5 Greatest Moments In SmackDown History

SmackDown, as it reaches 1000 episodes, has been through an incredible run. Often viewed as the "B-Show", it's been proven wrong time and again. The show was originally created and named after The Rock, whose famous catchphrase became the title of the show.

Beginning early in the Attitude Era, it was simply used as an extension of RAW programming. It wasn't until the brand split in 2002 that saw the show take its own form. Led by Stephanie McMahon and Paul Heyman, the show would see the beginning of the SmackDown Six era, where Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Edge, Rey Mysterio and Eddie & Chavo Guerrero took the show to a whole new level.

The brand was further legitimized when then-WWE Champion Brock Lesnar was made exclusive to SmackDown, forcing RAW GM Eric Bischoff to introduce the World Heavyweight Championship.

SmackDown would see its glory years through the Ruthless Aggression Era, where superstars such as Undertaker, Kurt Angle and Batista among many others further legitimised the show and made it a must-see programme. The quality of the blue brand increased so significantly that there was even a point where it started beating RAW in the ratings, forcing WWE officials to start moving SmackDown stars to RAW.

After years of being another extension, the brand split was brought back and SmackDown was revived under the leadership of Shane McMahon. As we cross a 1000 episodes of SmackDown, let's look at the 5 greatest moments from the blue brand.

#5 Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar's Iron Man match

Image result for kurt angle vs brock lesnar iron man match

Bar none, the greatest match in SmackDown history. The culmination of Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle's long-standing rivalry took place in 2003 in a 60-minute Iron Man match where the two behemoths went at it for the WWE Championship.

Brock Lesnar would be victorious, defeating Kurt Angle to recapture the WWE title for the last time in his first WWE run.