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102-951: Jorge Arias reprised his Sin Cara character towards the end of 2013. After a brief winning streak, as 2014 progressed, Sin Cara was unsuccessful in winning four battle royals : the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX , a battle royal for the United States Championship in May, a Money in the Bank qualifying battle royal in June, and a battle royal for the Intercontinental Championship at Battleground . Meanwhile, on

204-513: A five-on-five elimination tag team match against The New Day ( Big E , Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods ) and Sheamus and King Barrett in a winning effort. On December 13, at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs , The Lucha Dragons received another shot at the WWE Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by The New Day in a triple threat ladder match , which also included The Usos. The Lucha Dragons once again failed to win

306-507: A legitimate injury, WWE held a tournament to determine a new champion and Kalisto started to wrestle in the singles competition as well. After defeating Ryback in his first round match on the November 12 episode of SmackDown , Kalisto was eliminated in the quarterfinals on the November 16 episode of Raw by Alberto Del Rio . At Survivor Series on November 22, The Lucha Dragons teamed up with The Usos (Jimmy and Jey Uso) and Ryback in

408-682: A virtual audience and enhanced arena production. WWE returned to hosting and touring shows for both the SmackDown and Raw brands in June 2021. Since the move to Fox, SmackDown has occasionally been pre-empted to FS1 due to conflicts with other Fox Sports programming airing in primetime, particularly the Major League Baseball postseason. In one instance in October 2019 due to the World Series , an hour-long version of

510-548: A virtual audience displayed on a grandstand constructed from video boards. With the return to live shows in July 2021, a new universal stage was adopted by both SmackDown and Raw , with a high-resolution LED screen, and increasing use of augmented reality graphics for the television production. Notes On July 10, 2007, Merriam-Webster included the word smackdown in Webster's Dictionary . Merriam Webster defined

612-736: A "pre-game" show. The move saw Syfy paying close to $ 30 million for the show as opposed to the $ 20 million paid by its former network MyNetworkTV. During the August 29, 2011 episode of Raw , WWE dissolved the brand extension, thus allowing performers to appear on Raw and SmackDown at any given time without restriction. The October 14, 2011, episode made SmackDown the second-longest-running weekly episodic television series of American television history (behind Raw , which surpassed that mark on August 1, 2005). On January 18, 2013, SmackDown celebrated its 700th episode. On October 10, 2014, SmackDown celebrated its 15-year anniversary. To help celebrate

714-576: A "smackdown" as: The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the word smackdown in English back at least as far as 1990, but notes that a professional wrestling television show "popularized" the term. Throughout its broadcast history, the show has aired editions that have different themes. These include tributes to various professional wrestlers who have recently died or retired from actively performing, and episodes commemorating various show milestones or anniversaries. Although SmackDown has been

816-610: A WWE-oriented studio show ( WWE Backstage ) on FS1. From March 13, 2020, all WWE touring shows were cancelled indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic , with SmackDown , Raw , and pay-per-views being broadcast from a studio in the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida with no audience beginning that night. The ensuing episode also featured Triple H as a guest commentator, and an encore presentation of

918-750: A degree in embalming and funeral director services in Mexico. Arriaga attended El Paso Burges High School and in 1996 was an undefeated state wrestling champion who was voted the MVP of the state tournament. Arriaga began wrestling at Burges High School from 1992 to 1996, where in 1995 he placed 3rd in State of Texas and in 1996 he became an undefeated State Champion. He then embarked on a professional career, as he managed to continue working for his family's funeral home in Ciudad Juárez , Chihuahua , Mexico , during

1020-871: A few hours earlier in Ireland and the United Kingdom than in the United States (and a day earlier in Australia, Canada, Singapore, and the Philippines) due to time differences. For international broadcast listings, see below . The show celebrated its 15th anniversary on October 10, 2014, and the 1000th episode on October 16, 2018. 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 . Recent episodes are still available for on-demand viewing 30 days after

1122-451: A live 800th episode special on Syfy's sister channel USA Network , SuperSmackDown Live! , featuring a main event between Dolph Ziggler and Seth Rollins . In January 2015, SmackDown returned to a Thursday time slot. The return to Thursday nights was expected to help attract a younger audience to Syfy, as well as more premium advertising dollars from marketers, who tend to spend more to promote their products, especially film releases, on

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1224-723: A loss to El Generico , Steen, Briscoe and Magno. On December 14, 2009, Arriaga worked a "try out" match for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) working without a mask, under the name Jorge Arias, losing a tag team match against The Dudebusters. Shortly after Arriaga signed a developmental deal with WWE following his try out match and started in WWE's farm league Florida Championship Wrestling . He later changed his ring name to Hunico although his mask and outfit remained unchanged. In April Hunico began teaming with Tito Colon , wrestling Florida Tag Team Champions The Uso Brothers (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) but were unsuccessful. Later on Tito Colon

