It’s no surprise that Smackdown will get new branding when it moves from Tuesdays on USA to Fridays on Fox this fall. The show’s current logo has been in use since the Brand Split in 2016, when it moved from Thursdays on Syfy to Tuesdays on USA (not as big a deal because those channels are owned by the same company) and became Smackdown Live. Prior to that, the “Smack” and the “Down” were separated onto two lines, but then they moved “Smackdown” to the top line so that “Live” could go underneath. Now the logo’s changing again, and Twitter brings us a glimpse of what they’ll presumably be using once they move to Fox.
https://twitter.com/Y2Legend/status/1138670545476771840
To start with, it looks like they’re dropping the “Live” entirely, which makes sense at this point. Prior to the 2016 move Smackdown was pre-taped, so changing the name to “Smackdown Live” was a way of telling people that this show was important, vital and worth watching (at least in theory). Three years later, everyone’s used to Smackdown being live, so you don’t need to tell people anymore.
Beyond that, the new design is pretty fun and appealing. The exclamation point in the “D” gives it a sense of impact (not to be confused with Impact) right in the middle of the word, and it brings to mind the original Smackdown logo, which also featured an exclamation point. Logo aside, it’s also cool to see Bayley and Kofi Kingston alongside Roman Reigns and Charlotte Flair on the promo graphic. Hopefully that points to their continued prominence on the brand.
