Watch: First SmackDown Live on FOX Promo Hypes the Brand as WWE's 'Premier Show'

The first commercial for SmackDown Live's move to the FOX network dropped on Sunday night, hyping [...]

By Connor Casey

The first commercial for SmackDown Live's move to the FOX network dropped on Sunday night, hyping up the show's Oct. 6 premiere.

The ad featured a number of the Blue Brand's biggest stars such as Roman Reigns, Kofi Kingston and Charlotte Flair, but also included the likes of Triple H, Becky Lynch and AJ Styles — none of whom are technically on the roster.

It's also worth noting that the voice-over in the advertisement called SmackDown the "premier show" of the WWE.

"This brand, SmackDown, is the premiere show in WWE," the ad said.

Fans of WWE might wince at that notion. Raw has often been referred to as WWE's "flagship" show (and the "A-Show" in storylines) given that it draws in the biggest ratings, has been around longer and usually has the bigger stars. But it could be a sign that WWE will be shifting that opinion in the near future given the much larger potential audience SmackDown can bring in while on network television rather than cable.

WWE previously announced that the Oct. 6 premiere will serve as the SmackDown 20th Anniversary special. No matches have been officially booked, but a long list of WWE legends have been announced for the show including Hulk Hogan, Sting, Goldberg, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Mick Foley, Booker T, Lita and Mark Henry.

On top of SmackDown's move to FOX, WWE is making another major change to its schedule this fall by moving NXT from the WWE Network to the USA Network starting on Sept. 18. Along with the move the show will be extended to two hours each week and will broadcast live.

"Following NXT's growth in popularity, the new two-hour weekly show will expand its reach on USA Network, the leader in cable entertainment, while staying in its Wednesday night timeslot that it has held since 2015," WWE.com wrote in a press release on Tuesday.

"The move to USA Network provides an opportunity to deepen our relationship with NBCUniversal and further build the NXT brand," Vince McMahon said in the release. "Over the long term, our goal is to develop a following that can be monetized to the same level as our flagship programs, Raw and SmackDown."

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