1326-564: A man's eyeball out in the process. In January 2012, Hunico started a feud with Ted DiBiase after Hunico was offended that he was not invited to one of DiBiase's Posse parties. After both wrestlers scored two wins apiece, Hunico defeated DiBiase on the February 17 SmackDown to end the feud. After his feud with DiBiase, Hunico wrestled extensively on Superstars , going on an unbeaten streak in Superstars singles matches by defeating

1428-416: 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

1530-500: A mesh tray paper on each eye opening at the masks. Unlike Rey Mysterio and Kalisto, he did not have a mouth opening and instead placed mesh tray papers on several mouth opening stripes. These masks covered his full face. 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 . SmackDown

1632-595: A name for himself in the United States when he participated in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling 's (TNA) 2006 World X-Cup Tournament . As part of Team Mexico , Incognito's only match in the World Cup tournament was a 16-man gauntlet match that included all four World Cup teams. Incognito was eliminated by Sonjay Dutt . Team Mexico finished in third place out of four teams. Following his appearance for TNA, Incognito began working regularly for

1734-636: A new black attire to distinguish himself from the original version, while also explaining that he was going to steal the Sin Cara identity from Urive, just as Urive had stolen the Místico identity from him six years prior. At Hell in a Cell , the impostor Sin Cara, now being referred to as "Sin Cara Negro", was defeated by the original Sin Cara, now referred to as "Sin Cara Azul". The feud continued on

1836-509: A new gimmick, portraying a stereotypical Mexican hoodlum , wrestling in street attire and addressing the audience in both Spanish and English . On the November 4 SmackDown , Hunico continued his rivalry with Sin Cara by attacking him together with his debuting FCW tag team partner Epico . Despite Epico's cousin Primo soon joining them, this was short lived as Primo & Epico went on to align with Rosa Mendes . Hunico's feud with Sin Cara

1938-697: A non-title match on the January 9, 2015, episode of SmackDown , Sin Cara was awarded a title shot against Barrett on the taped episode of Smackdown which aired on January 15, but lost the match. On the January 28 episode of NXT , The Lucha Dragons lost the NXT Tag Team Championship to Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy . Sin Cara competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31 , but failed to win

2040-695: A part of the Lucha Dragons . He departed the company in December 2019. Jose Jorge Arriaga Rodriguez was born on September 5, 1977, in El Paso, Texas , to Mexican immigrant parents. Arriaga grew up in El Segundo Barrio , El Paso , Texas . While working towards his goal of becoming a professional wrestler, Arriaga worked in his grandfather's funeral home in Juarez , Mexico . He also gained

2142-478: A small LED board to the left side of the ring on SmackDown , similar to Raw . On the September 14, 2015 season premiere of Raw , the middle rope was colored gold. Throughout the month of October 2015, the WWE broadcast table, entrance ramp, and ring skirts were co-branded with Susan G. Komen for the cure of breast cancer. Also, the middle ring rope was pink to promote the fight against breast cancer. Following

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2244-416: A special pink middle-rope in the ring. SmackDown ' s ring ropes were usually blue from 1999 to 2012 (although they were black for a period between 2001 and 2002). They remained blue until December 2012 when they were permanently changed to white, with all WWE programming now using white ring ropes. On August 22, 2014, SmackDown switched to a full 16:9 letterbox presentation, with a down-scaled version of

2346-470: A statement, but The Undertaker returned to save Kane, disposing of Hunico with a chokeslam and a tombstone piledriver. Hunico then underwent surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the knee. Hunico returned to in-ring action (but not television) at the WrestleMania Axxess live event on April 4, 2013, once again teaming with Camacho. Hunico and Camacho returned to television on

2448-480: A triple threat tag team ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, which was won by The New Day, who retained their titles. The following week, on a live episode of SmackDown , The Lucha Dragons received another tag team title shot, but they were once again defeated by The New Day. On the December 28 episode of Raw , Sin Cara dislocated his shoulder in a match with Big E, leaving him out of action. On February 6, Sin Cara returned from injury, teaming with Kalisto in

2550-679: A winning effort. On the March 21 episode of Raw , Sin Cara faced Stardust and Zack Ryder in a triple threat match to determine the #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship , which ended in no contest, after Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens interfered in the match. Afterwards, it was announced that Sin Cara would compete in a 7-man ladder match for the title at WrestleMania 32 against Owens, Stardust, Ryder, Dolph Ziggler , Sami Zayn and The Miz , which he lost. On July 18, Sin Cara and Kalisto announced they were disbanding and entering

2652-490: A winning streak throughout the month. Sin Cara's streak was ended by Del Rio on the January 6, 2014, episode of Raw . As 2014 progressed, Sin Cara was unsuccessful in winning four battle royals: the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX , a battle royal for the WWE United States Championship in May, a Money in the Bank qualifying battle royal in June and a battle royal for

