Smackdown to hit 500th Episode

Next friday night will be a very special edition of WWE's Smackdown television show as the program hits its 500th episode. The theme of the show will involve "Smackdown 500 - Road to Wrestlemania". According to reports, Smackdown is the fastest weekly episodic to reach this milestone in US primetime broadcast history.

From WWE's official press release:

Greg Meidel, President of MyNetworkTV stated: "We are thrilled to celebrate this and future milestones with World Wrestling Entertainment®. As demonstrated by the network's continued record breaking 'SmackDown' viewership, the road to the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania is clearly traveling right through MyNetworkTV."

Friday Night SmackDown debuted on August 26, 1999 and has been watched more than 2.6 billion times by viewers in the U.S. Since Friday Night SmackDown joined MyNetworkTV in October 2008, it is the most watched broadcast television program on Friday nights among Males age 50 and younger. SmackDown dominates the 18-49 demographic and has been instrumental in the success of each of the networks that have aired the program.

The show has been on the air for nearly 10 years and 10 seasons now. Smackdown first made its debut way back on August 26, 1999 on UPN and stayed there for nearly 7 years until moving to the CW Network. The show aired on Thursday nights at 8PM EST for 6 seasons, before moving to Fridays in season 7. Smackdown had the brand extenstion in 2002, dividing WWE between Raw and Smackdown with seperate rosters of wrestlers, although they appear on both shows now. It's seen its share of commentator/hosts as well, with Michael Cole being on the show for quite some time until being moved to Raw. Other commentators have included: JBL, Mick Foley, Johnathan Coachman, and currently the team of Tazz & Jim Ross. Through the WWE draft the show's seen it's share of superstars moving over from Raw and ECW as well, and should see more of the same the week following Wrestlemania 25.

Current titles which may be considered exclusive and are regularly defended on the show include the World Heavyweight Championship, US Championship, Divas Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship. As of right now Edge and Triple H, both members of the Smackdown roster, have the World Heavyweight title and WWE title respectively. Current General Manager is Vickie Guerrero, but in the past the likes of Theodore Long, Paul Heyman, Kurt Angle, Vince McMahon, and Stephanie McMahon have all run the show.

Also of note, on July 10, 2007, the word "Smackdown" was officially added to Webster's dictionary, meaning "to knock or bring down an opponent". That's just what you'll see every Friday evening, and as wrestler The Rock claimed Smackdown was his show as it stole his catch phrase, "layeth the Smackdown".