Ranking all the Eras in the history of WWE Smackdown

#5 The Post 'Smackdown-Six' Era (2004-2006)

The phase featured the surprise elevation of two tag team specialists into main eventers

This Era can be best described in just three words - silence after storm. After a breathtaking period of 3 years (more on that later), the quality of WWE Smackdown had quite a dip following the 2004 Draft Lottery period. With Brock Lesnar departing from the WWE following Mania XX, an unexpected name in John Bradshaw Layfield emerged as the top heel on the show and dispatched the ever popular Eddie Guerrero to become the WWE Champion.

His 280-day reign is often regarded as one of the worst WWE championship reigns, as the quality of feuds and matches on pay per view and Smackdown dropped very fast. The transfer of Edge and Chris Benoit to Raw depleted the main event scene, with only The Undertaker, Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle worthy enough of being called legit main eventers. The mid-card, however, flourished during the early years, with John Cena and Booker T exchanging the United States Title.

The ascension of John Cena at WrestleMania 21 and the arrival of Batista and Randy Orton after the 2005 Draft brought some star power, but it came at the expense of Kurt Angle and John Cena's transfer to Raw. The lack of challengers marred Batista's first reign before it was halted by an injury, and the subsequent reigns by Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio didn't help either. King Booker's character was a pleasant surprise, but his surprise ascension to the top of the ladder only reduced the quality of product that only started to improve after Batista regained the title at Survivor Series 2006.