2754-952: A wrestling match. The primary commentators for SmackDown are Michael Cole and Corey Graves . Additional commentary has been provided by Taz , Jim Ross , Josh Mathews , Mauro Ranallo , Tom Phillips and others since its creation. In addition to the Spanish-language Fox Deportes simulcasting with Fox live in the United States and broadcasts to American troops deployed overseas on AFN Sports 2 , SmackDown also appears on-air internationally. SmackDown airs live on Fox Sports in Mexico and across Central and South America since 2014. In Canada, SmackDown has historically been aired by Sportsnet 360 (SN360, formerly known as The Score), as part of network owner Rogers Media 's long-term deal with WWE. The program has historically aired sometimes in simulcast with

2856-656: Is an American professional wrestler currently working on the Mexican independent circuit , under the ring name Cinta de Oro ( Spanish for "Golden Ribbon"). He is best known for his tenure in WWE , under the ring name Sin Cara (Spanish for "Faceless"), where he was the longest-tenured wrestler to use the persona. Prior to his signing with WWE, he wrestled under the ring name Místico or Mystico (Spanish for "Mystic") under which he worked for Mexican professional wrestling promotion AAA and various independent promotions in

2958-552: Is friends with Raúl Jiménez , who plays for Fulham FC and formerly Wolverhampton Wanderers. Jiménez celebrated scoring a goal in April 2019 by briefly donning a mask in the style of Sin Cara's. Arriaga visited the club in May 2019. Arriaga made his video game debut in WWE '13 as Hunico, and later appeared in WWE 2K16 , WWE 2K17 , WWE 2K18 , WWE 2K19 , and WWE 2K20 as Sin Cara. Sin Cara wore multiple masks every year, with

3060-585: Is the most viewed television show on Friday nights in the United States of America. Fox Deportes simulcasts the program with Spanish-language commentary. The show features characters from the SmackDown brand , to which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform. It is considered to be one of WWE's two flagship programs, along with Monday Night Raw . SmackDown! debuted in Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri UPN on April 29, 1999, and

3162-493: The 2016 draft as singles competitors. As a result of the draft, Sin Cara was drafted to the Raw brand . On the September 5 episode of Raw , Sin Cara confronted Braun Strowman , who had removed a luchador's mask the previous week. Sin Cara berated Strowman for disrespecting luchador tradition, igniting a feud between the two. On the following weeks on Raw , Strowman would defeat Sin Cara in two matches by countout and pinfall. On

Lucha Dragons - Misplaced Pages Continue

3264-520: The 20th Anniversary special. The episode also marked the return of SmackDown to Friday nights and the return of WWE programming to Fox for the first time since Fox aired the November 14, 1992 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event . The agreement came as WWE's previous broadcast deal with USA Network to air both SmackDown and WWE Raw was set to expire, and as Fox has increasingly emphasized live sports programming and non-scripted entertainment in

3366-630: The Elimination Chamber match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship from the titular pay-per-view the previous Sunday. On August 17, WWE announced that SmackDown , Raw , and pay-per-views would move out of the Performance Center to the " WWE ThunderDome " at Orlando's Amway Center , beginning with SmackDown on August 21. The program continued to be broadcast behind closed doors, but with

3468-643: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), often teaming with fellow Luchador Sicodelico Jr. The two participated in a tournament to crown new NWA World Tag Team Champions , but lost to Joey Ryan and Karl Anderson in the final match, a match that also included Billy Kidman and Sean Waltman . On September 22, 2007, Incognito made his first appearance for the Lucha Libre inspired Chikara promotion when he participated in their annual 16-man torneo cibernetico tournament. Incognito

3570-615: The Payback pre-show to retain the title. On May 22 at Extreme Rules , Kalisto lost the title to Rusev and failed to regain the title in a rematch against Rusev on the May 26 episode of SmackDown . On the Money in the Bank pre-show, The Lucha Dragons defeated The Dudley Boyz. On July 19, Kalisto and Sin Cara announced that they mutually disbanded as a tag team and would enter the 2016 WWE draft as singles competitors. Hunico José Jorge Arriaga Rodríguez (born September 5, 1977)

3672-498: The United States and Mexico. During this time, CMLL wrestler Místico (Luis Urive) grew in popularity, and since CMLL originally owned the legal rights to the character, Arriaga had to change his ring name to Místico de Juarez and later to Incognito , under which he wrestled in promotions like Chikara , Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , and the National Wrestling Alliance . Arriaga signed with WWE in 2009 and debuted on

3774-693: The WWA Middleweight Championship but was stripped of the title in March when he had to stop wrestling in the Tijuana , Baja California area where the World Wrestling Association was based. In early 2004, he began working regularly for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), CMLL's main Mexican rival and had to change his name in order to avoid any type of legal problems. With minor adjustments to his mask and tights, he became known as "Incognito" instead. While he

3876-579: The WWE Intercontinental Championship at Battleground . Soon after, Sin Cara was sent to NXT , where he formed a tag team with Kalisto known as " The Lucha Dragons ". At NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way , Sin Cara and Kalisto defeated The Ascension ( Konnor and Viktor ) to win the NXT Tag Team Championship , and Arriaga' first title in WWE. After defeating Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett in

