In very exciting news for some, the pilot episode for WWE Smackdown is finally back on the WWE Network! The episode was up previously and was taken down, leaving many fans annoyed, but the episode is back up on WWE’s streaming service.
The Smackdown pilot aired on April 27th, 1999 and it featured the tag team match of the ages, at least in theory, as Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock teamed up to take on The Undertaker and Triple H. Additionally, you had the McMahon drama that we all know, and some of us love. Needless to say, the success of this episode is what led to the show becoming regular months later, and now still exists 17 years and 2 days after this originally aired.
This episode of Smackdown was originally added to the service during the infamous “12 Days of Attitude” fiasco, which saw the service adding one full length show and a few clips every day for twelve days in celebration of the holidays. This became a fiasco when the company proceeded to remove all of the material, citing it as special content. Fans were not pleased and to this day have been wanting the content back, specifically the Smackdown Pilot and Halftime Heat. For those looking for both, we are half way there.
The Smackdown Pilot can be found under the Smackdown Replays section in the 1999 category. Be sure to check out the massive amount of Smackdown uploads we have seen between yesterday and today as the WWE Network looks to complete the entire Smackdown library up until some point in 2004.
As always, stick to WWE Network News for the latest WWE Network news, rumors, reviews, and more!