5 Superstars who have defined SmackDown
This week marks a big week for WWE and in particular, SmackDown.
The brand debuts on the FOX Network in the USA this Friday just over a year after the company agreed a five year deal with the broadcaster worth $205 million year.
With FOX putting a greater emphasis on live sports programming, it presents a massive opportunity for Smackdown to push its content to a larger audience - something long overdue.
Having been a featured part of WWE television for 20 years, SmackDown has been a platform for many current and future Hall of Famers to define their legacy without being lost in the shuffle of RAW.
Superstars such as Eddie Guerrero, JBL, Rey Mysterio and John Cena were given a prominent role in the brand which helped to define and shape their respective legacies.
However, I believe there was a select group of wrestlers who truly represent what Smackdown has been all about these past two decades.
#5 Brock Lesnar
At the time where WWE first established its brand split in 2002, the WWE's primary championship, The Undisputed Title, was shared across both RAW and Smackdown.
Around this same point, Brock Lesnar was forging the best debut year in wrestling history, coming champion just four months after his first appearing on WWE TV.
His first act as champion was to announce his intention to only defend the belt on the Blue Brand. This particular move always stood out to me as something which helped show how serious the company took the brand.
And as much as they could have instantly taken the belt from The Beast Incarnate if they wanted to, they chose not to. Instead he would go on to forge a path through the roster over the following year and a half.
Three title wins and high profile victories over the likes of Kurt Angle, The Big Show and The Undertaker came the way of Lesnar.
His subsequent departure from the company in 2004 meant that his recent appearance on Smackdown was his first in 15 years. Had he not left for new ventures, who knows how successful a career he could have had on the Blue Brand.