21 Years Of WWE SmackDown Mistakes

Feeling Blue.

Daniel Bryan
WWE.com

SmackDown's move to Fox is a monumental achievement worthy of a this week's grand "Season Premiere" gesture during a transformative period for the industry at large.

A billion dollar deal brought the show to the channel on the strength of several good years going live on Tuesdays and presumably a fascination Fox had for Vince McMahon's brand and/or business.

Coming right around the blue brand's 20 year anniversary, said celebration will receive substantially less love from WWE than it should perhaps receive. For two decades, it has been a show many have remained loyal to due to occasional bouts of utter excellence. As a full-blown second weekly show in 1999, it burst on the scene with an oval-staged Joie De Vivre. By 2002, it represented a new pinnacle for workrate in WWE. In 2008 with a freshly motivated Triple H on top and a still-in-his-prime Jim Ross on the call, it was a tonic to the poison Monday Night Raw had gradually become. Enough went on between 2016 and 2019 to justify the bulliuon Fox have parted with for it. Golden times, these timestamps reflected the brand at its best.

But where's the fun in that? Hidden away from the madness of Monday Night, SmackDown's gotten away with literal murder more than once, and a fair few other crimes too...

21. 1999 - Shawn's Forgotten Heel Turn

The tumultuous relationship between Shawn Michaels and WWE took another turn in 1999 when 'The Showstopper' bailed on his Commissioner role completely right after this illogical shocking swerve.

Michaels had been an anti-Corporate babyface since an early-1999 turn, but helped his former DX friend retain the WWE Championship with a guest referee superkick shocker later aped by countless PlayStation aficionados on SmackDown 2. The turn (and 'HBK's reunion with Hunter) was dropped immediately following another unexpected Michaels departure.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett