCW broadcasts the show. In Hawaii, SmackDown! returned in late 2006, airing on a CW digital subchannel of Honolulu's FOX affiliate KHON-TV (Channel 2), which has received statewide carriage over Oceanic Time Warner Cable. Since the move to the CW Network, Friday Night SmackDown! has shown a major increase in ratings now averaging a 3.0 national rating. In addition, SmackDown! has become the second highest watched program on The CW.
On April 20, 2007, SmackDown! celebrated its 400th episode.[9] Ratings success soon followed. On June 8, 2007, Friday Night SmackDown! made CW history by making a three-way tie with CBS and ABC in the key ad demographic (adults, 18-49) by drawing a 1.5 rating each. On June 22, 2007, Friday Night SmackDown! again made CW history by tying the network for first place in the key ad demographic (adults, 18-49) and being the second most-watched network program at 9 p.m. for the night. The CW had not performed as well at any time slot since America's Next Top Model in March 2007. The next week on June 29, 2007, Friday Night SmackDown! helped The CW claim the top spot in the key demographic (adults, 18-49) for Friday. CBS got the overall lead but The CW got top spot for the Adults 18-49 by registering a 1.4 rating followed by CBS and NBC at 1.3, ABC at 1.2, and FOX at 0.9.[12][13] Then on Friday, July 13, 2007, Friday Night SmackDown! made network history by placing first in the 18-49 demographic and becoming the most watched show at the 9 p.m. hour on network television. This is the first time anything has placed this well on The CW. SmackDown! became a hit show on Friday nights winning the demographics for young males, and ranking second on the demographics (18-49) for Friday nights.
On October 16, 2007 it was announced that the SmackDown! and ECW brands would begin a "talent exchange", allowing their respective talent to appear and compete on either brand, because ECW was broadcast live on the same night and from the same arena where Smackdown is taped.[14][15]
Jim Ross became the new play-by-play announcer for SmackDown, while Michael Cole (SmackDown commentator for nine years from its launch in 1999 until 2008) moved to Raw. The WWE Champion Triple H was also drafted to SmackDown, which gave SmackDown two world championships to be featured on the brand. On June 30, 2008 on Raw, CM Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated the World Heavyweight Champion Edge, bringing the World Heavyweight Championship back to Raw. In August 2008, Tazz returned to SmackDown as color commentator, due in part to Foley's departure from the WWE as his contract was not renewed. A couple of months later in late-2008, Tazz decided to let his contract expire. So he was replaced with the color commentator for ECW, Todd Grisham, making the SmackDown announce team consist of Grisham and Ross. Also that year, for the first time in the brands history, a women's exclusive championship was introduced, the WWE Divas Championship, a counterpart to the WWE Women's Championship which up until this time was the only active championship competed for by divas, but it was exclusive to the WWE Raw brand, meaning that the divas on SmackDown had no championship to compete for until now. Michelle McCool became the inaugural champion by defeating Natalya on July 20, 2008 at The Great American Bash 2008.
Friday Night SmackDown debuted on MyNetworkTV in the United States on October 3, 2008, featuring performers from the Raw, ECW, and SmackDown programs. WWE SmackDown also debuted with a new theme song. The premiere episode on MyNetworkTV attracted 3.2 million viewers. While the viewership dropped, SmackDown pulled the highest ratings to date for MyNetworkTV and pushed the network to fifth place, ahead of rival The CW. The premiere was also first place in male 18-49 demographics.[16]
On February 15, at No Way Out, Edge won the World Heavyweight Championship in Raw's Elimination Chamber match, thus making it a SmackDown exclusive title and giving SmackDown two top tier championships.[17] On March 20, 2009 WWE SmackDown celebrated its 500th episode.[18]
As a result of the 2009 WWE Draft in April, WWE Champion Triple H was drafted to the Raw brand, while the World Heavyweight Championship moved to the Raw brand after Edge lost the title to John Cena at WrestleMania XXV.[19] SmackDown would regain the World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash (2009) when Edge defeated John Cena to win the championship.[20] In addition, SmackDown and Raw would exchange both women-exclusive championships with Raw gaining the WWE Divas Championship and SmackDown gaining the WWE Women's Championship. Also, SmackDown and Raw exchanged the WWE United States Championship (which became exclusive to Raw) and the WWE Intercontinental Championship (subsequently exclusive to the SmackDown brand), for the first time since August 25, 2002.[19]
On September 15, 2009, WWE Home Video released a DVD set entitled The Best of SmackDown 10th Anniversary.
