The WWE is set to make history as it will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show Smackdown. But it will also be a start of a new era as Smackdown will become Friday Night Smackdown and it will debut on Fox tonight starting at 7:30 p.m. ET. The first 30 minutes of the show will be a “blue carpet” special that will feature special guests, celebrities and athletes. The actual show will start at 8 p.m. and that will be the regularly scheduled time each week.
As for the matches, fans are going to love the card for the Fox debut of Friday Night Smackdown. Here’s a look at who will be in action tonight.
Videos by PopCulture.com
- WWE Championship: Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Brock Lesnar
- Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks & Bayley
- Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon (Ladder match)
- Roman Reigns vs. Erick Rowan
In addition to the matches, a number of WWE legends will be in attendance including Dwayne Johnson who recently announced he will be at Friday Night Smackdown via social media.
“FINALLY…I come back home to my WWE universe. This FRIDAY NIGHT, I’ll return for our debut of SMACKDOWN! LIVE on Fox There’s no greater title than the people’s champ. And there’s no place like home. Tequila on me after the show,” Johnson wrote on Twitter.”
Along with Johnson, the WWE is bringing back Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Goldberg, Sting, Mick Foley, Trish Stratus, Lita, Mark Henry, Booker T and Kurt Angle. And for those who are wondering about seeing Johnson back in the ring, he might drop a people’s elbow to a superstar, but he has officially hung up his boots.
“I miss wrestling, I love wrestling. Yes, I do,” he said on Live with Kelly and Ryan back in August. “I quietly retired from wrestling because I was lucky enough to have just a really wonderful career and accomplish what I wanted to accomplish, but there’s nothing like a live crowd, a live audience, a live microphone as you both know. Plus, I grew up in wrestling. For a lot of you guys that don’t know, my grandfather wrestled, my dad as well, my whole family. And I actually had my very first match ever in the WWE, was in Madison Square Garden and it was a big pay-per-view, and it was funny because I credit my time and my journey in pro wrestling to getting me to where I am at today.”