3978-518: The WrestleMania 32 pre-show, whereas Sin Cara competed in a seven-man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship at the time held by Kevin Owens . On the April 11 episode of Raw , The Lucha Dragons entered a tournament to determine the #1 contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championship, but were eliminated in the first round by The Dudley Boyz . Kalisto then rekindled his rivalry with Ryback, and eventually defeated him once again on May 1 at

4080-406: The brand extension and split between Raw and SmackDown , it was announced that SmackDown would move to Tuesday nights and be broadcast live. On the July 11, 2016 episode of Raw , Vince McMahon named Shane McMahon the commissioner of SmackDown. Then next week on Raw , Daniel Bryan was revealed as the new SmackDown General Manager. On July 22, 2016, general manager Daniel Bryan revealed

4182-594: The pinfall . On May 31, at Elimination Chamber , The Lucha Dragons competed in the first-ever tag team Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Tag Team Championship , but failed to win. The Lucha Dragons received another title shot on August 23 at SummerSlam in a fatal four-way tag team match, but were once again unsuccessful. In November, after Seth Rollins vacated the WWE World Heavyweight Championship due to

Lucha Dragons - Misplaced Pages Continue

4284-423: The 15th anniversary, Stephanie McMahon came out first, then Laurinaitis and Long, respectively, the latter of which kept one-upping each other for the main event of the night until McMahon decided to keep the 15-man tag team match that Long suggested, on the condition Laurinaitis and Long be the captains of each team like at WrestleMania XXVIII . Long's team won the match. On December 16, 2014, SmackDown aired

4386-525: The Day. As of August 3, 2012, the show has used the modified WWE HD universal set, which debuted at Raw 1000 on July 23. From September 21, 2012, until October 26, 2012, October 4, 2013, until November 1, 2013, October 3 and 31, 2014, and October 2 and 30, 2015, WWE worked in conjunction with Susan G. Komen for the Cure to raise awareness for breast cancer by adorning the SmackDown set with pink ribbons and

4488-565: The July 24 episode of NXT , after failing to win the NXT Tag Team Championship from The Ascension ( Konnor and Viktor ) with his former partner El Local at NXT TakeOver on May 29, Kalisto announced he and El Local had parted ways and revealed Sin Cara as his new partner. Over the next weeks, Kalisto and Sin Cara won a tournament to become the number one contenders to the NXT Tag Team Championship. On September 11 at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way , Kalisto and Sin Cara, now billed together as "The Lucha Dragons", defeated The Ascension to become

4590-530: The November 14 episode of SmackDown Live , Sin Cara failed to win the United States Championship, after being defeated by Corbin. At WrestleMania 34 on April 8, 2018, Sin Cara competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but failed to win. On the May 29 episode of SmackDown Live , Sin Cara tried to reconnect with Andrade "Cien" Almas only to be blown off. At Extreme Rules on July 15, Sin Cara lost to Almas. On August 15, it

4692-424: The November 4 episode of Raw . After the match, Arriaga asked WWE for future plans and, while several WWE producers didn't answer him, Raw's Executive Director Paul Heyman told him the character of Sin Cara was "dead", which was one of the reasons to leave the company. On the November 11 episode of Raw, Sin Cara was defeated by Drew McIntyre , in what would be his final televised match in WWE. On that same show

4794-418: The November 6 Main Event and lost to The Usos . Hunico and Camacho's first title shot was for the NXT Tag Team Championship on the December 11 NXT , where they lost to the defending champions The Ascension . On the December 2, 2013, the Sin Cara character returned to Raw , with Arriaga reprising the character and defeated Alberto Del Rio , and the character experienced a resurgence as he embarked on

4896-495: The October 10 episode of Raw , Sin Cara teamed with Lince Dorado to defeat Tony Nese and Drew Gulak . During the match, it was confirmed that Sin Cara would be competing in the cruiserweight division. At the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view on October 30, Sin Cara participated in a six-man tag team match, teaming with Lince Dorado and Cedric Alexander to defeat Tony Nese, Drew Gulak and Ariya Daivari . On April 11, 2017, Sin Cara

4998-536: The Ovaltron either to the left or to the right of the stage. In August 2001, as part of celebrating SmackDown! ' s second anniversary, the show received a new logo and set, which consisted of a fist centered above the entrance with the WWF/E scratch logo above it, and many glass panes along the sides strongly resembling shattered glass with two TitanTrons on each side. From September 23, 2004, to September 26, 2008,

5100-607: The Ring ( Jeddah Super Dome in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia ), and August 31 for Bash in Berlin ( Uber Arena in Berlin, Germany ). On September 21, 2023, it was announced that SmackDown would return to USA Network in October 2024, following the expiration of WWE's contract with Fox. The agreement with NBCUniversal was reported to be valued at $ 1.4 billion over five years, an increase over

