A new era for Smackdown starts tonight with move back to USA Network

A new era for Smackdown kicks off tonight on USA Network as the show returns to its former home after airing for five years on FOX.

The new five-year deal with NBCUniversal is valued at $1.4 billion, a 37% increase over what FOX originally paid in 2019. The $1.4 billion figure comes to around $280 million per year. Smackdown enjoyed audiences larger than Raw thanks to the benefit of network television. This year, Smackdown averaged 2,278,000 viewers and a 0.64 rating in 18-49, numbers that will not be replicated on cable television on a Friday night.

This deal also calls for WWE to produce four primetime specials per year that will air on NBC, marking the first time WWE will air on the network in primetime in decades. The specials will reportedly carry the name of Saturday Night’s Main Event, a show that used to air on NBC.

Smackdown aired on USA Network between 2016 and 2019 after five years on SyFy.

For the next two weeks, USA Network will, for the first time ever, be the home of Raw, Smackdown, and NXT. NXT moves to the CW on October 1 while Raw moves to Netflix on January 6.