20 Greatest WWE SmackDown Superstars Ever
Rock! Batista! Undertaker! Who made the most of 'The Land Of Opportunity'?
WWE haven't exactly stacked the "Season Premiere" of SmackDown on Fox with current stars and beloved legends always exclusive to the blue brand.
Alongside the likes of Becky Lynch, John Cena and - to a lesser extent - The Rock, the heavily-promoted edition will also feature Hulk Hogan, Bill Goldberg, Stone Cold Steve Austin and just about everybody else Vince McMahon can rope in to fool passing trade into thinking it's just like that every week. This is in keeping with the at-times frustrating inconsistency of the show, not least because it stands to overshadow matches featuring the likes of Kofi Kingston and Kevin Owens - performers that will be asking for the attention without the legacies of legends in the weeks and months to follow.
WWE's odd relationship with a brand that's now become its golden goose has resulted in several huge names not making the cut here. 'The Rattlesnake' battered Booker T in a supermarket but sold his best self on Raw. Randy Orton's moments of magic have been overshadowed by the times he's been more bored bottom feeder than awesome 'Apex Predator'. Roman Reigns has only just got there as a solo star in 2019, an the Wild Card has sent him everywhere else anyway.
As we prepare for five years and a billion dollars of the rest, here are the 20 best...
20. Jeff Hardy
'The Charismatic Enigma' was shocking audiences on the blue brand long before he let Randy Orton stick a finger through his ear.
As part of The Hardy Boyz during the explosive hedonism of the Attitude Era, Jeff contributed several heart-in-mouth spots to SmackDown's initial run including largely forgotten ladder and table bumps big and brutal enough to rival anything on WWE's grander stages.
A 2008/09 spell on the show was arguably the most prosperous of his career too. Amidst career-best encounters with The Undertaker, Triple H, Edge and CM Punk, Hardy was a bonafide topliner and worthy WWE/World Heavyweight Champion. His ascent had been arduous, but his journey to the company's tippy-top concluded there.