5202-500: The U.S. airing and sometimes a day before. In 2005, when the taped show moved to Friday airings in the U.S., it remained on Thursdays in Canada for a period of time. During its return to Thursdays in the U.S. from January 2015 to July 2016, pre-recorded episodes of SmackDown aired on Wednesdays—one night earlier—due to conflicts with the channel's Thursday-night National Hockey League broadcasts. The program has aired in simulcast with

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5304-488: The U.S. broadcast since it switched to a live format in July 2016, initially on Tuesdays and then moving back to Fridays in October 2019. Despite the move to Fox (which is widely carried on Canadian television providers), Rogers had not elected to simulcast SmackDown on its broadcast network Citytv to invoke potential simsub rights. As Rogers holds the rights to the National Hockey League broadcasts ,

5406-460: The United States Championship, his first championship on the main roster and his first singles title in WWE. He dropped the title back to Del Rio on the January 14 episode of SmackDown , but won it back at Royal Rumble . On the Fastlane pre-show, Kalisto defeated Del Rio in a two-out-of-three falls match to retain the title. Kalisto defeated Ryback to defend his United States Championship at

5508-432: The WWE Tag Team Championship on the December 22 episode of Super SmackDown Live! , where they were defeated by The New Day. After Sin Cara had been sidelined with a shoulder injury in late December 2015, Kalisto defeated United States Champion Alberto Del Rio in a non-title match with John Cena in his corner on the January 7, 2016 episode of SmackDown . On the January 11 episode of Raw , Kalisto defeated Del Rio to win

5610-471: The brand split in 2016, the ropes return to its original blue color as well as debuting a new set. The post brand extension set was almost identical to the TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs set from 2009 to 2013 and caused some negative feedback among online fans for re-using an old stage design. A month after the new set debut, a more distinctive and elaborate stage was created for SmackDown. The stage used

5712-506: The championship to Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake on the January 15, 2015 episode of NXT . They then lost a rematch to Blake and Murphy at NXT TakeOver: Rival . The duo then began to appear less frequently on NXT , losing a number one contenders tag-team match to Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady on the March 11 episode. During this period, they also began to appear off-and-on on WWE's main roster show Main Event , winning matches against

5814-417: The character. On the September 19 episode of Raw , the impostor Sin Cara attacked the original character prior to his match with Cody Rhodes , but was forced to flee after a brief brawl. On the September 23 episode of SmackDown , the impostor Sin Cara attacked the original version during his match with Daniel Bryan, took his place in the match and pinned Bryan for the win. The following week, he revealed

5916-504: The early 2000s under the ring name "Mistico". This masked ring persona may or may not have preceded the in-ring debut of Místico (Luis Urive) in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), but Paco Alonso owned the legal rights to the name "Místico" since 1999 anyway, forcing Arriaga to change his name to "Mystico" or "Mistico de Juarez" to differentiate from the original. On February 2, 2004, he defeated Nicho El Millonario to win

6018-682: The episode aired on Fox the following Sunday afternoon. In conjunction with the 2023 Money in the Bank event, which was held at The O2 Arena in London, England , on July 1, the June 30, 2023, episode of SmackDown was held at the same venue, and broadcast live on BT Sport in local primetime hours for the first time. In 2024, the program aired episodes from other countries for the first time in conjunction with other WWE PPV's, including May 3 for Backlash France ( LDLC Arena in Décines-Charpieu, Lyon, France ), May 24 for King and Queen of

6120-491: The final three episodes of SmackDown to FS1 to accommodate the premiere of Fox College Football in its former time slot. On May 9, 2024, USA Network announced that SmackDown would return to the channel on September 13, 2024, retaining its Friday-night timeslot. Starting in 2025, SmackDown will be exclusive on Netflix outside of the United States which includes Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom. WWE taped SmackDown on Tuesday evenings to air on Thursday evenings on UPN

6222-574: The finals. Incognito went on to win the 2008 Rey de Voladores ("King of the Fliers") tournament when he defeated Helios in the finals on May 18, 2008. In April 2009 Incognito made two appearances for Ring of Honor , working on the same shows where his friend Blue Demon Jr. worked. On April 3 he teamed with Chris Hero and Eddie Edwards to defeat Jay Briscoe , Kevin Steen and Magno and on April 4 he teamed with Hero, Edwards and Davey Richards in

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6324-430: The following SmackDown with Negro attacking Azul. The rivalry culminated at the October 16 taping of SmackDown in Mexico City in a Mask vs. Mask match , where Sin Cara Azul was victorious, unmasking Arriaga after the match. On the October 28 SmackDown , Negro was interviewed by Matt Striker , where he wanted payback for losing to Azul while revealing his name to be Hunico , a name he used in FCW. He also adopted

6426-445: The last mask worn by their father. On April 19, 2020, Arriaga competed in his first match under the Cinta de Oro gimmick, teaming with Pagano to defeat Aéreo and El Hijo Del Impostor at a De Juarez Para El Mundo event. Arriaga has a son and a daughter In November 2016, it was reported that WWE had ordered Arriaga to take anger management classes, following separate altercations with Simon Gotch and Chris Jericho . Arriaga