That April, most of the WWE Raw superstars were stuck in Belfast due to Eyjafjallajökull erupting in Iceland and left ash hovering over Europe and caused flights to be grounded. To help, Smackdown took over Monday Night Raw (with the exceptions of former Smackdown superstars and current Raw superstars Triple H and Vladimir Kozlov) and fought over there. The superstars included Rey Mysterio, Edge, CM Punk, Chris Jericho and more. This was the first time Raw was noted as Monday Night Smackdown.
On April 12, 2010, it was announced that SmackDown would move from MyNetworkTV to Syfy, a network which previously aired NXT and ECW, in a two year deal that also includes an optional third year.[6][7][21] Retaining its Friday night timeslot, SmackDown made its live premiere on Syfy on October 1, 2010 and there's been talk about having live editions of the show on WWE PPV weekends.[6] According to the Los Angeles Times, the move sees Syfy paying close to $30 million for the show as opposed to the $20 million paid by MyNetworkTV.[7] The premiere of SmackDown on Syfy followed a special "pre-game" show hosted by Michael Cole. Since this time, Cole has joined on the SmackDown commentating team and continues to sell the "Voice of the WWE" moniker, since he now commentates for both brands. He has most recently done his commentating in a glass box dubbed the "Cole Mine", to coincide with his heel gimmick.
Due to the move to an NBC Universal Cable network, SmackDown is now advertised more frequently on Syfy's sister network, USA Network, which airs Raw. Same-week encores of SmackDown were also added to Universal HD's, and mun2's Saturday night schedule as a result of the move in the spot previously held by NXT and ECW. On February 4, 2011, Booker T made a return on SmackDown as a commentator replacing Matt Striker.
On October 11, 2011, following the taping of the October 14th episode, Shawn Michaels and Triple H surprised Dallas for a DX Reunion at the taping.
October 14, 2011's broadcast of Friday Night Smackdown, Episode 635 marked Smackdown as the official second longest-running weekly episodic television series of American television history behind Monday Night Raw who surpassed the 635th episode mark on the August 2, 2005 broadcast of Raw. The record was surpassed during their run on UPN (1999–2006), The CW (2006–08), MyNetworkTV (2008–10) and Syfy (2010–present)
On July 10, 2007,[22] Merriam-Webster announced it would induct the word smackdown[23] into Webster's Dictionary. According to Merriam Webster, a "Smackdown" is:
WWE 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 October 2010[update] SmackDown opens with "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day.[1] Upon SmackDown's debut on Syfy it replaced the previous theme song "Let it Roll" by Divide the Day.[24]
The show began broadcasting in HD beginning with the January 25, 2008 edition of SmackDown, where a new set debuted — shared between both WWE 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, which is a variation of the 2001-08 logo with a darker blue scheme.[25]
Since the move to Syfy, Smackdown has aired live specials on Tuesday Nights, when the show is usually taped.
In December 2010, Smackdown has aired on the USA Network, which carries Raw on Tuesday as a part of "WWE Week" which also included Tribute to the Troops.
On the October 7th broadcast of Smackdown (taped October 3), Smackdown marked their one-year anniversary on Syfy. The celebration was belated due to Smackdown debuting October 1, 2010.
Due to recent rating successes during live episodes of Smackdown, WWE are in talks with Syfy to do doing more live Tuesday SmackDown specials in early 2012 to build WrestleMania 28 and WWE officials are considering the idea of moving SmackDown to Tuesdays permanently.
