WWE SmackDown!

WWE SmackDown! is a television series produced by World Wrestling Entertainment. It is the secondary show produced by the company, with Raw being the primary.

## Notable Episodes[edit]

* April 29, 1999 - Pilot. Formation of The Corporation and the Ministry of Darkness into the Corporate Ministry.
* August 26, 1999 - Series Premiere
* April 27, 2000 - Stone Cold Steve Austin appears on WWE Programming for the first time since his neck surgery.
* SmackDown! Extreme (February 1, 2001) - First live episode.
* April 5, 2001 - Vince McMahon announces The Rock has been suspended indefinitely. This was in-storyline to give The Rock time off to film The Scorpion King.
* September 13, 2001 - 9/11 Tribute Show. Also the first public assembly since the September 11 Islamic terrorist attacks.
* April 25, 2002 - WWF television debut of Randy Orton.
* May 9, 2002 - First episode of SmackDown under the WWE name, and the television debut of Batista.
* June 27, 2002 - WWE television debut of John Cena.
* July 25, 2002 - WWE debut of Rey Mysterio.
* September 12, 2002 - A segment featured the wedding of the tag team, Billy & Chuck. GLAAD worked with WWE on the segment, however, WWE decided to back out of the wedding. The segment ended with the minister being revealed as Eric Bischoff, and having 3 Minute Warning attack the tag team.
* September 16, 2004 - Wrestler Heidenreich abducts Michael Cole from the announce table and takes him to a room where he acts as though he's being sexually assaulted by Heidenreich.
* September 23, 2004 - 5th Anniversary Special.
* April 14, 2005 - The WWE "Spinner Belt" is unveiled by John Cena. Initially, the WWE logo was designed to spin. Eventually, this was dropped, and the logo was fixed in one place. The Spinner Belt would be retired by The Rock on the January 28, 2013 episode of Raw.
* September 1, 2005 - Final Episode of SmackDown to air on Thursday nights.
* September 9, 2005 - SmackDown begins airing on Friday Nights. Show is renamed Friday Night SmackDown.
* Eddie Guerrero Tribute Show (November 18, 2005)
* April 20, 2007 - 400th Episode of SmackDown.
* October 3, 2008 - SmackDown begins airing on MyNetworkTV.
* March 20, 2009 - 500th Episode of SmackDown.
* Decade of SmackDown (October 3, 2009) - Celebrated SmackDown's 10th Anniversary.
* October 1, 2010 - SmackDown begins airing on SyFy.
* December 21, 2010 - Special live Tuesday episode airing on the USA Network.
* February 18, 2011 - 600th Episode of SmackDown.
* April 15, 2011 - Edge officially retires. Since he was World Heavyweight Champion at the time, he relinquished the title.
* SmackDown Live! (January 29, 2015) - Due to a Winter Storm, Raw was a recap show, mainly for the Royal Rumble which was the night prior. This episode of SmackDown featured talent from Raw.
* January 7, 2016 - SmackDown begins airing on the USA Network.
* July 19, 2016 - SmackDown begins airing live on Tuesdays. The 2016 WWE Draft also takes place.
* July 26, 2016 - First SmackDown after the WWE Draft.
* August 23, 2016 - Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan announce there will be SmackDown Tag Team and Women's Championships to be decided at Backlash.
* March 21, 2018 - After being forced to retire in 2016 due to an injury, Daniel Bryan announces his condition has been re-evaluated and has been cleared to wrestle again.
* October 18, 2019 - SmackDown begins airing on FOX.
* November 1, 2019 - Due to travel issues after a show in Saudi Arabia, a large portion of the roster remained overseas. In response, SmackDown featured talent from NXT.
* March 13, 2020 - Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, SmackDown takes place at the WWE Performance Center.