Stone Cold Steve Austin Added to SmackDown 20th Anniversary Special in Latest FOX Commercial
Friday Night SmackDown's first night on FOX will also serve as the SmackDown 20th Anniversary [...]
Friday Night SmackDown's first night on FOX will also serve as the SmackDown 20th Anniversary Special, celebrating the brand's two decades on television with a laundry list of legends making an appearance. When the special was first announced that list of returning stars included Hulk Hogan, Sting, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Goldberg, Ric Flair, Mick Foley, Trish Stratus, Lita, Booker T, Mark Henry and Jerry Lawler. But now there's another name you can add to the list — "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
FOX's latest advertisement for the SmackDown premiere had "The Texas Rattlesnake" listed to appear alongside Roman Reigns, Hogan and Becky Lynch. So far two matches have been confirmed for the show — Kofi Kingston vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship and Lynch & Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks & Bayley.
Past & present @WWE Superstars, including @steveaustinBSR, @HulkHogan, @BeckyLynchWWE, and more, will descend upon the @STAPLESCenter to celebrate the 20th anniversary of SmackDown.
📺Watch the premiere of Friday Night SmackDown Oct. 4, at 8p ET/7p CT on FOX. pic.twitter.com/IIqpSrIwoi
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) September 24, 2019
Austin has made a number of appearances for WWE television in recent months, including the Raw Reunion in July and Raw's return to Madison Square Garden in early September. According to CageMatch, Austin wrestled on the Blue Brand 32 times throughout his wrestling career, including on the debut episode in a tag match involving The Rock, The Undertaker and Triple H.
Along with the change in networks and time slots, the Blue Brand is also getting a new logo, new theme song and (reportedly) a new entrance ramp to go along with its move from cable to network television.
SmackDown's second episode on Fox will mark the first of a two-night WWE Draft, which will re-establish the brand split between SmackDown and Raw. Many fans were curious is WWE's third brand NXT, which will make its full transition to the USA Network on Oct. 2, would be involved in the draft as well. But Triple H indicated in a recent conference call that would be the case.
"I think as that Draft hits that's going to be more focused on Raw and SmackDown and where those brands lay out," he said. "But going forward, who knows? I think this is a work in progress and as NXT continues to do what it's done for the last five years and grow in leaps and bounds, my intent is to create, and I think it's there and we'll see as we move forward, where there are three very distinct brands -- Raw, SmackDown and NXT."