6528-486: The likes of Curtis Axel and Heath Slater . The Lucha Dragons made their return to NXT for the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic , but lost to Finn Bálor and Samoa Joe in the first round. The Lucha Dragons made their official main roster debut on the March 30, 2015 episode of Raw , the night after WrestleMania 31 , in which they teamed with The New Day to defeat the team of The Ascension, Cesaro and Tyson Kidd in an eight-man tag team match , with Kalisto scoring

6630-479: The likes of Ezekiel Jackson , Yoshi Tatsu , and Justin Gabriel. In April, Camacho began regularly teaming with Hunico. In June, Hunico lost to the returning Sin Cara, on the June 4 Raw and at No Way Out . In the pre-show of Money in the Bank , Hunico and Camacho lost to the WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and R-Truth in a non-title match. At Raw 1000 in July 2012, Hunico, along with Camacho and four other wrestlers attempted to ambush Kane to make

6732-423: The main roster in 2011 as Sin Cara, temporarily replacing the original performer of the character, who coincidentally was also Luis Urive. Following the return of Urive, the two began a storyline, with Arriaga donning a black mask, and was referred to on commentary as Sin Cara Negro . Arriaga subsequently lost a Mask vs. Mask match against Urive and began wrestling unmasked under the ring name Hunico . In 2013, after

6834-411: The match. The following night on Raw , The Lucha Dragons made their main roster debut as a team in an 8-man tag team match, teaming with The New Day ( Big E and Kofi Kingston ) to defeat Tyson Kidd and Cesaro and The Ascension. At Elimination Chamber , The Lucha Dragons competed in the first ever tag team Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Tag Team Championship , however they failed to capture

6936-436: The matches. Arriaga, wearing the Sin Cara mask and using his WWE ring name, saved Pagano from an attack and then announced that he would return in 2020. On December 17, Arriaga announced that he would be changing his ring name to "Cinta de Oro" ("Golden Ribbon"), to continue the legacy of the original performer of the character who died in 2016. The sons of the original performer gave Arriaga permission to do so, and handed him

7038-442: The native HD feed on a 4:3 SD feed. Although the graphics were re-positioned, SmackDown continued to use a variation of the graphics package that had been in use since its first HD broadcast in January 2008, until the show moved to Thursday nights on January 15, 2015, when an all-new graphics package (now optimized for the 16:9 format) and intro video were introduced along with a revised SmackDown logo. On March 26, 2015, WWE added

7140-429: The new NXT Tag Team Champions, their first WWE professional wrestling championship . They successfully defended their titles in a rematch against The Ascension two weeks later on the September 25 episode of NXT . They then began a rivalry with The Vaudevillains ( Aiden English and Simon Gotch ), which culminated in a title match at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution in which The Lucha Dragons retained. The Lucha Dragons lost

7242-446: The new SmackDown logo on his official Twitter page, renaming the show SmackDown Live . On April 10, 2018, SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon announced that Daniel Bryan was back as a full-time WWE wrestler and named Paige the new general manager. On June 26, 2018, Fox announced a five-year agreement to air SmackDown , in a deal worth $ 205 million per year. SmackDown would debut on October 4, 2019, with its first episode being

7344-417: The night as consumers head into the weekend. The last SmackDown airing on a Friday night had 2.43 million viewers with a 0.7 share. On January 7, 2016, SmackDown moved to USA Network, remaining on Thursday nights. With the move, all top three WWE programs— Raw , SmackDown and Tough Enough —would air on the same network for the first time ever. On May 25, 2016, as part of the re-implementation of

7446-519: The original SmackDown stage. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , all WWE programs suspended touring shows from mid-March 2020 through mid-July 2021. All SmackDown broadcasts were filmed behind closed doors with no in-person spectators, initially from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, before returning to an arena setting with a closed set known as the " ThunderDome "—which featured a larger-scale production more in line with its PPV shows, but with

7548-416: The original air date. WWF SmackDown! was set up to compete against World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s Thursday night show, Thunder . SmackDown! first appeared on April 29, 1999, using the Raw set as a single television special on UPN . On August 26, 1999, SmackDown! officially debuted on UPN. Like Thunder , SmackDown! was recorded on Tuesdays and then broadcast on Thursdays. The new WWF show

7650-544: The previous agreement. As part of the agreement, WWE would also produce four primetime specials for NBC per-year. With it later being later reported in September 2024 that the specials would be wrestling shows under the Saturday Night's Main Event branding marking the first such shows since 2008. The original date of SmackDown 's return to USA Network was October 4, 2024, the fifth anniversary of its premiere on Fox, however, Fox had originally planned to move

7752-582: The program is occasionally pre-empted to OLN during the Stanley Cup playoffs. All archived broadcasts of SmackDown are available on the WWE Network . Rogers Media secured the rights to Canadian WWE programming until 2024, after which in January 2025 the rights go to Netflix , but will not air on the Canadian iteration of USA Network , which will relaunch on the former Discovery Channel space at

