WWE SmackDown

WWE SmackDown, also known as Friday Night SmackDown or simply SmackDown, is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE. It airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on USA Network in the United States, and in most international markets on Netflix. The show features characters from the SmackDown brand, to which WWE wrestlers are assigned to work and perform. SmackDown debuted on August 26, 1999 and is considered to be one of WWE's two flagship programs, along with Monday Night Raw.

Originally launched as a complementary second show to Raw, SmackDown became further distinct after the WWE brand split in 2002, representing the company's talent in the SmackDown brand roster. It has been taped in and broadcast from over hundreds of arenas and cities throughout twelve countries, mostly in the United States but also in Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. Prior to switching to its current live format, taped episodes premiered a few hours or up to a day earlier in certain countries outside the United States due to time differences.

SmackDown! began on the broadcast network UPN in 1999 and was initially broadcast on Thursday nights. The show moved to Friday nights on September 9, 2005, and began airing on The CW in September 2006, after the merger of UPN and the WB, before later moving to MyNetworkTV in October 2008. On October 1, 2010, SmackDown moved to cable network Syfy, and eventually returned to Thursdays on January 15, 2015. The show then moved to the sibling USA Network on January 7, 2016, and later that year, beginning on July 19, SmackDown began broadcasting live on Tuesday nights. SmackDown's move to Fox on October 4, 2019 marked the show's return to Friday nights and over-the-air broadcast television. On September 13, 2024, the show returned to USA Network. As of 2024, SmackDown is the most viewed television show on Friday nights in the United States. Smackdown! has also been broadcast globally on other networks since it first began. The WWE Network ceased operations in the United States on April 4, 2021, with all content moved to Peacock which now has all previous episodes of SmackDown.

WWF SmackDown! first appeared on April 29, 1999, using the Raw is War set as a single television special on UPN. On August 26, 1999, SmackDown! officially debuted on UPN as a weekly, two-hour, primetime show, marking the debut of WWF professional wrestling on broadcast TV. As a second WWF show complementing Raw, Smackdown! increased the exposure to the company's superstars and the storylines and its airing on the UPN network expanded the accessibility of WWF television to audiences without a cable subscription. Smackdown! was also conceived to compete against World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s Thursday night show, Thunder, and like Thunder it was recorded on Tuesdays and then broadcast on Thursdays.

Smackdown! quickly became UPN's most watched show and is credited for saving the network. The show had a viewership of about 6.5 million as of late 1999, almost as many as the WWF's flagship show Raw. The new WWF show was so popular that WCW moved Thunder to Wednesdays so that it would not compete directly. However, some advertizers pulled after citing what they thought was the show's overly crude nature on broadcast television, and combined with a Parents Television Council campaign led to bad publicity for WWF. On November 30, 1999, Vince McMahon announced changes that will lead to "less aggression, less colorful language, less sexuality" on Smackdown!.

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 Smack down".

In March 2002, WWF implemented the "brand extension", under which Raw and SmackDown! would have separate rosters of performers that are exclusive to their respective programs and events, and be positioned in-universe as competing "brands" (in a manner reminiscent of athletic conferences).

In the 2004–05 season, SmackDown! had an average viewership of 5.1 million viewers, making it UPN's second-highest-rated series behind America's Next Top Model. With the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise, SmackDown! moved into its former timeslot on Friday nights for the 2005–06 season, beginning September 9, 2005. WWE subsequently announced that the show would be renamed Friday Night SmackDown! to emphasize the new scheduling.