WWE Smackdown: The History of the Show on Its 12th Anniversary

You mat not realize it, but today marks the 12th anniversary of the official beginning of Smackdown as a secondary television show for WWE. Despite there being a pilot episode nearly four months prior, the official debut of Smackdown took place on August 26, 1999 in front of an excited crowd in Kansas City. Tonight, Smackdown's 627th episode airs a dozen years later from Calgary.

On that very first episode, Triple H led off the show as the WWF Champion and Big Boss Man became the new Hardcore Champion, among other highlights. Triple H ended that first episode having retained his championship over The Rock. Upon the anniversary of Smackdown, Triple H is the lone survivor from all of these years and is now the on-air COO of the company.

Over the years, a total of 119 title changes from 14 different championships were seen on the "blue show." The title that changed hands the most amount of times on Smackdown was a tie between the WWE Tag Team Championship and, not surprisingly, the Hardcore Championship, which both saw a new champion on 21 different occasions.

Among current championships in WWE, Smackdown has crowned a new World Heavyweight Champion seven times, with three of them being in the past year. The WWE Championship has changed hands just twice on Smackdown, with Mr. McMahon and Brock Lesnar being the only ones to win the title on the show. A new Intercontinental Champion has won on Smackdown 12 times, most recently with Cody Rhodes earlier this month. Not to be outdone, the United States Championship has switched owners 12 times as well, with MVP's victory in March 2009 being the last occurrence. Maryse is the only woman to win the Divas Championship on Smackdown, while Big Show and Kane became the 21st different tag team champions to be crowned on the show.

Smackdown has been often scrutinized for being taped on Tuesday nights and not airing until Thursdays until they switched to Fridays in 2005. Very seldom have live shows have been filmed, usually with a holiday conflict being the reason. Next week will add to the rare feat when Friday Night SmackDown becomes Super SmackDown, live on Tuesday night. In the dozen years since debuting, Smackdown has more than tripled the millions of viewers who watch, pulling in 24.4 million viewers in their first year on SyFy. The move to cable from network stations like UPN, CW and My Network TV has certainly paid off, but the individual shows are not thriving in the ratings like they once did.

The show that debuted 12 years ago today posted a 4.2 rating, while ratings for individuals shows nowadays are more than half of that. For a measuring stick, last week's Smackdown drew a 1.83 and has barely grazed higher than a 2.0 in recent weeks. Fans speculate that a live show will boost ratings. The last live episode of Smackdown aired in December of last year to the tune of a 2.1 rating.

Smackdown currently is enjoying some of its greatest success on SyFy right now, despite not having the high ratings they garnered on network television. The show has become such a fixture that the show's title, derived from a saying by The Rock, has been a word in the Merrian-Webster Dictionary since 2007. While it is never truly looked as an equal to RAW, Smackdown has created its own place in sports entertainment. It is often where you go to find great matches that are pushed aside in favor of entertainment on RAW.

Fans may not enjoy finding out what happens on the show days before it actually airs, but Smackdown still remains as one of the best shows on cable today, even if the results are known prior to air. Some support a switch to a live Smackdown show, but recording the show earlier in the week is easier for the talent and airing it later in the week is better for the programming aspect. 12 years later, Smackdown keeps pushing right along, but not before being the stage for some unforgettable moments.

List some of your favorite moments that have taken place on Smackdown in the comments section below.

Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter and put some favorite moments on there as well. You can also follow me for next Tuesday's live Smackdown as we can live tweet the show.