Top 10 wrestling moments of 2019

#3 SmackDown debuts on FOX

SmackDown debuted on FOX in October

As much as we love wrestling, we have come to accept that the peak of its mainstream popularity has long passed.

No longer are we in the days of the Monday Night Wars and The Attitude Era where wrestling would draw extremely high ratings.

It is for this reason that it was a surprise to many when in 2018, major network broadcaster FOX announced a five-year deal to air SmackDown.

For as long as can be remembered, wrestling has always aired on cable TV, or lower-level over-the-air channels such as UPN, which was the original home of SmackDown. After many years as a cable-only entity, having a top mainstream channel like FOX taking a chance on WWE represented a major opportunity for the sport.

The network held up their side of the bargain by introducing a dedicated marketing campaign for the debut of SmackDown in its new Friday slot, coinciding it with the beginning of football season, a point where US networks traditionally draw some of its largest ratings.

WWE equally pulled out the big hitters for the October 4th debut, with an appearance from The Rock, a cameo by linear boxing world champion Tyson Fury, and Brock Lesnar defeating Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship.

The show drew 3.9 million viewers in its first week, representing a significant increase over SmackDown's final broadcast on USA.

Whilst ratings have slipped in the weeks since, it will be interesting how WWE can use this increased platform to their advantage, and how it could draw more eyes to wrestling again.