18 Ups & 12 Downs From The WWE SmackDown Live Era
For when the B-Show blew your mind, or just left you feeling blue...
There's quite the symmetry between the first edition of SmackDown Live in July 2016 and this historic week that will see off the live Tuesday Night edition in favour of a billion dollar Friday showcase for Fox.
After surviving its wilderness years following the demise of the first brand extension, the July 19th 2016 edition of SmackDown the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed era of the blue brand with a bang.
On that night, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose were cast as the stars of Raw and SmackDown respectively, in much the same way 'The Architect' leads the charge for all of WWE today across from his former partner's wild reinvention in AEW. Mauro Ranallo was the fresh voice of Tuesday Nights alongside a rejuvenated Jerry Lawler of all people. Both men are again key to the company's success on NXT and Raw respectively following a huge shake-up at the desks. Shane McMahon began life as the SmackDown Live Commissioner - a role he may well be booted from on the SmackDown Fox "Premiere".
Few could have foresaw the blue brand doing this well out of the deal, but the show's offered much to celebrate in the past three years that almost justifies the prominence it'll now receive. Alright the WWE Championship had maybe the worst 12 months in it's 50+ year history and two particularly bad promos killed the careers of those entrusted with them, but like a rainbow without rain, we'd not have some amazing ups without some damaging downs...