SmackDown 20th Anniversary Celebration Announced for Fox Debut
WWE has announced that they will be celebration of the 20th Anniversary of SmackDown on their Fox Debut on 4 October 2019 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The speculations were going around that WWE will mark a big SmackDown celebratory episode when it will make its move to Fox. Now, WWE has confirmed those speculations by announcing the 20th Anniversary episode for the Fox premiere on 4th October. WWE also announced that the tickets for the show will be available starting this Friday, 16 August at 10 AM PT/1 PM ET via the Staples Center box office.
AEW, WWE’s main competition currently, will also premiere the first episode of their weekly TV show on 2 October, just two days prior to SmackDown’s move to Fox. Also, the tickets for episode 2 and 3 will go on sale the same day(16 August) but one hour prior to SmackDown ticket sales. So, 16 August will prove to as important for AEW and WWE as any of head to head TV program.
In their promotion poster, WWE has featured the Undertaker, Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns, WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, Charlotte Flair, and Asuka. Interestingly, all the stars featuring on the show are currently drafted to SmackDown roster only and none of the superstars from the RAW roster is being advertised. This might indicate that WWE might do away with the Wild Card Rule by October. Otherwise, Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins would have helped in drawing the crowd.
There have also been rumors that WWE is trying to get the Rock to appear at Fox Premiere apart from the rumors of appearance from US President and WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump. Even if these two do not make an appearance, SmackDown’s 20th Anniversary Celebration will definitely see many WWE legends and former Superstar Appearances.
After it’s premiere on October 1999, WWE SmackDown Live is the second longest-running weekly episodic cable television show in U.S. primetime history. It is behind only WWE’s own Monday Night RAW which holds the first position. Last year in October, SmackDown also completed 1000 episodes, also second-most in US Television History.
SmackDown currently airs on USA Network live on Tuesday Nights. However, Fox and WWE signed a $1 billion/5 years deal last year which will see SmackDown moving to Fox Network on Fridays. Monday Night RAW will continue to air on Monday Nights on USA network.
