10 Things We Learned From WWE SmackDown's First Ever Episode
Unholy unions, chair shots to the head, pops, heat and giants throwing dropkicks...
"Higgie-bong-juggie-damn-dey-han-dey-han."
Those immortal words to the original SmackDown theme (disclaimer: they may not be the actual lyrics) signalled the arrival of a weekly show that's still going strong 20 years later. If you're wondering why WWE didn't celebrate the two decade anniversary of the blue brand recently, it's probably because they're waiting until August, or maybe September when SmackDown moves to Fox.
The first episode of the show was a pilot, y'see. It aired on 29 April 1999 as a one-off test before the program became a weekly fixture starting 26 August. The pilot ran just a few days after the Backlash pay-per-view, and it must've been one of the most busy, stressful weeks of head writer Vince Russo's life; three hours of TV to write on Sunday, two on Monday and another two on Thursday.
20 years on, one can learn a lot from looking back on the show. First, SmackDown's blue colour scheme hadn't been created yet. Yes, there was a blue light on the stage, but the show used Raw's red ropes and set. Here's everything else we learned from SmackDown's premiere...