Smackdown’s days on SyFy are numbered as the move to USA Network will come sooner than many expected.
Smackdown will officially move to USA Network on Thursday, January 7, keeping the same time slot of 8PM EST. From the following week, Smackdown will serve as the lead-in for USA Network’s new show Colony.
The news of Smackdown moving to USA Network was announced back April by USA Network President Chris McCumber and Vince McMahon.
There were rumors that WWE might be taking Smackdown live once it moves to USA but those rumors did not end up being true.
This marks the fifth time that Smackdown has changed networks since its inception in 1999. It started on UPN, then moved to The CW, MyNetworkTV, SyFy, and now USA Network.
