WWE SmackDown is a
professional wrestling television program for
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). it airs on
MyNetworkTV in the
United States as
WWE Friday Night SmackDown. 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; the other programs and brands are
Raw and
ECW. It is currently the only television broadcast for the SmackDown brand, though at one point
WWE Velocity also featured SmackDown branded wrestling. From its launch in 1999,
SmackDown was shown on Thursday nights, but as of September 9, 2005, the show moved to Friday nights. The show originally debuted in the United States on the
UPN television network on August 26, 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.
The show is shown in Mexico on
TV Azteca and in the
United Kingdom and
Ireland on Friday nights on
Sky Sports 3 and
Sky Sports HD; due to the time difference,
SmackDown premieres a few hours earlier in Ireland and United Kingdom and a day earlier in Australia and India than the United States. For other broadcast listings,
see below.
Show history
Original format
SmackDown! (the original title) first appeared on April 29, 1999 as a single television special on UPN.
