10 Times WWE Had A BLACKOUT
6. Eric Bischoff's SmackDown Takedown (Monday Night Raw, November 3rd 2005)
It was a little out of the blue (and red...) when WWE elected to centre the Survivor Series 2005 build around brand warfare between the Eric Bischoff-led Monday Night Raw and Teddy Long's Friday Night SmackDown.
After a 2002 reboot of the split rosters, the company had done a remarkably good job of keeping things separate. For better and worse, every pay-per-view outside of the Big Four was designated to one show or another, and inter-brand battles had become such an effective tool that a WrestleMania 21 dream match between Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle was legitimately enhanced by their "invasions" during the build.
Traditionally the lowest-drawing of all the major shows, Survivor Series was presumably chosen to stress test audience patience for the idea as a result. Though not terrifically well-thought-through (foreshadowing every version of it 2016-present), it did generate the odd unique segment, including Raw being forced to host a SmackDown six-man tag until a gleeful Eric Bischoff took to the stage to shut the whole thing down.
It was an odd visual even if it didn't exactly flog pay-per-views by the bucketload - the wrestlers were left chasing shadows as 'Easy E' p*ssed himself from the ramp.