7854-421: The release of Urive, Arriaga reprised his role as Sin Cara. In contrast to Urive, Arriaga's portrayal of Sin Cara was bilingual due to Arriaga having grown up in the United States , thus knowing how to speak both Spanish and English, and doing so depending on the intended audience, whereas Urive legitimately did not know English. In September 2014, Arriaga won the NXT Tag Team Championship alongside Kalisto as

7956-413: The role of Sin Cara for a live event. At the following tapings of SmackDown , Arriaga once again appeared under the mask. On the August 30 episode of SmackDown , Sin Cara defeated Daniel Bryan and attacked Bryan after the match, turning heel for the first time. At the tapings of the September 16 episode of SmackDown , the original Sin Cara made his return, confronting Arriaga's impostor version of

8058-516: The role of Sin Cara from Luis Urive , the former CMLL Místico, who was serving a 30-day suspension for violating WWE's wellness program , and defeated Tyson Kidd . Arriaga reprised his role of Sin Cara the following week, taking part in a battle royal to determine the #1 contender to the World Heavyweight Championship , from which he was the last man eliminated by the winner, Mark Henry . On August 20, Urive took back

8160-539: The same time. SmackDown airs live in the MENA region on Shahid Saturday mornings, and later on the same day, a one-hour version airs on MBC Action at 8PM Egypt Standard Time . SmackDown airs live in Australia on Saturday late mornings/early afternoons and Sunday afternoons on Fox8 and Friday nights on 9Go! as a one-hour version, and airs live in New Zealand on Sky 5 and Sunday nights on Sky Open as

8262-495: The same week. However, SmackDown had aired occasional live specials on Tuesday nights (which are then replayed in its usual Thursday night timeslot). The show began broadcasting in HD beginning with the January 25, 2008 episode of SmackDown , where a new set (which became universal for all WWE weekly programming) debuted. Following the first broadcast in HD, the exclamation mark used since

8364-400: The season premiere of SmackDown on MyNetworkTV was the highest-rated program in that night on the network, with 3.2 million viewers. On March 20, 2009, SmackDown celebrated its 500th episode. On October 1, 2010, as part of a new broadcast deal with NBC Universal , SmackDown moved to Syfy , retaining its Friday night timeslot. Prior to this premiere of SmackDown , Michael Cole hosted

8466-573: The second-largest show in the WWE, the company's use of the term went beyond its namesake program. During the 2000 U.S. election campaign, the WWE launched the SmackDown! Your Vote program. The name was also used when WWE released its 2015 film The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown! and WWE Network 's show Kitchen SmackDown! . The wrestlers featured on WWE take part in scripted feuds and storylines . Wrestlers are portrayed as heroes , villains , or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in

8568-408: The secondary theme, then a swap was made, as "Born 2 Run" was used as a secondary theme, when "This Life" is used as SmackDown's main theme. Prior to November 2, 2012, SmackDown opened with " Know Your Enemy " by Green Day while "Hangman" by Rev Theory served as the secondary theme song. Upon SmackDown ' s debut on Syfy in 2010, it replaced the previous theme song "Let it Roll" by Divide

8670-410: The show would be renamed Friday Night SmackDown! to emphasize the new scheduling. In January 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment announced that UPN and The WB would merge to form a new network known as The CW that fall. As part of the announcement, The CW announced that it would renew Friday Night SmackDown! for two more seasons as part of its launch schedule—which drew from

8772-457: The show's inception disappeared from all references pertaining to "SmackDown", including the official logo, which resembles the 2001–2008 logo, but with a darker blue scheme. The early set included an oval-shaped TitanTron entrance and stage (dubbed the "Ovaltron") which made it stand out from the Raw Is War set with its rectangular Titantrons. Later productions gained the ability to move

8874-526: The show's return to Friday nights and over-the-air broadcast television (as well as the second time SmackDown has aired on a Fox-owned network). On September 13, 2024, the show returned to USA Network. SmackDown has been broadcast from over 100+ arenas, 100+ cities and towns, and nine countries: United States , Canada , United Kingdom , Japan in 2005, Italy in 2007, Mexico in 2011, and France , Saudi Arabia , and Germany in 2024. Prior to switching to its current live format, taped episodes premiered

8976-501: The strongest programs of its two predecessors. On September 22, 2006, Friday Night SmackDown! aired its first ever episode on The CW. The CW declined to renew SmackDown , resulting in the series being picked up in October 2008 by MyNetworkTV , a second new network that had been formed by Fox Entertainment Group to take on former UPN and WB affiliates who were not selected to join The CW. Retaining its previous Friday-night time slot,

9078-503: The theme song for SmackDown! was "Rise Up" by Drowning Pool , with variations, making it the longest tenured theme song used in the program. Whenever SmackDown! shared the arena with Raw during the 2005–2007 period in a form of a supershow, the SmackDown! stage utilized all or some components of the same set from Raw . From November 2, 2012, until April 18, 2014, SmackDown began using "Born 2 Run" by 7Lions as its theme song , with "This Life" by CFO$ and Cody B. Ware serving as