| Episode | Date | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| SmackDown! (Special) | April 29, 1999 | 5.8[26] | Pilot episode.[27] |
| SmackDown! (Pilot) | August 26, 1999 | 4.2[28] | Series debut |
| SmackDown! Extreme | February 1, 2001 | 4.0 | First live episode of SmackDown! |
| 9/11 Tribute | September 13, 2001 | 3.6[29] | Tribute in memory of 9/11. |
| Christmas from Baghdad | December 25, 2003 | 3.0[30] | Honored American armed forces. |
| SmackDown! 5th Anniversary Special | September 23, 2004 | 3.2[31] | Celebrated the show's 5th anniversary. |
| Christmas in Iraq | December 23, 2004 | 2.9[31] | Honored American armed forces. |
| SmackDown! Night of Champions | December 30, 2004 | 2.9[31] | Featured championship matches. |
| Eddie Guerrero Tribute Show | November 18, 2005 | 3.1[32] | Tribute in memory of Eddie Guerrero. |
| Best of SmackDown! 2005 | December 23, 2005 | 2.2[32] | Featured clips from 2005. |
| Best of SmackDown! 2006 | December 29, 2006 | 2.4[33] | Featured clips from 2006. |
| SmackDown! 400th episode | April 20, 2007 | 2.2[34] | Celebrated the show's 400th episode. |
| WWE Best of 2007 | December 28, 2007 | 2.5[34] | Featured clips from 2007 |
| SmackDown All-Star Kick-Off | October 3, 2008 | 1.9[35] | Featured Champion vs. Champion matches. Premiere on MyNetworkTV. |
| SmackDown 500th episode | March 20, 2009 | 2.1[36] | Celebrated the show's 500th episode. Featured the rosters from all three brands. |
| Decade of SmackDown | October 2, 2009 | 2.2[37] | Celebrated the show's 10th anniversary.[38] Featured the rosters from all three brands. |
| Monday Night SmackDown | April 19, 2010 | 3.1[39] | Due to air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption, most of the Raw roster remained in Europe after a European tour. As a result, the SmackDown brand was featured in for the week's WWE Raw program. Will Forte, Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe guest star. |
| SmackDown Live Syfy Premiere | October 1, 2010 | 1.7[39] | Premiere on Syfy. Featured the rosters from Raw and SmackDown. |
| Christmas on USA | December 21, 2010 | 2.5[39] | Special Tuesday Live Christmas episode on the USA Network.[40] |
| SmackDown 600th episode | February 18, 2011 [41] | 2.2[42] | Celebrates the show's 600th episode Features the rosters from Raw and SmackDown. |
| SuperSmackDown Live | August 30, 2011 [43] | 2.2[44] | Live episode of SmackDown Features the rosters from SmackDown and Raw. |
| Edge Appreciation Night | September 16, 2011 | 1.8[45] | Special episode paying tribute to the retired Edge in his hometown of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. |
| Smackdown Milestone | October 14, 2011 | 2.2[46] | Special episode celebrating SmackDown as the second longest running weekly episodic TV show. |
| SmackDown Live Holiday Special | November 29, 2011 | 2.0 | Live holiday episode. WWE Legend Mick Foley guest hosts. |
Seasonal rankings (based on average total estimated viewers per episode) of SmackDown! on UPN, The CW and MyNetworkTV
| Season | Timeslot | Network | Years | Viewers (in millions) |
| 1st | Thursday 8/7C | UPN | 1999–2000 | 7.2[47] |
| 2nd | Thursday 8/7C | UPN | 2000–2001 | 7.1[48] |
| 3rd | Thursday 8/7C | UPN | 2001–2002 | 6.5[49] |
| 4th | Thursday 8/7C | UPN | 2002–2003 | 11.4[50] |
| 5th | Thursday 8/7C | UPN | 2003–2004 | 14.1[51] |
| 6th | Thursday 8/7C | UPN | 2004–2005 | 16.1[52] |
| 7th | Friday 8/7C | UPN | 2005–2006 | 17.3[53] |
| 8th | Friday 8/7C | CW | 2006–2007 | 22.5[54] |
| 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–present | 24.4 |
| Championship | Current champion | Date won | Date aired | Event | Previous champion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Heavyweight Championship | Daniel Bryan | December 18, 2011 | December 18, 2011 | TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs | Big Show |
| WWE Intercontinental Championship | Cody Rhodes | August 9, 2011 | August 12, 2011 | SmackDown | Ezekiel Jackson |
| Authority | Position | Date started | Date finished | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vince McMahon | Owner, Chairman and CEO of WWE | November 6, 2001 | Present | McMahon assigned new General Managers to Raw and to SmackDown after Ric Flair lost his position on Raw. Stacy Keibler served as "Personal Assistant" through McMahon's term. |
| Stephanie McMahon | General Manager | July 16, 2002 | October 19, 2003 | Lost her position as per an "I Quit" match stipulation against Mr. McMahon. |
| Paul Heyman | General Manager | October 21, 2003 | March 22, 2004 | Resigned after drafting to Raw. |
