WWE is celebrating a milestone Friday night. SmackDown is having its 1,200th episode as they ramp up to Clash at the Castle.
In 1999, SmackDown was WWE’s first foray into weekly broadcast TV in the modern pro wrestling era. In a time when WWE stock was at $17/share, the 23 years since have fared well as SmackDown is now a weekly fixture on Fox and the stock is currently trading at over $70/share.
The popularity of the Attitude Era and the Monday Night War allowed WWE to expand to a second weekly live show, along with Raw, in order to advance the storylines of the time. Stephanie McMahon was part of the opening segment of the April pilot episode and Triple H was WWE Champion when SmackDown began their weekly run in August. Now, Stephanie is Co-CEO and Paul Levesque is head of creative.
The second longest running primetime show on TV (second to Raw) is taking place in Montréal, Quebec. WWE Undisputed Universal Champion Roman Reigns will have a face-to-face confrontation with Drew McIntyre, with their title match at Clash at the Castle happening in just over two weeks. The Women’s Tag Team Championship Tournament rolls on while The Viking Raiders are planning a New Day funeral.
[Photo: WWE]
About Phillip Bupp
Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.
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