9180-627: The titles the following day in a rematch. On August 12 Hunico and Epico lost the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship to Johnny Curtis and Derrick Bateman in a three-way match, which also involved the team of Donny Marlow and Brodus Clay . On July 26, 2011, Hunico wrestled in a dark match at the NXT tapings, losing to Justin Gabriel . On the August 12 episode of SmackDown , Arriaga made his WWE debut, taking over

9282-636: The titles. In late June, The Lucha Dragons took a small part in the ongoing feud between The New Day and The Prime Time Players on the June 25 episode of SmackDown , when they teamed with The Prime Time Players in a winning effort against The New Day and Bo Dallas . At SummerSlam , The Lucha Dragons competed in a Fatal 4-Way tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship which was won by The New Day. At Night of Champions , The Lucha Dragons and Neville were defeated by The Cosmic Wasteland ( Stardust , Konnor and Viktor). At TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs , The Lucha Dragons, The Usos and The New Day competed in

9384-457: The wake of its then-upcoming sale of its in-house studios to Disney . Fox had hoped to acquire Raw for the Fox network and SmackDown for FS1 . However, amid a competitive bidding situation, NBCUniversal focused its efforts on renewing Raw , freeing up Fox to pursue SmackDown . In particular, Fox promised a larger amount of promotion for SmackDown during its sports programming , as well as

9486-412: Was a new design with multiple LED side panels on each side with a titan-tron in a semi circle in the center. The new set also introduced LED floor panels on the entrance ramp. Feedback was more positive for this set design. With the shift to Fox, both Raw and SmackDown introduced new sets during their "premiere week". The new set featured a large TitanTron screen, with semi-arches partially resembling

9588-416: Was aired, Arriaga requested his release from WWE, citing that while grateful about the opportunities that WWE gave him, he felt unappreciated and wanted to expand his career elsewhere. On December 8, WWE officially granted his release and Arriaga departed from the company. On December 14, 2019, at Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide 's annual Guerra de Titanes show, Arriaga made a surprise appearance after one of

9690-586: Was cut short when Sin Cara suffered a legit injury at Survivor Series , which required surgery. On the December 15 Superstars , Hunico introduced FCW's Donny Marlow (son of Haku ) as his new bodyguard as they rode to the ring in a lowrider bicycle (which would become Hunico's signature entrance). The following week, Marlow's new name was revealed as Camacho. It was revealed that Hunico and Camacho's friendship arose from Hunico once saving Camacho from several attackers, resulting in Hunico being stabbed but biting

9792-640: Was formerly 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 . The show later moved 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

9894-565: Was given a new ring persona, an enmascarado (masked) character called "Dos Equis" (after the Dos Equis beer), which was later changed to "Epico", and the team was named Los Aviadores (Spanish for "The Aviators"). On June 3, 2010 Los Aviadores defeated The Uso Brothers to win the Florida Tag Team Championship. On July 15 Los Aviadores lost the tag team titles to Kaval and Michael McGillicutty , but regained

9996-634: Was moved to the SmackDown brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up . On the October 17 episode of SmackDown Live , Sin Cara started a feud with the United States Champion Baron Corbin , but on November 6, Sin Cara revealed on Twitter that he suffered a legitimate leg injury during the European tour against Baron Corbin. However, the injury was not severe and he was cleared to compete shortly afterwards. On

10098-571: Was part of an eight-man team consisting only of masked wrestlers ( Equinox , Las Chivas Rayadas, Lince Dorado , Los Ice Creams and Magno ). The team lost to The Kings of Wrestling . Incognito returned to Chikara in 2008 for a series of appearances. He teamed with El Pantera and Lince Dorado to form the team Los Luchadores de Mexico (Spanish for "the Wrestlers from Mexico") winning Chikara's 28-team King of Trios 2008 tournament when they defeated BLKOUT ( Eddie Kingston , Joker and Ruckus ) in

10200-532: Was reported that Sin Cara underwent knee surgery. In March 2019, he was cleared to return to in-ring action. At Super ShowDown on June 7, 2019, Sin Cara competed in the 51-man battle royal, but failed to win. As part of the 2019 draft , Sin Cara was drafted to Raw and restarted his feud with Andrade, where he lost against him on the October 21 and 28 episodes of Raw . Sin Cara also allied with NXT wrestler Carolina to face Andrade and Andrade's manager Zelina Vega , but they were defeated by Andrade and Vega on

10302-602: Was signed to AAA for over a year, Incognito made few wrestling appearances, spending most of his time training in AAA's school to improve his wrestling skills. In 2005, he had left AAA and began working for various independent wrestling promotions on both sides of the US/Mexico border, exploiting the fact that he was a US citizen and spoke English well to get more bookings in the US than most luchadors typically can. Incognito first made

10404-594: Was so popular that WCW moved Thunder to Wednesdays so that it would not compete directly. 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

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