| Kurt Angle | General Manager | March 23, 2004 | July 20, 2004 | Returned to the active roster when no longer confined to a wheelchair. |
| Theodore Long | General Manager | July 27, 2004 | September 18, 2007 | Left position due to health complications. Served as "Assistant General Manager" from November 2007 to May 2008. |
| Vickie Guerrero | General Manager | September 25, 2007 | April 6, 2009 | Served as "Assistant General Manager" from May to September 2007. Opted to fully take over the position on Raw and resigned as General Manager of SmackDown. |
| Theodore Long | General Manager | April 7, 2009 | Present | Long was reassigned from ECW to SmackDown. |
| Vickie Guerrero | Consultant | November 17, 2009 | February 25, 2011 | Appointed as Theodore Long's Consultant by Vince McMahon. Interim General Manager when Long is out. Fired by Theodore Long on February 25, 2011 |
| Triple H | Chief Operating Officer | July 18, 2011 | Present | The Board of Directors removed Vince McMahon from day-to-day power and handed the duties to his son-in-law. Relieved of authoritative powers but remains the COO of the WWE. |
| Zack Ryder | Assistant to the General Manager | July 29, 2011 | January 3, 2012 | Appointed as Assistant to the General Manager by Triple H. |
| 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" Layfield | 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 and Michael Cole | November 29, 2011 – December 9, 2011 |
| Josh Mathews, Michael Cole and Booker T | February 4, 2011–present |
| Ring Announcer | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tony Chimel* | April 1999 - August 2007 October 2009 – December 2011 |
Transferred to the ECW brand in August 2007. Transferred back to SmackDown following Lilian Garcia's retirement from WWE. Removed on December 5, 2011. |
| Justin Roberts | September 2007 - October 2009 | Transferred to the Raw brand following Lilian Garcia's retirement from WWE. Made one night apperances on December 10, 2010, March 11, 2011, and September 16, 2011 |
| Eden Stiles | July 15, 2011, November 11, 2011 | Stiles serves as the dual-branded ring announcer for WWE Superstars and substitute ring announcer for both shows until December 22, 2011 when Stiles left WWE. |
| Lilian Garcia | December 2011 – Present | Returned to WWE on December 5, 2011 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 WWE 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.
| Segment | Host | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Piper's Pit | Roddy Piper | 2003 2005 - 2006 2010 |
In-ring interview segment.[55] |
| $1,000,000 Tough Enough | Al Snow | 2004 | WWE Tough Enough competition segment. |
| Kurt Angle Invitational | Kurt Angle | 2004–2005 | Three minute match challenge for Angle's gold medal. Discontinued after Angle was drafted to Raw. |
| Cafe de René | René Duprée | 2004 | In-ring interview segment. |
| Carlito's Cabana | Carlito | 2005 2008 - 2009 |
In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after Carlito was drafted to Raw. |
| Peep Show | Christian | 2005 2010–2011 |
In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after Christian turned heel.[56] |
| WWE Diva Search | The Miz | 2006 | WWE Diva Search competition segment. |
| Miz TV | The Miz | 2007 | In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after Miz was drafted to ECW.[57] |
| Masterlock Challenge | Chris Masters | 2007 2010–2011 |
Submission challenge to break Masters' Masterlock hold. Discontinued after being drafted to Raw. |
| The Cutting Edge | Edge | 2007–2010 2011 |
In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after Edge retired from professional wrestling. |
| V.I.P. Lounge | Montel Vontavious Porter | 2007–2009 2010 |
In-ring interview segment. Discontinued following MVP's departure from WWE. |
| Khali Kiss Cam | The Great Khali and Ranjin Singh | 2011 | In-ring fan interaction segment. Khali kisses a female member of the audience. First person to keep show after changing brands. Discontinued after The Great Khali turned heel.[58] |
| Highlight Reel | Chris Jericho | 2010 | In-ring interview segment. Discontinued after Jericho was drafted to Raw. |
| Grooming Tips | "Dashing" Cody Rhodes |
2010–2011 | Cody Rhodes gives some vanity tips. Discontinued after Rhodes' facial injury (*caused by the exposed metal brace of Rey Mysterio). |
| Str8 Outta Brooklyn With JTG | JTG | 2010–2011 | Backstage shoot segment. Discontinued after JTG was drafted to Raw. |
In addition to broadcasts on Syfy, Universal HD, mun2, and AFN Xtra in the United States,[5][59]
Sky 1 only Saturday
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